112 Thirty-Sixth Annual Report of the 



pounds of butter a day and handled daily about 400 samples of 

 cream. It was a large factory, — two men at the testing. 



A Member:- — Does he who brings thin cream realize less 

 profit than he who brings rich cream? 



Prof. Decker: — That is the fact of the case. The thick 

 cream may be churned to better advantage than the thin cream. 

 There is less milk serum to get rotten and cause trouble and a 

 larger starter may be used without diluting the cream to below 

 30 percent fat. 



A Member : — The man who brings the thin cream, of course, 

 gets a lower test than he who brings the thick cream. But he 

 gets the same price per pound for his butter fat, does he not? 



Prof. Decker: — No. He delivers just as many pounds of 

 butter fat, whether it is in thin or thick cream. But — and here 

 is the point — if this fat is contained by a thick cream, the 

 globules are crowded together in a small amount of milk serum, 

 and he gets, perhaps, a cent more a pound for the butter fat in 

 the thick cream, because the buttermaker can make a better 

 grade of butter, which sells at a higher price because of its im- 

 proved quality due to the thickness of the cream. 



A Member : — Do you recommend using a starter in cream 

 gathered once in two or three days? 



Prof. Decker : — Yes. It is necessary to use a starter to 

 control the fermentation. If the cream is somewhat acid and 

 pasteurization is resorted to, a 40 percent cream with relatively 

 little serum will handle better than a 20 percent one carrying 

 relatively much serum. If the acidity is too high at the tem- 

 perature at which it is pasteurized a thick curd will often form 

 which appears in the butter in the form of white specks. To ob- 

 viate this viscogen (sucrate of lime or lime water and cane 

 sugar) is used to neutralize the acid. 



A Member : — What temperature of wash water would you 

 use compared with the temperature of the cream in churning? 



Prof. Decker: — If one starts at 53° and the butter would 

 break at 55°, use wash water at 60°. 



Same Member : — In a room temperature of between 60° and 

 65°, I find it hard to handle butter churned below 60°. 



Prof. Decker : — That is true. It depends upon other condi- 

 tions. If you are churning in the winter time and have harder 

 fats, and your room gets colder, — you would use a warmer wash 

 water perhaps than you would in the summer time when you 

 have got soft fats and when your temperature would be likely 

 to get away from you and make a soft butter and injure the 

 grain. 



