From time immemorial, people have faced the problem of long-term storage of any food. But how to preserve products without losing their taste and valuable properties? Especially when we talk about milk, a product with a very limited shelf life? The best way was probably the principle of processing the milk into something new. The first who began to consume milk and dairy products were peasants and cattle breeders in Europe. These people were those who used to live next to domestic animals. Unsurprisingly, people pretty quickly learned how to get cream, butter, sour cream, and cheese from the milk.
These days we know many different ways to extend the shelf life of fresh milk. But most farmers and homesteaders are still wondering where to put all the surplus milk. Separation, in this case, is an excellent solution. Moreover, people can easily make many delicious dairy foods thanks to the invention of the cream separator. Needless to say that such foods are tasty, nutritious, and can last for a long time when stored properly.
The principle of operation of the cream separator is quite simple and does not require any special knowledge. All you need to do is pour in the whole milk, press a button, and after a short time, you will receive skim milk and cream.
So How Does The Cream Separator Work?
Whole milk contains fat in the form of some fat globules. Their density is much lower than the density of the watery component of milk. During the separation process, the drum spins up under the influence of centrifugal force, and this fat begins to gradually separate from the skim milk. Since the fat density is less and lighter than skim milk, it moves to the center of the drum and flows out through the drainage system.
At the same time, the skim milk flows out through another outlet of the device. It is important to note that milk is also cleaned from impurities, sediments, and mechanical contaminations during separation. As a result, you end up with a healthy and refined food product in the form of skim milk and cream.
How to adjust the cream fat content?
The highest ratio of skim milk to cream is 1:10. This means that you can get one gallon of cream from ten gallons of raw milk. But depending on the setting of the regulating screw, you can get up to four gallons of cream from ten gallons of raw milk. It also depends on how much fat is in the raw milk.
If the regulating screw is flush with the plastic cone, this is the medium setting. The ratio is about 2:10. The highest setting is about 1.5-2 complete turns clockwise from that position. This is where you get the thickest cream. To receive the more liquid cream, all you need is to dilute it back with the skim milk right after separation.
Do You Really Need A Cream Separator?
Farmers and homesteaders widely use cream separators. They are easy to operate and separate cows, goats, sheep, camels, and many other mammals’ milk at 26 US gallons per hour. Thus, if you run a small farm or own a family dairy cow or goat and intends to separate or normalize milk regularly, a centrifugal separator is exactly what you need.
