No. 6. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 591 



completed, lii finishing the operation of churning, two points should 

 be aimed at, (1) completeness of churning and (2) retention of 

 smallest practicable amount of buttermilk in butter granules. 



(1.) Completeness of Churning. — Bj completeness of churoing we 

 mean the extent to which the fat has been gathered from the milk- 

 seium into butter. This is shown by the amount of fat left in the 

 buttermilk, and is governed by several conditions, which have al- 

 ready been mentioned. Thus, the loss of fat in buttermilk is greater 

 in mixed creams of varying degrees of ripeness than it is in uniformly 

 ripened cream; it is greater at higher temperatures of churning than 

 at lower ones. As an indication of when the fat is removed as com- 

 pletely as practicable by churning, the size of the butter granules 

 may be taken, though not always. The usual instructions given 

 are to stop churning when the butter granules are about the size 

 of kernels of wheat. This cannot always be relied upon as showing 

 that the churning has been completed, since, under differing condi- 

 tions, the completeness of separation differs with the size of butter 

 giynules. The appearance of the buttermilk is usually a good indi- 

 cation of the completene*-s of churning; when the fat has been most 

 efficiently removed, the buttermilk should look bluish and thin or 

 wu.ery, an appearance not difficult to distinguish. As a rule, churn- 

 iDg should be continued until the buttermilk reaches this condi- 

 ti: n, without reference to the size of the butter granules. When the 

 •Lurning is most effective, the buttermilk should not cotitain more 

 tiian one-tenth of one per cent, of fat. 



(2.) Amount of Buttermilk left in Butter. — The larger the granules 

 of butter at the close of churning, the greater the amount of butter- 

 milk remaining in the butter. This is an undesirable condition, 

 since the keeping quality of butter is unfavorably affected by the 

 prr.seuce of much buttermilk. Every effort should be made so to 

 C'intiol the conditions of cream ripening and the conditions of churn- 

 ing that, when the butter granules are the size of wheat grains, 

 the fat will be removed from the buttermilk as completely as is 

 practicable. 



35. Difficulties Experienced io Churning. 



It is a common experience, especially in making butter at home, 

 to have churnings in which the fat-globules separate in granules with 

 extreme difficulty from the buttermilk, or refuse to separate at all. 

 Various conditions may cause this behavior. Some of these have 

 already been referred to in connection with the conditions of clnrn- 

 ing. To some of these we will call more detailed atteotion at this 



