Separating Goat Milk
Nigerian Dwarf Goat milk in itself is extremely delicious. Yet, sometimes people give goat milk (in general) a bad rap saying it has a stronger flavor, it smells or tastes goaty, etc. I can’t count the number of times I have challenged people to taste our goat milk, after literally refusing due to a previous bad experience, and every time it is the same reaction, “wow, that’s really good! It tastes just like cow milk”. My response is always the same, “it tastes better than cows milk! To top it off there are many wonderful products that you can make with goat milk in addition to simply drinking it. You can make ice cream, butter, whipped cream, yogurt, cheeses of all kinds (fresh and aged), sour cream, cottage cheese, soap, shampoo, and the list goes on. Many of these products require “separating”, that is, separating the rich, luscious cream from the milk.
Separating Goat Milk
Separating Is not as easy as simply letting the milk set in the refrigerator allowing the cream to rise to the top (like we used to do when I was a child back on the dairy cow farm) And then simply skimmed it off to use. If you try that technique with goat milk, you will be a bit disappointed. Goat milk, unlike cow milk, does not easily separate – one of the wonders of goat milk. Look a the label of store bought cow milk some time. It will always say “Homogenized” which means the milk has gone through a process in which the fat molecules are emulsified and the cream will not separate. Goat milk is naturally homogenized.
There are two methods of separating. You can allow the cream to naturally separate by placing it in the refrigerator for 3-7 days (if you have that much patience) and then skim it off or you can purchase a cream separator and complete the entire process in about 10 minutes. If you are like me, you want to use the cream now so waiting for days doesn’t work. The best and easiest method is to purchase a table top separator and mechanically separate the cream from the milk. Table top separators are perfect for smaller scale dairy goat owners. They are very common in Europe and Asia where small scale farmers separate smaller quantities for their own use.
This is the electric separator we use. The milk receiver (the aluminum bowl on top) has a capacity of about two gallons. Milk is separated into cream and skim milk by centrifugal force as it passes through the spinning drum directly below the receiver bowl.
The separated skim milk and cream are caught in separate containers placed under the two discharge spouts. The whole process from beginning to end takes about 10 minutes. It is as easy as that!
Our milk yields about 2 cups of cream per 1.5 gallons of fresh milk. The first time we separated, I was astonished, after setting the cream in the refrigerator over night and turning the jar upside down, the cream was so thick and rich that it simply did not pour! But it made fabulous butter, whipped cream, and ice creams. Goat milk is so high in butterfat, that this is typical and makes especially wonderful products because of it. For cream in my coffee, I use the fresh whole milk.
If there is a downside to using a separator, it would be cleaning it after you are though using it. The separating drum contains 12 conical shaped aluminum disks (see photo). These need to be removed and washed each time it is used. Disassembly, washing, and reassembly is straight forward and takes an additional 15 minutes, but it’s worth it every second!
Now, in addition to drinking all that wonderful goat milk, you can make all those other products with your very own fresh cream.
Happy Homesteading!
Rick