This is What 1,900 litres of Goat Milk Looks Like!

Goat milk going in to the vat

Today, we made the largest amount of cheese in one vat – ever!

Will we get 1,900 litres in?

Somehow, we managed to pasteurise 1,900 litres of goat milk into our large vat which had about two inches to spare to the top at one end and less the other end by the outlet valve, as the vat is on a slope.  Stirring it was fun, let alone cutting and shovelling it.

Still, we had had limbered up, with last Friday’s sheep make still lingering in our muscles.  Because of the high yield of sheep’s milk, 1,900 litres in one vat would just not be possible because it would be too much for two people to shovel.  When we make sheep’s cheese, we split 1,500 litres and 500 litres in the big and small vat respectively.  Even 1,500 litres is a tremendous amount to shovel.

Stu cutting - cutters only just tall enough

Our 1,900 litres translated into 72 pots, each weighing between 2 – 2.3kgs, so about 150 kgs in total.  Which puts it into perspective – me and Stu have been shovelling 150kgs between us.

Mind you, the make went so fast, we barely had time between cutting into blocks, turning, then cutting into cubes

Blocks of curd before we cubed, salted and milled

before we salted an milled.  It was FAST!

But a good make.  Steve, our Parcelforce chap dropped by just after we had milled and were potting up.  We gave him a small amount of curd to try and he really liked it.  I think it will be a good make!  Nice and crumbly, Original Goat, batch J12.

72 pots resting before being clothed up

Phew - clothed and in the press!

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