Author Topic: Freezing Milk???  (Read 2494 times)

qdog1955

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Freezing Milk???
« on: December 02, 2015, 12:02:20 PM »
Has anyone tried freezing milk? Has anyone tried making cheese with previously frozen milk? Below is a notice I received from my raw milk supplier. As I can only get the raw Jersey milk once a week, without driving 80 miles, this would certainly be covenient----but I really have to question the final outcome----and I hate to experiment with such an expensive product.

   
Smart Milk Planning Tip: Did you know our raw milk freezes well? It does. Many smart Family Cow folks do it. The milk will keep fresh easily for 3-4 months when frozen. Freezing does not hurt the beneficial qualities of the raw either...it just puts the probiotics and enzymes to sleep...they wake up as soon as you bring the milk back up to refrigeration temp. And the wonderful taste remains basically unchanged too. The only down side is that after the milk has been frozen and thawed, you'll need to shake each jug harder and longer to get the cream to blend into the milk. Even then you may notice a few small unblended cream specks. It's ok. It's not spoiled...just speckled. :)
 
To Freeze and Thaw Raw Milk we Recommend:

    First, pour off 8 to 16 oz of milk per jug so the jug doesn't split.
    Replace cap and freeze.
    To thaw: move the frozen jug to your fridge about 4-5 days ahead of when you need the milk. NOTE: Thawing at room temp is not recommended. It can be done in an emergency, but the quality may be a bit compromised.

Who Should Freeze up a Stock of Raw Milk? You....!

    if you don't like to drive in snow, sleet, ice and winter weather in general and wish to insure your winter supply.
    if you live at a distance and don't want to pick up milk more often than once a month or so.
    if Family Cow raw milk is the only milk your children or your husband or, hey, for that matter, even you will drink and life gets real miserable at your house when you run out like some of you did over Thanksgiving. :) Yeah, we heard about it!
    if one or all of the above fit you plus you just want to save with a 10 gal volume purchase.  :) Go for it!  GO!... RAW MILK! 

 Qdog 

lovinglife

  • Guest
Re: Freezing Milk???
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2015, 02:52:05 PM »
I can't speak for cow milk, but my goat milk freezes great.  I put it in heavy duty freezer bags, double bagged.  I have been making cheese from thawed goat milk since late October and it seems to work fine, though goat milk and cow milk are very different in structure, so for goat milk, no problem, and from that letter it looks like cow milk will freeze good as well.  Only way to really know is throw some in the freezer.

Stinky

  • Guest
Re: Freezing Milk???
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2015, 02:57:30 PM »
Well, the thing with freezing is that it damages the casein inside the milk and hurts the overall structure. This is less of a problem with goat's milk that's being used for chevre, because there it's not very noticeable, but for longer aged cheeses you're definitely going to get an inferior end product.

Linuxboy freezes his goat's milk when he's not around for making chevre, but he says it's also not an ideal solution.

SOSEATTLE

  • Guest
Re: Freezing Milk???
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2015, 02:10:31 AM »
Never tried using frozen milk myself, from what I have read you can get away with using frozen sheep's milk for cheese with good results but not recommended for other species' milk.


Susan

Stinky

  • Guest
Re: Freezing Milk???
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2015, 06:46:52 PM »
Never tried using frozen milk myself, from what I have read you can get away with using frozen sheep's milk for cheese with good results but not recommended for other species' milk.


Susan

Even that's far inferior to normal milk, according to Kinstedt.

amiriliano

  • Guest
Re: Freezing Milk???
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2015, 07:07:20 PM »
As mentioned above, I use frozen goat's milk all the time. In fact most goat milk you can buy in the winter is frozen by the farmer since the animals aren't giving milk. SO when I buy it, it's actually thawed, and then I re-freeze. Still makes great cheese.

I've tried all kinds of cow's milk and have managed to get decent cheese out of all except UP milk. I say try it. It's probably going to be OK.

-Emi

Offline steffb503

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Re: Freezing Milk???
« Reply #6 on: January 01, 2016, 08:53:31 PM »
Are you making soft cheese or aged hard cheese?
I have one goat still in milk, but I can not wait until I have enough for a wheel of cheese. I was going to freeze the 1/2 gallon daily and thaw when I have collected 7-8 gallons.
I was going to make an Alpine type cheese