The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1901-04-05
CULTURE STARTERe
HOW THEY SHOULD BE PREPARED
AND HANDLED.

Standard of FIavor-Care Nece&-
sary to Lchieye the Best Results.
When to Put In the Cream.
In paper read before the Iowa con-
vention Ell. e. Schucknecht said the
pure culture starter had come to stay.
He spoke as follows:
I will give a brief outline of how to
prepare and handle a culture starter
To begin with, every creamery should
be provided with a steaming stub, over
which one may invert can or pail and
steam thoroughly, and let it be borne
in mind that every can, pail, dipper or
spoon used in connection with it should
be sterilized by steaming every time
before using, and with this constantly
in mind proceed to make starter as
follows: Select eight quarts fresh,
whole or skimmilk and heat this to
temperature Of $50 degrees or more for
20 minutes by placing the can in hot
water, stirring frequently. Then cool
rapidly by placing the can in cold wa
ter, stirring as before, until the milk
has cooled to about So or 90 degrees;
then at once put contents of package
of culture in the milk. Place a cover
on the can and keep it at a tempera-
ture of about 70 degrees, stirring ocea-
sionally. After SO to 49 hours the
starter should be somewhat sour and
rio nj hn
above purpose three Or four gallon
shotgun can, with a loose, overlapping
tin cover, is the most desirable | have
yet seen. / should not use a paper
cover, as some recommend, because it
is too apt to be removed by a gust of
air and at best is not germproof.
Use the loose, overlapping tin cover,
for it is germproof, can be sterilized
and fits loosely enough not to exclude
oxygen.
When these eight quarts are ready to
use, select the whole or skimmilk for
the full amount Of starter to be used
for instance, 20 gallons. Heat it to
$50 degrees or higher by placing cans
in hot water and stirring occasionally.
Leave it at that temperature at least
20 minutes; longer will do no harm,
but it will do good. The idea is to
kill as many of the wild bacteria as
possible, and the hotter it gets the more
will be killed. Don't be afraid of q
scalded taste or smell in the starter,
for that will do no harm, as it is only
in the milk and goes off in the butter
milk. That scalded taste does not
grow. I dwell on this particularly be-
cause most butter makers are afraid to
heat the starter hot enough and there
fore don't kill enough Of the bacteria
present, and the result is not so good
as if it had been made hotter and kept
hot long enough.
Heat it plenty, then cool to about 10
to IS degrees, and when that tempera
ture is reached Immediately add the
eight quarts previously prepared and
set aside at temperature Of from go
to 80 degrees, stirring occasionally, but
never after it curdles, unless you are
ready to use it. Watch it and control
temperature SO that by the next morn
ing at separating time it will be sour,
but not quite thick or barely so. Do
that case the Tactic acid bacteria are
apt to crowd the flavor culture out
somewhat. The very best time to use
a starter is when it Is sour and just be-
fore it thickens. 1t will thus mix more
easily in the cream, and the germs are
more active than when enough acid
has been formed to curdle the milk.
However, it is permissible to have the
starter curdle, as that Is the easiest
way to know it is in uniform condition
to use from day to day.
Use it as soon as possible after cur
ding. For those larger cans the over
tapping tin cover is also desirable.
When ready to put the starter in the
cream, which should be done as soon
as possible after starting the separator,
stir up the starter and first put about
10 per cent Of it into the shotgun set
ter, cover it up and then add the bal
ance of the starter to the cream.
Then wash and sterilize the cans,
select more milk, heat and cool as was
done the day before and add to it the
10 per cent saved from the previous
batch, and so on from day to day.
You will easily see that in this way
you are propagating only the culture
and not the wild bacteria naturally
present in the cream, which species we
do not propagate in using buttermilk,
and herein lies the danger. Prepare a
new, original starter as often as the
supply is sent. In this connection I
will say that with care a starter can
be propagated for from two to four
weeks with good results. These direc-
lions for propagating apply when
cream is to be ripened and starter used
every day.
Where the starter is to be carried
over and used every two days only the
regular temperatures will be too high,
and instead of setting starter at 70 to
S. degrees probably about 65 degrees
would be about right. Also, instead of
saving 10 per cent of previous batch to
put into the newly prepared batch OF
sterilized milk, save not over per cent