Author Topic: Cleaning Electric Milkers  (Read 11272 times)

hplace

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Cleaning Electric Milkers
« on: September 29, 2009, 04:10:46 AM »
Does anyone use an electric milker and have a good (fast and simple) process for cleaning it? I have a Surge bucket milker and here's my current process - if you have any suggestions for improving it, I would be very grateful:

1. After milking, take bucket and hoses inside and remove hoses from lid and pulsator.
2. Remove gasket from lid and wash lid and gasket in the kitchen sink. Wash the bucket.
3. Run hot water through hoses (inflations still attached) to rinse. Mix solution of bleach and hot water and fill hoses with this solution to sterilize. Lift alternating hose ends to circulate solution through the hoses. Rinse hoses with hot water and hang to dry.

I'm currently using a dishwasher gel to clean the hoses. The ingredients are sodium hypochlorite (bleach) and sodium silicate (alkaline cleaner). This seems to be keeping the scum off of the inside of the hoses a little better than straight bleach.

Anyway, this process isn't too bad, but it's still a pain. I'm sure someone else has a better process.

Thanks.
Elton

cmharris6002

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Re: Cleaning Electric Milkers
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2009, 10:11:33 AM »
All that bleach can cause clouding of your lines and if you have hard water it will contribute to milk stone build up. Also, you don’t need to disassemble the set up every milking.

I fill a five gallon bucket with water and about 2 tablespoons of Pfanzite. Place inflations in the bucket, suck half the water, remove gasket, scrub lid with brush, remove and scrub inflations, and hang from the lid to drain hoses. Scrub bucket, dump, pour in the other half bucket of Pfanzite water scrub, dump, invert on a milk crate to dry. Pfantize is adequate to wash, rinse and sanitize.

If you use dishwasher soap you need 3 buckets.
1st bucket is clean cold water to clean the milk out of the lines and inflations
2nd bucket is hot water with 2 tablespoons of dishwasher powder run that through
3rd bucket of clean cold water through to rinse the lines

Either way, once a week you will want to run a bucket of warm acid wash
through lines/inflations and bucket, disassemble and scrub everything.




hplace

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Re: Cleaning Electric Milkers
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2009, 06:03:30 PM »
Thanks, Christy! Does this mean you do all of your cleaning in the barn since that is where the vacuum pump is? Do you have hot water and sink, etc. for the cleaning? I do not have hot water or a sink in the barn, so it would be a little difficult to clean everything out there.

I noticed that the product description for Pfanzite has these cleaning instructions:

Quote
Directions for Use for Bucket Milkers: When empty, rinse milker and hoses by drawing 2 gallon warm water into milker bucket with machine on. Dump this milky rinse water. Prepare cleaning solution by dissolving 2 oz.-3 oz. (14 g.-28 g.) of Pfanzite in 3 U.S. gallon (3.8 L) of 125°F (53°C) Hot water. Draw this solution through the hoses and milker 3 times. Brush all surfaces completely with this solution. Rinse milker thoroughly with warm (not hot) water and drain completely. Acid Rinse with Surge Citrophos, then hang milker components to drip dry

cmharris6002

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Re: Cleaning Electric Milkers
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2009, 06:18:04 PM »
I have had water in my barn for a few years now but I used to carry a bucket of water down for cleaning.

Nobody I know uses Pfanzite as recommended ;D I was taught to do it the way I told you. With a weaker solution and drawing 2.5 gallons through the lines everything is clean and there is no traceable soap residue. The reason people pay so much for it is because they don’t have to rinse and it completely breaks down all milk deposits. That stuff is amazing!! I even use it on my cheese making equipment.

MiaBella Farm

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Re: Cleaning Electric Milkers
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2009, 07:11:18 PM »
I use the Pfanzite as per the instructions, I also use the acid wash after every single milking.  We have a "bucket cleaning system" that cleans the inflations that is connected to our vacuum pump.  My husband has the vacuum pump set up in our feed room, then ran pvc pipe through the barn so the vacuum line is all that is visible, not the huge pump.  Not sure why they call it a bucket cleaning system when it cleans the inflations... ???

Being a Grade A Raw Dairy in the State of Texas, we need to follow those procedures to ensure our milk tests come back within the guidelines so we do not lose our license.

The Pfanzite and the acid wash last a long time since you use so little of it, so to us it is well worth the investment.

hplace

  • Guest
Re: Cleaning Electric Milkers
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2009, 07:44:32 PM »
I'm so glad I added this topic - thanks for all of the good info. Just a couple more questions - do you remove the inflations from the stainless casing each time, or do you scrub them in place? Do you add the Pfanzite to warm, hot, or cold water?

I just need to create a workspace in the barn where I can do all this scrubbing - maybe a used stainless sink or something???

MiaBella Farm

  • Guest
Re: Cleaning Electric Milkers
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2009, 07:53:40 PM »
Yes I remove the inflations from the lid on the bucket.  One end of the inflations are hooked up to the bucket cleaner, the other end of the inflations is placed in a 2 gallon bucket.  We run warm water thru first, dump that water, then run 2 gallons of warm water with the Pfanzite, then 2 gallons warm water with the acid wash and end with 2 gallons of plain warm water.  The lid, rubber gasket and bucket are all cleaned using the Pfanzite water as well.

We have a 3 bin stainless steel sink in the barn and clean the inflations there...shortly, I will have a commercial kitchen and will clean everything there and store it there.  Right now all equipment is stored in my soap making room which is separate from the barn.

The other thing that I have attached to my inflations is an in-line filter so I do not have to pour the milk through a filter before bottling.  This is very convenient!

Too bad you do not live closer...I have an extra stainless steel sink I could sell you!  :)

You will find that 90% of dairying involves cleaning and sanitizing equipment.

cmharris6002

  • Guest
Re: Cleaning Electric Milkers
« Reply #7 on: September 29, 2009, 09:32:24 PM »
I disconnect the inflations from the milk lines every milking but I only remove them from the shells (mine are clear, yours are stainless) once a week.

I add Pfanzite to warm water.

Before I had the set up I have now, I hauled water from the house to the barn and scrubbed everything in a clean 5 gallon buckets daily and in the kitchen sink for the weekly scrub down. Having good brushes that are made for your set up helps a lot.

hplace

  • Guest
Re: Cleaning Electric Milkers
« Reply #8 on: November 14, 2009, 04:47:22 AM »
My Pfanzite came today! Tried out the new process right away. I definitely need a little more counter space out in the barn, but other than that, I'm excited about the new process. It's nice to come into the house carrying one bucket and needing to wash only one bucket once the milk is put away. Not to mention no longer washing the hoses by hand!

Thanks for all of your help!

cmharris6002

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Re: Cleaning Electric Milkers
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2009, 12:13:55 PM »
I'm so glad it is working out for you!!