butter - what am I doing wrong?

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I have been "churning" my goat cream in my kitchenaid for an entire hour! I have a nice thick cream but still no butter. Am I doing something wrong? My KitchenAid motor is getting hot and I am about to give up. I was told it would take about 15-20 min in the KitchenAid.

-- Tiffani (cappello@alltel.net), April 21, 2002

Answers

I've never tried it but I have heard some people use a blender.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), April 21, 2002.

Did you warm your cream to room temperature? I use a blender. But goat cream takes much longer than cow cream--but you're right, it shouldn't take THAT long!

-- Kathie in Western Washington (twinrosefarm@centurytel.net), April 21, 2002.

I used the milk fresh right after the evening milking so it was body temperature warm. I ran it through the seperator and tried the blender. After nothing was happening, I called a friend who told me she never used a blender and always used her kitchenaid with great success. So I tried that. I finally got a nice thick beautiful cream - lovely for whipped cream. It never seems to get past that stage though. Is it possible, I missed the butter stage and the butter got mixed back into whipped cream? Is that even possible? I finally gave up and put it in the fridge. Can I try again with the chilled whipped cream or should I make pie tomorrow? I really wanted to make butter! Boo Hoo!

-- Tiffani (cappello@alltel.net), April 21, 2002.

Tiffani............I think that your cream was too fresh. Goat's milk butter is easier to make with older cream, like a couple of days, just as cow's milk butter is best made with older cream. Leave your cream in the refrigerator for a couple of days, bring it to room temperature and try again.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), April 21, 2002.

I tried the "Jar Method" at room temp, but also had failures on two attempts. After getting nothing but a nice thick cream substance after 45 minutes, we gave up and put the results back in the fridge. Later that afternoon, we decided to try again and found that the butter had indeed congealed out.

We then tried the same procedure with ICE cold cream, and had GREAT success after just 5 minutes. Used the cold cream method every time after that and had complete success each time. This is significant as we have to shake for butter 3 itmes each week for our family of 8.

Hope this helps!!

-- Kevin (kreffitt@pbtcomm.net), April 21, 2002.



Do any of you ever use 'made butter' to start the next batch? I have heard of it but not tried it myself. Supposedly, the little bit of already butter, catches the fat particles faster and brings the butter sooner.

-- Thumper/inOKC (slrldr@yahoo.com), April 21, 2002.

Has anyone tried culturing the cream before making butter? I know cream can be cultured and I have heard of cultured butter. I am toying with the idea of adding a small amount of cultured buttermilk from the store and culturing my cream on the counter overnight. One thing I want to avoid is goaty tasting butter. I know my goat's milk gets goaty tasting after a few days in the fridge.

-- Tiffani (cappello@alltel.net), April 21, 2002.

Been through most breeds of goats and found each breed and cross breed had different butter fat content. So what is yours?

-- Tis I (really_tis_i@yahoo.com), April 22, 2002.

I *much* prefer cultured cream for buttermaking. It's very simple--you only need to add a bit of cultured buttermilk to the cream, and leave it in a warm place overnight. Then chill the cream slightly and churn. The flavor of the resulting butter is infinitely better than non-cultured butter!

As for your other problem, cream produced at different times of the year takes more or less time to churn. I've had it take as long as 12 or 15 minutes in a high powered food processor on occasion, but the butter has always come, sooner or later. Don't give up too soon.

-- Julia (charmer24@juno.com), April 22, 2002.


I knew a woman once who really didn't know what cream was like. She was trying to run a separator, but she wasn't doing a thorough job - she was ending up with very creamy milk, rather than cream. Now, she was making icecream rather than butter, and it worked OK for her. However, there's no way she could have made butter out of what she thought was cream. Of course, you get less cream, if you adjust the separator correctly, than you would creamy milk - but that's the cost you pay for getting real pure cream. Not saying that's your problem, but it may be worth looking at.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), April 22, 2002.


maybe your whipping to fast???

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), April 22, 2002.

HURRAY! I GOT BUTTER!!!!!!!!!!! I chilled the whipped cream and put it back in the KitchenAid this morning. It instantly turned to butter. It is salted and beautiful. How do I know I got all the buttermilk out? It was not as solid as the cow's butter. It tastes wonderful! I think I will culture it next time for sure. I'll bet it will keep better.

-- Tiffani (cappello@alltel.net), April 22, 2002.

Congrats! Hope you've got some fresh made bread to slather that new butter on!

And you know you have all the buttermilk out when any liquid you can squeeze out of the butter (by pressing it against the bowl with a spoon) is clear. If it's milky white, wash the butter with cool water until it is clear. Then press the water out.

Your butter may not seem as solid simply because it's warm. Chill it for a while and then see what you think.

-- Julia (charmer24@juno.com), April 22, 2002.


Now that you have butter you can drink whats left of the milk. Around here we call it Blu-jon. It doesn't have a whole lot of taste but if you put chocolate mix in it the kids won't know it.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), April 25, 2002.

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