# cleaning milk dishes without dishwasher



## JoannaCW (Nov 29, 2008)

We milk a couple of goats. Our usual process for cleaning milking pails, the milk filter and the milk storage jars has been to rinse with cool water, scrub with hot soapy water, and then run through our rickety old commercial dishwasher which had detergent and sanitizer as well as very hot water. There's some visible cloudiness--milk stone, I think--on the metal equipment, but no smell, and the milk stays fresh. The dishwasher is dying and we're thinking of not replacing it. We're trying to figure out what we'd then need to do to clean up milk residue..prefer something reasonably nontoxic. What do you folks do?


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## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

Before we had the dishwasher I scrubbed everything in Dawn and hot water, rinsed thoroughly and let air dry. If you're concerned about losing out on the heat of the dishwasher drying cycle, I suppose you could turn your oven to warm turn it off and set things in there for a bit.


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## Seth (Dec 3, 2012)

After milking 115 cows, we wash down with hot water. Seth


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I used the foaming acid cleaner as part of my washing process. The dairy supply companies have several kinds.


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## JoannaCW (Nov 29, 2008)

Thank you very much, everyone! It's good to see the range of practices that work for different people.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

wash with vinager now n then to disolve the milkstone,


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Most any detergent in warm to hot water will clean everything, rinse with clean water and allow to dry. You can also clean them with high pressure steam, with Clorox and other dissenfectants, dry in an oven for two hours set at 450 degrees. They won't be any cleaner or safer but you might feel better. Me? I use ivory liquid and clean water, let air dry and get on with life.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Milk stone is a bit different.


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## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

When I milked for my aunt and mother-in-law, they used detergent then an acid rinse just like in cow dairy farms. Then air dried. They used to make cheese and to the best of my knowledge that practice worked.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Milk stone is a bit different.


I'm thinking vinegar would dissolve calcium as well as other lime like minerals. It works for me on other stuff.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Milk stone isn’t just calcium. It’s the minerals and proteins and scummy stuff.


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Alice is talking sense and it would pay to listen to her! I milk cows but the procedure is exactly the same. I use an acidic detergent every milking to clean the machine and any other utensils I may have used. Once a week I put through an alkaline detergent that will quite literally strip paint. This will clean up the milk stone that Alice refers to as well as going a long way to dealing with any bacteria lurking about in your milk lines, receivers etc. The acidic and alkaline detergents are non-foaming and registered (in NZ) for use in dairy sheds and operations. 

Vinegar, despite all it's properties, is not going to cut the mustard when it comes to keeping milking plant and utensils clean and free of milk stone. PLEASE do not use the likes of Dawn in your machine or utensils. It is highly foaming, therefore difficult to rinse and likely to contaminate your milk.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Ronney said:


> Alice is talking sense and it would pay to listen to her! I milk cows but the procedure is exactly the same. I use an acidic detergent every milking to clean the machine and any other utensils I may have used. Once a week I put through an alkaline detergent that will quite literally strip paint. This will clean up the milk stone that Alice refers to as well as going a long way to dealing with any bacteria lurking about in your milk lines, receivers etc. The acidic and alkaline detergents are non-foaming and registered (in NZ) for use in dairy sheds and operations.
> 
> Vinegar, despite all it's properties, is not going to cut the mustard when it comes to keeping milking plant and utensils clean and free of milk stone. PLEASE do not use the likes of Dawn in your machine or utensils. It is highly foaming, therefore difficult to rinse and likely to contaminate your milk.
> 
> ...


I get the difference between cleaning dairy equipment on a large scale operation and a few quart jars and an open pail. (No machines, lines, tanks, nooks and crannies for stuff to hide in) I milked goats and "processed" the milk for home use for years. Washed well and rinse, air dry was simple easy and effective. Never had any milkstone build up either. Not even in the cream separator. I'm thinking maybe the milk didn't have time enough to dry out leaving residues as I cleaned everything up immediately after using? Pretty much the same experience as a kid growing up with one milk cow, milk the cow in open bucket, carry to house, run through strainer filter into stainless pan, scald on the cook stove then off to the freezer for a quick chill. From there it went into glass jars or stone crock in the fridge to be skimmed later. cleanup strainer and bucket while scalding. Didn't have to separate then, just wait a couple days and skim off the top. Goats milk? Need a separator of some sort if you want the cream.


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## Amtown (Dec 29, 2020)

Wow, is there anyone that still do that. I think it's very hard to wash dishes by hand, especially milk dishes. Right now I am using IFB Neptune FX Fully Electronic Dishwasher that I found on https://hellodiya.in/best-dishwasher-reviews/, and I can imagine my life without it, it's very helpful to have one of these in your home, I can assure you that. In case someone is still washing the dishes by hand, I really recommend you to buy a dishwasher, you won't regret it. Hope my message will be helpful for someone. Good luck.


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## honey20miss (Feb 24, 2021)

I do not use the dishwasher, only wash the dishes with my hands and always add soda


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## honey20miss (Feb 24, 2021)

To be honest, I've never used a dishwasher, but I have one. I am very lazy to load it and then put the dishes in their places. I can wash the dishes with my hands, but it is also not difficult to wash them from milk by hand. The only thing is that after preparing milk formula for children, I practically could not wash anything. Yes, I wash my car in a car wash, I don’t wash the tiles myself, I order house washing services, but I don’t trust anyone’s dishes. But when my mother-in-law comes to visit, I am ready to wash everything myself with my own hands, so long as she does not touch my dishes. She's always giving cleaning advice, she's obsessed with her. It's easier for me to wash the whole house myself, because the mother-in-law of even specialists tries to teach how to clean my house correctly, and she never cleans her house.


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## RockOn (Jun 12, 2021)

I am for vinegar too. Lately it became my favorite cleaning product.


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## RJ2019 (Aug 27, 2019)

RockOn said:


> I am for vinegar too. Lately it became my favorite cleaning product.


Um. Do you know what happens when milk comes into contact with vinegar?

Better rinse well if you're gonna try that.
I liked the sanitizer used for brewing equipment when I was still milking, as I also did not have a dishwasher.


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

Ronney said:


> Vinegar, despite all it's properties, is not going to cut the mustard when it comes to keeping milking plant and utensils clean and free of milk stone. PLEASE do not use the likes of Dawn in your machine or utensils. It is highly foaming, therefore difficult to rinse and likely to contaminate your milk.
> 
> Cheers,
> Ronnie


Ronnie,

How does mustard get into your milking equipment?

But seriously, are you grass based on your operation? I understand that that method is quite popular in your neck of the woods.


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Tom Horn said:


> Ronnie,
> 
> How does mustard get into your milking equipment?
> 
> But seriously, are you grass based on your operation? I understand that that method is quite popular in your neck of the woods.


Hi,
I've often wondered where the saying "isn't going to cut the mustard" came from. I guess Google would tell me.

Yes, our farm is grass based and in all honesty, I wouldn't know how to farm any other way. Most NZ farms are run as grass fed operations. Beef is finished on grass, no maize (corn) involved although there are at least a couple of feed lots in the country. Because of age and a change in what we do, I no longer milk cows but still have the remnants of my small milking herd plus beef cows which are at least half Angus, most of which have a history going back to my milking herd. They are all grass fed with supplementary hay during the winter. 

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

Ronney said:


> Hi,
> I've often wondered where the saying "isn't going to cut the mustard" came from. I guess Google would tell me.
> 
> Yes, our farm is grass based and in all honesty, I wouldn't know how to farm any other way. Most NZ farms are run as grass fed operations. Beef is finished on grass, no maize (corn) involved although there are at least a couple of feed lots in the country. Because of age and a change in what we do, I no longer milk cows but still have the remnants of my small milking herd plus beef cows which are at least half Angus, most of which have a history going back to my milking herd. They are all grass fed with supplementary hay during the winter.
> ...


Interesting.

I've heard that it's not a bad way to go. if all of the cows get bred properly the dairyman has about two months off from milking each year. I really like the milk bar model too. It seems to be catching on here. The calves have to suck harder which produces more enzymes and also helps the milk bypass the rumen. They also don't suck each other as much when grouped.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

I'm with @Alice In TX/MO. Buy a gallon of the acid rinse. A little goes a long way, and it is very effective against milk stone. 

Vinegar is nice for many things, but not terribly effective against milk stone.


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