CONDENSED MILK ADDITION OF SUGAR 67 



definite desired percentage of cane sugar in the finished product, 

 is to accurately test and standardize the original fluid milk for 

 fat and solids not fat and then calculate the pounds of sugar to be 

 added on the basis of the total pounds of fat or of solids present. 

 For detailed directions see Chapter XXIX on " Standardization." 



Mixing the Sugar. The "sugar is added to the hot milk be- 

 fore the latter enters the vacuum pan. In some factories a 

 separate tank is provided for this purpose. Small portions of 

 the hot milk are allowed to flow into this tank. To these the 

 sugar is added. This tank is called the sugar well. It is usually 

 equipped with a mechanical reversible stirrer, moving to and fro 

 on an eccentric, to facilitate the solution of the sugar. The milk 

 from the heater and from the sugar well runs into a tank sunk 

 into the floor of the well room, the ground well, from which the 

 mixed sweetened milk is drawn into the vacuum pan. In other 

 factories the sugar well and ground well are one and the same 

 tank, into which the milk runs direct from the heater. In this 

 case it is advisable to set a wire mesh strainer (sixty to eighty 

 meshes to the inch) over the sugar well. The sugar is placed 

 into this strainer, a little at a time ; the hot milk from the heater 

 passing into and through the strainer dissolves the sugar. A 

 paddle or stick should be used to stir the sugar in the strainer. 

 For greater convenience and economy of labor, the sugar barrels 

 and scales are placed on the floor over the well room. The 

 sugar is transferred to the strainer below through a sugar chute 

 which may be equipped at the lower end with an adjustable cut- 

 off to regulate the sugar coming down. Or the kettles, hot 

 wells or sugar wells in which the sugar is added to the milk, 

 are sunk into the floor sufficiently to facilitate the emptying of 

 the sugar barrels direct from the floor into the milk. In this 

 case no sugar chute is needed. Other factories dissolve their 

 sugar in boiling water in a 1 separate tank, and draw this syrup 

 into the vacuum pan together with the hot milk. This is a very 

 commendable practice, as it minimizes the danger of undissolved 

 sugar crystals escaping into the pan. Moreover, this watery 

 syrup can be boiled without danger of giving the milk a cooked 

 flavor, 



