How to clean milking equipment?

Posted by Ryan Holman on June 18th, 2019

Milk is an item that has to be stored consciously. Improper storage may lead its spoilage. Thus, an individual in the business of storage or sale of bulk milk must get a good quality cold storage from the best chiller manufacturers.

Being a milk hauler, you should know that each time milking equipment comes in contact with milk, it needs cleaning and sanitizing before the next milking. Not only the utensils, but even the bulk milk containers should also be cleaned after every pickup and sanitized before the next milking. Cleaning helps in removing the milk soils, organic and mineral solids that stick to the surface of equipment after the milk discharge.

Improper cleaning will multiply the bacteria on the surface of the equipment, which further results in bacteria elevation. 

Let’s study about the soils that stick to the milking equipment:

Fats, proteins, and sugars are the major organic milk constituents, which togetherly are the form of organic soil. If these soils are not cleaned, then they dry-up and harden, in the long run, form a deposit that is difficult to remove.

You should care that the cleaning agent is proficient enough to clean the surface milk, incompatibility to clean may lead to the formation of milkstone on the surface.

Cleaning Agents

Water is an important element for cleaning. The hardness of water determines what type of cleaning detergent will clean the equipment. If water hardness is more than 10 grains per gallon, a raised level of detergent concentration is to be applied. If it exceeds 30 grains per gallon, then a water softener is used.

An alkaline cleaner or chlorinated cleaner is used, followed by an acid cleaner, that helps dissolve milk fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, suspends and loosen the soil particles, removed by mechanical action. Acid cleaners further remove and prevent the milkstone buildup or any deposits need to be cleaned.

Sanitizing Milking Equipment

Cleaning does not eliminate all the bacteria. Thus, sanitizing the surface is necessary before the next milking. You need to make sure that an appropriate strength of the sanitizing solution is applied and thorough cleaning is done beforehand. If not cleaned properly, the bacteria will restrict the sanitizing action.

Cleaning Procedures

A strict procedure for cleaning is a mandate. Generally, the machine should be instantly be rinsed with 100 to 110oF lukewarm water after milking. Washing and an acid rinse should follow water rinsing.  All equipment and utensils must be in a manner that allows water drainage to dry promptly. The drainage works best when located at the lowest possible point of the machine in the Clean-in-Place(CIP) systems.

The Teat cup liners and rubber parts coming in contact with milk must be cleaned thoroughly after each milking and sanitized before the next milking. Also, you should replace the parts after the recommended number of extraction, or as and when needed.

Cleaning Milk Tanks in bulk

The milk hauler should undergo an appropriate cleaning process even if the milk tankers are in bulk. The 6-10 minute cleaning procedure is a must for all the milk tanks. Also, the outlet connection and valve must be flushed manually. See to it that no residue is left behind and make sure about there are no pertaining bacteria.

Tanks can be cleaned manually, by using Clean-in-Place systems, or mechanical systems.

Clean-in-Place Equipment

The creation of these pieces of equipment has saved a lot of cleaning time of milking equipment, though these systems should be checked regularly for best performance.

Wrapping up

Check for the best milk vat for sale in Victoria, maintain it and do not allow your milk to spoil.