I think it’s fair to say that in the life of every dairy farmer comes a time when he starts thinking on expanding his dairy products’ assortment. And it really does not matter if he has just one cow or dozens of goats, cows and sheep. After all, when there is a good chance to get fresh home-made milk, such an opportunity as to make from it a lot of useful and tasty dairy products, such as, for example, sour cream, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese or butter, and by the way with different fat content, should not be missed for sure. Moreover, this is relevant for those farmers who sell their milk on the market, because its price and shelf life is significantly less than the above-said dairy products. To produce most of these products cream will be needed. The most effective way to get cream is to make it with the help of a milk separator.
What is a milk separator?
Milk separator is equipment capable of separating skimmed milk from cream using centrifugal force. There are manual and electric type of separators. The main parts of the milk separator are the following: casing, milk receiving tank, electric motor, drum, cream and skim milk receiver, as well as the float and the float chamber. As a rule, it’s possible to get 9 liters of skim milk and 1 liter of cream out of 10 liters of milk. The fat content of the cream can be adjusted with the help of an adjusting screw. As an option, the thick cream can be diluted by the resulting skimmed milk.
Principle of the milk separator operation
There is a wide variety of the milk separators on the market that differ from each other in capacity, productivity, materials they are made of and, of course, by a price. All types of the separators, no matter manual or electrical ones, have a similar operating principle, which consists in separating the milk into cream and skim milk. This process actually takes place inside a drum consisting of the plates that, with the help of a centrifugal force, direct skim milk to one side, and cream to another. The separation process also helps purifying milk from mechanical and natural impurities.
The process of separating milk
After the separator is assembled in strict compliance with the manual, make sure that it’s plugged if it is an electrical model of the separator. Turn on the separator and wait for the engine to reach a stable speed. Before pouring milk into the milk sink, add 1 liter of water at the temperature of about 50°C in order to clean the separator of dust and other contaminants. After the water is passed through the separator, you can start separating the milk. Milk also should be heated up to 45°C before separation process starts. After that, simply wait for a few seconds until the milk is separated into cream and skim milk.
If you start producing cream and skim milk, you’ll have an opportunity not only to expand your assortment, but also to make happy yourself as well your family, as you’ll be consuming only healthy and tasty dairy products from now on.
