How to Pasteurize Milk (Goat or Cow)

So, you have milked your goat or cow, now what?  If you want to pasteurize your milk, the process is pretty simple and does not take too much time.  

There are proponents for drinking and using raw milk.  However, some people are more comfortable drinking milk that is pasteurized.  Whether or not you want to pasteurize milk before you drink it is really a personal decision.

One other thing to keep in mind when deciding whether to pasteurize milk is if you will be making products like cheese to sell.  Each state has it’s own rules and regulations on selling such products and often times using pasteurized milk is required.

When we learned how to hand milk a goat and started getting milk from our dairy goats, we decided that we wanted to learn how to pasteurize milk for our own use.  It turns out that pasteurizing milk is actually a pretty simple process.

So once you have all of your milking supplies, you will need to gather up your pasteurization supplies.

First you will need to gather your supplies to pasteurize milk:

1)  Double Boiler OR big pot and smaller pot (your milk pail will work)

2) Thermometer (meat or candy thermometer)

3) Big Bowl

4) Spoon

5)  Ice

6) Water

7) Jars to store your pasteurized milk.  We like to use glass quart jars.

8) Strainer (same as used when you bring your milk in)

The process to pasteurize milk is just as simple as the supplies:

1)  Make sure you are starting with fresh, completely strained milk.  You want to be sure there is no hair or anything left in the milk.

2)  Fill Big Pot with water and set on stove on high heat.

3)  Put milk in smaller pot (milk pail) and place the pail into the water in the big pot.

4) Add a small amount of water to the big bowl and add a small amount of ice.

5)  Heat milk (stirring frequently) until it reaches 161 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 seconds.

6)  Pull pail out of hot water and add it to the big bowl with ice water, add as much ice as you can to the bowl.

7) Stir milk constantly as temperature decreases.  You want to get the milk to 40 degrees Fahrenheit as quickly as possible — Less than 20 minutes is considered Grade A.  Longer times can cause a nutty flavor.

8)  Once cooled, funnel the milk into your storage jars.  We use quart canning jars and lids.

***Please note, this is not to be considered health or food safety advice.  This is the way WE pasteurize milk based on our research.

Other milk topics

Remember, you can also freeze milk once you’ve pasteurized it for later use! And if your goats have had a decrease in milk production lately, maybe the reason is here.

Watch the Pasteurization Process in Action!

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