A big cheese
February 8th, 2010 by DJ
I took this photo at a Bristol Farms in Los Angeles: a huge imported Swiss cheese. For reference, the blocks of cheese are about a pound– this half wheel must have weighed fifty pounds easily!
85 Degrees
February 7th, 2010 by DJ
Last week, a 3 hour test of the vat resulted in a 16 degree rise in vat temperature, and I learned we had it hooked up wrong and needed more water flow.
This past week, I corrected the plumbing and installed a faster pump. Yesterday, I learned that our tankless hot water heater is the choke point. It’s rated at 4.2 gallons per minute– enough for an entire home, but not enough to pasteurize a hundred gallons of milk.
In a moment of inspiration (or an attack of insanity) I installed a valve to allow water to bypass the tankless heater, thereby giving me the option to increase the flow, though at a lower temperature. I used the tankless to heat up the 320 gallon water reservoir, since it’s snowing and there’s no help from the sun this weekend. Then I used the already-heated water, in combination with the tankless heater, to heat the vat.
The result: it took 1 hour and 15 minutes to heat from 58 degrees to 85 degrees, an increase of 27 degrees. That’s hot enough to make cheese– I call that a successful test.
It’s not enough heat transfer to pasteurize, which requires heating to 145 degrees. For that, I’ll need additional water heating, either from the sun or from a second tankless heater, which will take a couple of weeks to arrive and hook up. But at least we can now make aged cheeses!
Ranch Picture of the Day
February 7th, 2010 by Suellen
We are giving Christy a break and will not be breeding her this year. The past two years she has given us triplets. She turns into a very wide load.
(DJ Mitchell Photo) Christy pregnant in 2008
(Suellen Hockey Photo) Christy pregnant in 2009
Ranch Picture of the Day
February 6th, 2010 by Suellen
(DJ Mitchell Photo) Suellen & Annie
This picture is our East view. Obviously taken during a warmer time of the year. DJ is already getting spring fever and has ordered some seeds for the garden.
The saga of the vat continues…
February 6th, 2010 by DJ
(The plumbing to the vat pasteurizer.)
Our “new” vat pasteurizer was made decades ago by Creamery Package in Wisconsin. The problem is, it’s hard to find anyone who knows how it works. The used equipment dealer I bought it from has been very nice, but has no technical knowledge. He did, however, call the manufacturer for me. The manufacturer told him their records don;t go back that far– they have no idea.
An internet search led me to the Dairy Heritage website, run by a company in Maryland called Agri-Service LLC. They had some info on their site about vat pasteurizers, so I called them. Their installers were familiar with how the unit works, and got me headed in the right direction.
This week, I called them again: I had the unit hooked up right (I thought), but got only a 16 degree rise in temp over 3 hours. Clearly something was wrong. One of the guys at Agri-Service spent close to an hour on the phone with me, having me pull off plates to see what was underneath (”Hold on while I find the right wrench…”) and walking me through the mechanics of the unit.
Turns out I had it hooked up wrong after all– there’s a third connection I had thought was an overflow, which is actually the inlet. I’d been pumping hot water in through the drain valve, which heated the bottom of the vat but not much else.
The technician also told me I need more water flow than the Taco Model 007 pump can give me. So yesterday I went to the plumbing supply store and bought a Grundfos Model 96 that will pump water three times faster than the Taco. (And it cost more than twice as much!)
Today I’ll hook up the new pump– and keep my fingers crossed that I’ve finally got it right!
Ranch Picture of the Day
February 5th, 2010 by Suellen
(DJ Mitchell Photo)
This is my rooster Silky. As you can tell he is a very calm rooster. If a rooster or hen is turned on to their back they will fall asleep.
Ranch Picture of the Day
February 3rd, 2010 by Suellen
(DJ Mitchell Photo) On January 25th I posted about the strong winds that bent our wind turbine http://jackrabbitcheese.com/2010/01/25/ranch-picture-of-the-day-12/ Since then the wind turbine has been brought down. This picture shows the top of the wind turbine (working). The pole is now laying on the ground and this top part is in the barn. We have decided to wait until spring to put the wind turbine back up.
Hooking up the vat
February 2nd, 2010 by DJ
I’ve been trying for two weeks to hook up the new cheese vat/pasteurizer. I hadn’t realized that the pump wouldn’t pull water from the tank to the vat, it would only push. So I had to re-plumb and re-wire the pump in the other room. Then it didn’t pump, and when I disassembled it, found that a piece of insulation had lodged in the impeller. Then I discovered that I had hooked up the vat backwards (there are no labels telling which is the inlet and outlet).
Finally, it’s hooked up. Water comes in from the solar hot water tank, runs through a tankless heater to boost the temp, and into the vat. An atmospheric-pressure tank (i.e. unpressurized) encloses the bottom of the insulated vat. When water reaches a specified level, it begins to run out of the vat. I installed a second pump to return the expended water to the solar tank.
Tomorrow, we’ll fill the tank with a hundred gallons of water and see if it heats! (No sense wasting milk on an experiment.) If it works, we’ll have the dairy inspector out to license our “new” pasteurizer.
(DJ Mitchell Photo) MackRanch Picture of the Day
February 1st, 2010 by Suellen
(Suellen Hockey Photo)
This is Mack he is Guy, Luna and Nisha’s father.
