The Perfect Milk Strainer

No, I don’t make any money if you buy this strainer.  But I wish I did because you all should buy it.

I’ve been milking for years.  I’ve been straining milk for years.  I really liked my first strainer.  But… I lost the centerpiece. Translation: If you have 4 small children who help with dishes, they will lose the centerpiece to your strainer.  I tried ordering a replacement but it was back-ordered. Then four months later I was told they could no longer get the part.  Ugh.

Buy the replacement ring for strainer HERE.

I tried to use a coffee filter among other things to strain my milk.  Go here if you would like to hear me complain about those experiences.  There are other DIY hacks for straining milk, but I don’t like any of them for one reason or another.

So, I bought THIS milk strainer, and I LOVE it.  It comes from Caprine Supply.

BUY IT HERE.

They market this as a strainer for dairy goats, but it works great for cows too!  I use this guy for my cow’s milk every day & it’s fab.

Here are my top 6 Reasons to Consider a strainer:

Reason 1 to Buy a Milk Strainer

You can will do a lot more with your strainer than strain milk.  What can you do with a milk strainer?

1. Strain Milk
2. Strain Berries (for making jelly)
3. Strain Juice (for Canning Tomato juice)
4. Strain Lard (To get the whitest cleanest lard)
5. Strain Beef tallow (for clean white tallow to eat, make candles or repurpose)
6. Strain Curds from Whey (when cheese making)
7. Strain Maple Sap to make syrup
8. Strain Maple Syrup after cooking
9. Strain Bone Broth (for clear broth)
10. Strain Anything!

As you can see, there are many more homesteading uses for a strainer than just milk.

If you happen to own a dairy animal, I think a strainer of this quality will make your life easier.

Reason 2 to Buy a Milk Strainer 

I want clean, debris-free, hair free, floater free, raw milk.

To read why we went “raw” go here.

I don’t pasteurize or homogenize my milk.  I drink it raw, straight from the tap, so it needs to be perfectly clear, clean and lint free.  Using a “milk filter” to strain your milk is the answer.  It is made for clarifying milk.  It catches it all.

Reason 3 to Buy a Milk Strainer 

Consistent Results

These items do more than just net me perfectly clean milk – they also can indicate if there are any problems with my milk.

Slow straining?  Won’t strain?  Mastitis?

All these symptoms are clear by using milk filters & strainers regularly.

Problematic milk may work itself through cheesecloth or other lint-free cloth without notice – but it won’t make it through my milk strainer undetected.

Which is a great thing.  If my cows are sick or in need of attention, I want to know ASAP.  If there is a mastitis flare up teasing an udder, I can often keep it at bay with frequent milkings.  My straining setup is just the indicator I sometimes need to let me know something may be wrong.

It’s not perfect, and certainly can’t diagnose any illnesses – but can give me a warning when the milk is acting odd.

Reason 4 to Buy a Milk Strainer

It’s quick and easy to use.

When we lost the centerpiece to our old strainer, I was scouring the internet looking for other methods to straining.  Let me tell you if they work (some didn’t) they can be a royal pain.

Ugh.

Trying to balance the coffee filter, or the mesh strainer, or the towel, or the cheesecloth over the container catching the milk is miserable at best.  If it teeters off balance, you are cleaning milk off the world.  If it falls, you are cleaning milk off the world.  If you don’t stand there and hold it, you are cleaning milk off the world.

Did I mention that the DIY solutions took approximately 10,000 times longer to strain the milk (than it does with a real strainer), so not only are you babysitting the apparatus you just created, you are babysitting it forever.

I have other things to do.

Reason 5 to Buy a Milk Strainer

It will make your life simpler.

If you’re going to do this homesteader thing & milk your own cow (or goat) and make your own dairy products, cheese, lard, tallow, and food for a foreseeable amount of time, it makes sense to invest in the right products to make it as easy and simple as possible.

Homesteading is hard.  It is a lot of work.  It takes a lot of time to do these things by hand.  If there is a tool available (like a strainer) that will streamline the process, make it easier on you or get the job done faster – I think you should take advantage of it.

Reason 6 to Buy a Milk Strainer

Easy Cleanup.

Just stick the thing in the dishwasher & send it through a sanitize cycle.  Done.  Clean.

The Perfect Milk Strainer

Here it is:  Caprine Supply Milk Strainer

Be sure to buy a couple of extra replacement rings (here).

I should reiterate that I’m not on commission with the milk strainer people – although I would love it if I were.  🙂  I don’t get paid, or money or any free filters if you buy this strainer.  I am sharing this strainer with you because it’s great.  I am so in love with it, that I wanted to tell you all about it.

If you are milking something & need to strain milk every day, and are using a homegrown concoction, you may want to consider upgrading to this shiny strainer.

I’ll tell you that you can spend as much as you want on a milk strainer.

They can cost a small fortune and may not be what you want.  I don’t have 40 gallons of milk.  I don’t have 100 cows.  My mason jars do not have 6-inch openings (yes, many strainers do not taper small enough to fit into a mason jar or even a wide mouth jar).

Here’s the checklist of what I want need in a strainer:

• Holds a gallon of milk (so I can pour it in and walk away while it strains)
• Will fit into a wide mouth mason jar (so I can strain directly into my milk storage containers)
• Works with 4 9/16 milk filters (because I have 10,000 of them)
• Stainless Steel
• No rolled edges (that collect dirt)
• Replacement rings available

It took me weeks of research, phone calls and reviews to find this baby.

And those little rings – they are the mechanism that holds the actual filter in place.  They are gold.  This strainer will work with the small or large filters and you can purchase replacement rings.  Jackpot!  This is actually a HUGE bonus.  Believe it or not, many milk strainers come with one tiny little insert that makes the entire apparatus function and you CAN NOT get a replacement.  EVER.  No amount of money will put one back in your strainer.  They don’t sell them separately.

Not with this model.  You can get as many of these little rings as your heart desires – so when your children lose them all you can just order more.

I ordered 3 rings with mine because I’ve been to this picture show.

Fabulous strainer – extra rings – Eureka!  This is it!  It’s perfect!

It has a 4 quart capacity.  It’s stainless steel.  It works with 4 9/16 or 6 1/2 filters.  Replacement inserts are available.

Jackpot.

When I bought it, it was about $50 – which is not bad for a strainer of this quality.

I just LOVE it and thought if you are in the market for one – this one is fab.

I am sure there are even more reasons to justify purchasing the right milk strainer. I use mine to strain dozens of things.  I know it makes my life on this farm easier.  I know that living 4 months without it was agony during straining.  It took me and one of my children to get the milk properly strained each day.  I’m pretty sure neither of us wanted to be standing there watching the milk strain.

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Happy Milking!

-Candi