cream separators

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I have been looking for a used cream separator. The one I found to purchase new is $200 - more than I want to spend for having two dairy goats. Does anyone know if it is possible to make a cream separator?

-- Sherry Cookson (oneofthem@one-eleven.net), March 21, 2000

Answers

if you have ever had a chance to see a crean separator in use,as well as to see all the parts that go together to make it work, You'd have a good idea that it probably isn't within the grasp of most of us to build one. The new separators that sell for around $200.00 work very well and have only been available for a few years, to my knowledge. Up until these came out a new one was several hundred dollars. If you live in an area that had a lot of small dairy farms a few years ago you may find a used one, but you really need to know what you're looking at when you purchase a used one as there are several parts and if anything is missing it won't work and the chance of getting parts for an old machine is slim. Before we got a cream separator we had some success skimming cream off the top of the milk by putting it in wide shallow pans(like a cake pan) let it set for 24 hours and then could skim the thin layer of cream that collected with a slotted spoon. sometimes we would let it set even up to 48 hours but all in all it was a lot of work for the results.(you have to cover the milk or it picks up a "refridge" taste and then some times letting it set for 48 hours would leave it with a goat flavor). Having a cream separator is nice, I got mine as a gift and we take advantage of having it, but I don't think I would spend 200.00 to replace it...ron

-- ron in n.y. (ronmister@hotmail.com), March 24, 2000.

Thank you for the info. I have never seen one, except in an on-line catalog.

-- Sherry (oneofthem@one-eleven.net), March 24, 2000.

I have another way to separate cream that is much easier than skimming in my opinion. Find some one gallon Sun Tea jars that have a spigot at the bottom. I perfer the glass ones but plastic will work. I have found them at yard sales and flea markets and I am sure you can still find them in some stores. Fill the jar with the mil and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours to allow the cream to rise to the top. Than you just drain the milk from the spigot you might have to tip the jar to get the last of the milk out this should leave just the cream. Good luck I hope this helps!

-- Mark D. Williams (deadgoatman@webtv.net), March 27, 2000.

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