DAIRY BUTTER-MAKING 683 



until enough is secured for a churning. It is then warmed up to 75° F. 

 and held at that temperature until the proper amount of acid is developed 

 in it. At this temperature about twelve hours is required to develop the 

 proper percentage of acid. 



The second method is to ripen the cream of the first separation that 

 is to form the new churning at about 75° F. until 0.3 per cent of acid is 

 developed. It is then cooled to the temperature of the springhouse or 

 cellar, and each subsequent creaming, after it has been cooled, is added 

 to this lot until enough is secured for a churning. Under average conditions 

 this will give enough acid development in the whole churning for best 

 results. The ripening of the first separation of cream develops a large 

 number of lactic acid bacteria and produces some acid, which serves to 

 hold in check the undesirable types of bacteria. 



The third method is to add a portion of buttermilk of good quality 

 to the first separation, and then add each succeeding creaming and 

 hold the whole amount at cellar or springhouse temperature until a 

 sufficient quantity is secured for a churning. If the ripening has not 

 sufficiently developed by that time the temperature can be raised to 

 75° F. and the cream allowed to ripen until the proper amount of acid 

 has developed. 



The object in the last two methods is essentially the same, namely, 

 to hold in check the undesirable bacteria by having developed or intro- 

 duced into the cream a preponderance of the desirable bacteria and a 

 small amount of acid. The last two methods are simple, handy and 

 require no special apparatus. Care must be taken, however, in the last 

 method to make sure that the buttermilk comes from butter of a good 

 flavor and quality. The using of buttermilk of medium or poor quality 

 is very likely to produce butter of much the same kind as that from which 

 the buttermilk was secured. 



Amount of Acid to Develop, or Degree of Ripening. — Large amounts 

 of farm cream are ripened or soured too much before churning. Because 

 of this, an old and tainted or stale flavor is developed. Cream ripened 

 until it is sharply sour usually contains from 0.6 to 0.8 per cent of acid, 

 which is too much. The best flavors and keeping quality are secured when 

 it is ripened so as to contain about 0.4 to 0.5 per cent of acid. Where 

 no acid test is used, this amount of acid may be approximated. The cream 

 should taste only very mildly sour. Cream naturally ripened at 70° to 

 75° F. will develop about this amount of acid if held ten hours. 



The Use of Starters. — Starters are not much used on the farm and 

 when used are generally of the natural kind, that is, made up of buttermilk 

 or good sour milk. They are very desirable, if care is taken to use only 

 good buttermilk or sour milk, and in most cases will improve the quality 

 of the butter produced. They are especially desirable when cream is 

 hard to churn because of improper ripening, and where it is difficult to 

 secure proper -ripening. The amount to use varies with the con- 



