DAIRYING 53 



316. The efficiency of skimming by a separator is influenced 

 in much the same way as just described if the milk is not per- 

 fectly sweet at the time of skimming, or if it is sweet and not well 

 mixed before skimming, as any lumps of sour curd or dried cream 

 in the milk will clog the tubes in the separator bowl in the same 

 way as the slime and dirt left in the uncleaned bowl interfere 

 with clean skimming. 



CAPACITY OF A SEPARATOR. 



317. The amount of milk skimmed per hour indicates the 

 capacity of a separator bowl. This is determined by the manu- 

 facturer. If too much milk is forced through a bowl the skim- 

 ming will not be satisfactory, as under such conditions the milk 

 does not remain long enough in the bowl to receive the full effect 

 of the centrifugal force and some of the cream is consequently 

 carried into the skim milk. 



318. Each separator bowl is designed to skim milk at a cer- 

 tain rate and to remove all the cream excepting a trace of fat 

 which goes into the skim milk. The amount of milk which will 

 be skimmed clean indicates the capacity of a separator. This 

 may be increased somewhat by excessive heating of the milk, but 

 as a rule the capacity advertised by the manufacturer is under- 

 stood to be the amount of milk which the bowl will skim per 



lour when heated to about 85 deg. F. 



319. It is very essential that the supply of milk shall be kept 

 iniform during skimming; an irregular or fluctuating flow of milk 

 lot only interferes with clean skimming, but in some cases the 



ibes in the bowl become clogged, especially when the milk sup- 

 >ly is stopped for a few minutes. With some separators the bowl 

 mst be cleaned after each stopping before skimming can be 

 mtinued. An even feed, even speed, and a uniform temperature 

 )f the milk are three very important points to be watched in using 

 separator. 



320. A change in the amount of milk skimmed per hour 

 ioes not cause a uniform change in the test of the skim milk. 



