^^ Illinois State Dairymen's Association. 



acid developed. Usually during the warmer season of the year 

 there is an abundance of acid present when the cream is delivered. 

 The starter should be added immediately. An hour later the 

 cream should be cooled to a temperature sufficiently low for 

 churning. 



When Should the Cream Be Churned? 



This will depend upon factory conditions. There is no 

 fixed rule as to how long the cream must be held before churn- 

 ing, other than this. It must be held long enough at churning 

 temperature to produce the desired firming of the butter fat. 

 The method employed in whole milk factories is to hold the 

 cream until the following morning. This has been followed in 

 the hand separator factories. Where they have not the proper 

 facilities for holding the cream, for any length of time without 

 its being changed by the room temperature, it seems possible 

 that a better grade, of butter might be made b}'' churning the 

 cream two or three hours after it has been cooled. With good 

 vats there is no change in quality, whether the cream is churned 

 in the afternoon or the next morning. The above conclusion 

 was obtained by four different judges, scoring 100 tubs of butter, 

 50 of which were churned in the afternoon and 50 the following 

 morning. 



The only serious objection to holding the cream for the 

 short period is that it is apt to be overdone and the cream not 

 allowed to stand long enough at the desired temperature. This 

 will not show itself in the flavor but rather in the body. 



The Churning of the Cream. 



The two most important factors in churning are — the tem- 

 perature of the cream and size of granules. The first is changed 

 with the seasons and the length of time that the cream is held 

 cold. The granules should be just large enough to permit the 

 handling of the product in drawing off the buttermilk and wash- 

 ing off the butter without any loss. 



It is not safe to state just what temperature should be em- 

 ployed in churning, other than this. The butter should at no 

 time be in a slushy condition or so soft that the granules do not 

 remain more or less separate. That does not mean that the tem- 

 perature must always be 50 to 52 degrees, but it would be better 



