# Butter Methods



## twohunnyz (Apr 27, 2006)

Hi all, I've been making butter via the simple jar shaking method. It is consistent, but also consistently takes 45 minutes to an hour to get butter. I don't particularly care for that!

I would like to find a quicker, yet still non-electric, method. Have any suggestions? Does anyone have experience with the jar crank style?

Thank you,

Krystal


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

I realize you wanted non-electric..... but had to pipe in. I'm using our kitchen aide stand mixer with the paddle attachment (not the whisk) and getting butter in under 10 minutes. I'm using cream that has been allowed to ripen/clabber for 2-3 days.

gl!


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## twohunnyz (Apr 27, 2006)

Thanks for the tip, Cathleen. I have used mine, but with the whisk attachment- what a mess! I'll try the paddle.  I need non-electric eventually for the simple reason that we are moving to our minimally solar-powered ranch next year. I would prefer non-electric if at all possible, but using my KA is an option, too. On sunny days, that is! 

Krystal


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## Woodroe (Oct 28, 2005)

I put the milk and cream (from a jersey cow) in a quart jar about 3/4 full and shake for about 25 minutes. Wind up with a ball of golden butter and also I am left with delicious butter milk for biscuits.


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## twohunnyz (Apr 27, 2006)

So, I've heard about letting the cream ripen or culture for 2-3 days before making butter with it, but don't like the taste of clabbered milk and assumed the cream would take on a similar flavor. I was wrong. Plus, one thing I've never heard related to doing this with cream is that it shortens the time to get butter. 

I tried this method over the weekend- 1 qt. of cream shaken in a half gallon jar came to butter in 25 minutes of shaking. I am convinced!!! And here I was getting close to quit making butter altogether. Thank you all! 

By the way, the aroma and taste of the butter with ripened cream is even more mild and creamy than when made with unripened cream. Imagine that! 

Krystal


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

Do you have access to an old Daisy crank style churn? I've got my grandma's old churn and it still works like a champ! They can be bought on ebay, but they're pricy. Seems folks are nostalgic feeling about them and like to sit them up on a shelf.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

Krystal, I just made 3 lbs of butter yesterday from 3-day ripened cream and it was not as good as the other batches. Smelled yeasty to begin with, the buttermilk is nasty tasting instead of clean and fresh, and the butter is stronger but still good, just not as good. I made sure to wash it and wash it and wash it and wash.....

I did some research and found advice to never put a solid lid on top of clabbering milk or cream, just a cloth that allowed air/gas exchange. I had a solid pot lid. Am thinking maybe that is what caused the not so great difference between this batch and the other great batches - and wanted to pass that along.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

I also have a Daisy churn, but unless you have kids to turn it for you, the Kitchen Aid mixer is faster and easier, especially when you are making butter three or four times per week. My family prefers sweet cream butter, so I usually dump the cream in the mixer bowl right from the refrigerator. It doesn't take but a few minutes to make butter with the mixer.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

I tried using the electric mixer one time and just made "whipped cream" did I not wait long enough? Or, did I mix it too fast?


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

francismilker said:


> I tried using the electric mixer one time and just made "whipped cream" did I not wait long enough? Or, did I mix it too fast?


you did not wait long enough. It whips, then it starts to fall in on itself, then you can see itsy bitsy grains forming, then stand back! You are about to get splashed by the buttermilk flying away from the butter. lol.


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## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

Back in the 30s Farmers mostly sold cream. The local Creamerys would send a truck around the area once a week to pick up the cream on their route. The truck also carried chicken crates, and bought chickens and eggs. They would take a test sample of the sour cream for butterfat content in a little bottle. They took your cream can or cans and left you empty ones. There was no cooling or refrigeration of the cream. Farmers would pour fresh cream right into the cans on top of the cream from previous millkings for seven days. My grandmother milked one cow out in the barn yard.
She let the milk set for several hours before skimming the cream off the top with a very large spoon and putting it into the cream can.
She put the sour skimmed milk in a large kettle on the cool end of her wood cook stove, and let it simmer for a long time. I was a little kid, and it seemed like all day. Curds would form on top, and she used them for cottage cheese. The wattery whey still left was feed to her free range home grown organic chickens. She took sour cream from the cream can to make butter. Most often a kid would take his turn bouncing the half gallon jar on their knee. You can't buy butter that tastes as good as grandma's did. <>Unk


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## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

Making butter by shaking a fruit jar don't sound like the way to go. Almost every country family used to have a Daisy churn. They were large squaqre jars with a large mouth where the wooden paddles were stuck down into the cream and were spun around by the geared top powered by the crank that just fit little kids hands. Collecters now have most of these.
I was wondering what would happen if you put the cream in a small icecream freezer (without ice) and hooked it up to a high speed kid, or an electric motor. 
Or - You could hang your fruit jar in a sack on the back of your riding mower. I do know it will work hanging under the seat of a horse drawn mower. 
<>Unk


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## happydog (May 7, 2008)

I've seen this one recommended, but it's expensive:

www.lehmans.com/store/Exclusives___Lehman__x27_s__xAE__Best_Butter_Churn___1108555?Args


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## commonsense (Jun 1, 2008)

I made butter yesterday by shaking it in a jar. It changed to butter very quickly, in less than 10 minutes. I skimmed the cream off in the morning (milk had been in the fridge since the night before) then let it warm to room temperature for a couple of hours, basically until I was ready for it. 

I shook it up and got butter faster than ever before. I was in a particular hurry because I wanted to use the butter for the chicken I was baking, and had forgotten about it until I was ready to put the chicken in the oven.


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## Trisha in WA (Sep 28, 2005)

happydog said:


> I've seen this one recommended, but it's expensive:
> 
> www.lehmans.com/store/Exclusives___Lehman__x27_s__xAE__Best_Butter_Churn___1108555?Args


I bought one of those and NEVER got it to make butter. I ended up returning it and going back to shaking a jar.


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## Laura Workman (May 10, 2002)

I've seen an antique butter churn with rocking feet. I imagine you could do the same thing with an old rocking bassinet. Just line the jars half-full of cream up in the bassinet crosswise so they slosh lengthwise when the bassinet is rocked, and rock it with your foot while you sit and read or knit or something. Does that make any sense? It's sure easy for me to visualize. Hopefully I explained it clearly. Here's a link to the sort of bassinet I had in mind: http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/atq/1507561939.html


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## Pakalana (Mar 9, 2008)

A little on the late side but I'll chime in with my cents. 

Kitchen Aide: Used it, messy and the butter is hard, not my favorite. 
Jars: Ugh, yep. One trick is getting a rhythm with the shake having a good force to it, using the sides of the jar rather than the top and bottom. I watched a video and the guy described it as a percussion action, so imagine popping little water balloons, suspended in the milk, against the sides of the jar. 
Blender: electric, but the best of both worlds IMO....and not messy. LOL
Butter churn: Lehman's has one, haven't tried it yet. All my grandma's are on me for not having a churn. You could always go with a dasher style (there's some serious old school). Lehman's has those as well for a reasonable price. 

I'm still working on a churn, right now it's the old jar method.  I use a half gallon, no more than 1/3 full. Even with fresh cream, I let mine sit until it's just room temp, the butter will usually come in about 15 minutes. If the jar is too full it takes an age.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

I've been turning out 1.25 lbs butter/half gallon of cream very consistently these last few days. Nice to have success! hope it stays around. Finally resorted to the Margaret Morris book and yes, following it to a 'T' has made a difference

1) fill half gallon jar to neck, bring temp to 62 degrees, sprinkle on 1/8th tsp of MesoII freeze dried culture. Let set a few minutes, cap jar, shake for a few minutes to dissolve culture. Let jar of cream set out, at room temp, lid off but clean cloth rubberbanded over neck/top, for 16-20 hours. By this time the top cream line will be thick thick thick. If not thick, like super thick sour cream, I'll leave it out a few more hours (we keep a cool house).

2) refrigerate cultured cream for 5-8 hours, then remove from fridge and bring temp to 52-54 degrees.

3) put entire 1/2 gallon of cultured cream in food processor and process till butter forms - takes 19 minutes every time. 

I only do one 1/2 gallon batch at a time - if I try two batches then the food processor motor starts to overheat.


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## cmharris6002 (Jan 27, 2006)

I have a cream separator and plan to make goat butter this year. Thanks for the great instructions!! What speed for the food processor?


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

Christi, my food processor only has one speed - 'on'. It has a 12 cup bowl and 1/2 gallon fills it to capacity during processing (I can tell when the butter 'breaks' because the buttermilk starts escaping between lid and bowl). The cream will sort of whip up and expand in volume before it starts collapsing and breaking.

Do you have a ph meter? That's next on my wish list. If you do, post back here and I can add the acidity levels to check for from Morris's book.


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## cmharris6002 (Jan 27, 2006)

I have Morris's book, is that where you got your method? My meter broke, I want to get a new one but I have had such great cheese making results without it that I can't really justify the purchase. I have put off making butter but I really want to do it this year.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I've done it with a churn and jar. I found that getting it warm helped. Warmer than room temp. using the jar, it warmed simply because of my hands. Never measured the temp. P.S. Antique churns are very expensive, I suppose it's because of the glass getting broke so easly.


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## backachersfarm (Jun 14, 2005)

I make butter about 3 times a week. I let the milk stand for 2 days in frig and skim the cream off with a large spoon. I use my kitchenaide to work it up. In the beginning it was a race to get to the mixer before all the butter milk was splashed all over the kitchen.....not a pretty site. Finally I decided to sacrifice the lid to the bowl. It came with an indention for the motor part to fold down over the bowl when not in use. I took and sharp knife and cut this small area out. Now it can beat away and not splash butter milk out of the bowl. I think the type of butter and how fast it comes to butter depends on what time of yr it is. The whisk attachment will do the job faster then the paddle...but it leaves more residue of cream at the top of the bowl.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

I am a jar girl... But I do have one great tip!!!! I use a mini turkey baster to get the cream off. So easy... just suck it up and spit it out!!


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## digApony (Oct 8, 2009)

I've used a hand mixer/before, slowly. However the best method I found was when I was homeschooling my two boys. 

They took turns with the jar. . It worked for a while ... Till they caught on 

Can you get your hands on a real butter churn? 

Otherwise an electric is the only other way that I know. 

DigApony.


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## tuffnutt (Jan 8, 2010)

When I was a kid we had 2 milk cows and some milk goats, after supper I would set in the floor watching tv turning the crank on the butter churn(that brings back alot of good memories), that was some good stuff, I asked my mom about the churn the other day and she can't find it, she thinks it was lost in a big tornado that hit when I was in high school


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