Butter Making - No Break

Started by ConnieG, October 27, 2010, 02:56:57 PM

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ConnieG

I've been having trouble with butter lately.  Last night I tried again and the cream will whip but won't break.

I am using cream from raw milk that is 3 day old at the oldest.  I skim the cream with a ladle, let it rest all together for a  couple of hours and then whip with my Kitchen Aid.  It whips up beautifully and continues to be stiff whipped cream for more than an hour before falling apart into liquid again.  I left it out all night in frustration and now it is airy cream with an unpleasant sour taste starting.

Thoughts on this?
BTW the cow is on grain and dry hay.

tnsven

This can happen, Connie. Particularly in the winter.

Do you know temp your cream is at when you start churning?

And can you ripen it until it is thickened and then churn? Ripened cream will churn more readily than unripened cream.

My cows are on hay and some grain as well. But I've only had this happen once.

Kristin

ConnieG

Kristin,  I don't know the temp, sorry.  It was on the counter for a couple of hours then I went to churn it.

When you say thickened cream do you mean that it has begun to clabber, or that an added culture is taking over?

I read later about skimming a second time to be sure only the cream is used and any milk is left behind.

Thanks for the thoughts

tnsven

I'm not sure where you are, Connie. But if it is cold in your kitchen, it may take a loooonnnngg time to churn. Cream churns most efficiently in the 62 to 68 degree range. Cooler in warmer weather, warmer in cooler weather. It does eventually turn to butter though. 

Cream thickens either with "wild culture" (a.k.a. clabber) or introduced culture.  It just needs to be left long enough to thicken.

And unless you have a LOT of milk in your cream and it is particularly cold, it may give you fits. But I doubt that is your problem.

Kristin

FarmerJd

#4
Kristin is right about the temp being a factor. But which way to move the temp requires discernment. I have this happen quite often and sometimes I add warm water if the temp is on the cold side and sometimes I add ice if the temp is too warm. The cows go through cycles that aren't always feed related which also affects this.
I think Kristin was referring to clabbering the milk as you thought. This can be with a culture added or just trusting what is in the wild. It will definitely churn better after thickening/clabbering overnight. Good luck. I know it can be very frustrating.

Kristin posted while i was typing so some of it is redundant. Great minds?! :)

tnsven

Quote from: FarmerJD on October 27, 2010, 07:15:16 PM
Kristin posted while i was typing so some of it is redundant. Great minds?! :)
I think it is a cow ownership thing. As you mention, it requires some discernment.


ConnieG

Thanks - I put in some chips of ice (forgot to mention that) as this has helped in the summer, but I've never had to add a tad of warm water.  Guess that's the direction I should have gone.  I was making cheese and we'd finished dinner so the kitchen felt warm enough to me but the only other source of heat was a small fire in the wood stove in the next room.

I have pounds of butter in the freezer left from the summer milk and I thought I'd have too much for the year but with using full cream cheeses and having these troubles, there won't be too much at all!

I didn't think about it until now but she had a bit of bloat last week with my feeding some 3rd cutting alfalfa.  Luckily I have a stack of 1st and 3rd to mix together.  I wonder about the effect of her licking her bloat block now?  Ohhh things I hadn't considered.

I'm going to go back to adding a bit of culture to the milk, too. 

MrsKK

I never had any luck using my Kitchenaid to churn butter, no matter the time of year or where the cow was in her lactation.  I've been using my food processor and that makes the cream turn very quickly, most of the time.

However, last year after she had impacted her rumen on rich alfalfa hay, it took 15 minutes for the cream to turn, as opposed to about 3-5 minutes all the rest of that year.  So maybe your cow's bloat did have something to do with it.

I personally don't care for cultured butter.

ConnieG

Karen, I have heard that about the kitchen aid.  At the best of times it takes forever to make.  My food processor only has sharp blades, is that what you use?

tnsven

I always use my Kitchen Aid for butter. I can churn 5 quarts at a time.  8) You have to use the whisk attachment though. The paddle doesn't cut it. Karen is correct. The food processor does it in 3-5 minutes max. I can only do one quart at a time in the food processor.  Using a dough blade is better for butter but try it with the sharp one if that is all you have, Connie. You can get replacement parts online for some food processors so you might want to google a bit for it.

Karen - Have you ever tried using one of the aroma cultures for butter? I love it! And I do think it takes getting used to. But when I found out it was fermented (I know, this is obvious) and likely a health booster, I was all for it. Now sweet cream butter tastes like nothing.

I need to go finish making the butter! 2-1/2 gallons worth churned this evening!

Kristin

ConnieG

I have a couple of quarts sitting out to thicken - I'll see what happens in the 'morrow.

MrsKK

I only have the sharp blade, too, but it works really well.  You just have to watch for the contents to shrink down really well, then it will just start to rise in the bowl.  That's when you shut it off or the butter will break down again.

I truly enjoy sweet cream butter and don't want to "get used to" the cultured variety.  I know I'd never be able to persuade my family to even try it.

ConnieG

So my cultured, clabbered cream has been mixing in the kitchen aid for over an hour now.  It got verrry thick, whipped up and looked absolutely lucious and then fell.  Now it just goes round and round.  The temp is 68 and so I've added ice chips and warm water.  Last time I used the whisk so this time I have the paddle. 

My food processor was my mothers and was one of the first on the market (hubby keeps fixing it when it breaks..... the place that sells parts for fixing things has gone under however so I may not have to spend my WHOLE life with this gadget).  It doesn't look anything like something that would make butter. 

So the cow was in heat this week (hopefully AI'd).  I don't know.... Frustrated! 

I wonder if an expensive electric butter churn would do any better for me?

tnsven

I would not waste money on a butter churn. If it won't churn, it won't churn. Are you sure there aren't tiny little butter granules there? In cooler weather, my butter often doesn't come together as readily. The little butter pieces are tiny. It might look like this:

http://solarfamilyfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/buttermaking3aweb1.jpg

Kristin

tnsven

Another thought here: how fast are you running your mixer? I churn my butter at 7 or 8 out of 10.