262 CHURNING AND WASHING BUTTER 



sweet and pure condition by whitewashing or sprinkling a little 

 lime on them. 



In the preparation of a new churn for use it is a good plan 

 to treat it with milk of lime in the manner already described. 

 It will fill the pores of the wood and harden it, and remove all 

 danger of imparting a woody flavor to the butter of the first 

 churnings made in the churn. 



To Prevent Butter from " Sticking " to the Churn. At times 

 churns get into a condition in which butter sticks or adheres to 

 them more or less. Sometimes it requires treatment with a weak 

 acid solution to overcome this difficulty, and sometimes treatment 

 with an alkali solution is needed. If treatment with acid is 

 what is needed, a weak solution of either sulphuric or muriatic 

 acid may be used say a pint to 100 gallons of water. The 

 acid must be added carefully to the water in the churn and 

 none of it must be poured directly upon the wood. The churn 

 is revolved with this solution in it, for about five minutes at a 

 time, at intervals extending over a period of several hours. 

 It is then rinsed with warm water and then with water containing 

 a little of some good washing powder, such as Wyandotte. 

 If treatment with an alkali solution is needed, which is the case 

 if fat has soaked into the wood, a suitable washing powder may be 

 used to remove the difficulty. The following is an extract from 

 a letter received from one of our leading creameries which had 

 written for and received suggestions from one of the authors for 

 overcoming this difficulty: " We received your letter in regard to 

 the trouble we had with the butter sticking to our churn. We 

 are pleased to advise that we have apparently eliminated all 

 of this condition. When we received your letter suggesting 

 remedies which might stop this condition, we at first used the 

 muriatic acid but without any results whatever. Then our 

 butter-maker took about three pails of Wyandotte, put in a small 

 amount of water and heated with steam until he made a sort of a 

 paste out of it. He then put it in the churn and gave it several 

 revolutions and let it stand overnight, then washed it out 

 thoroughly with hot water. The first time it seemed to help 

 it very considerably, so we gave it another dose a day or two 



