Did I make clabber or Frankenstein??

[Jes]

First off, I PROMISE that I read The Clabber Thread a dozen times; I still managed to come up with a dozen more questions.
I've been buying fresh milk from a family down the road for about a month. Last week I decided to try my hand at making clabber for the chickens (just to see if I could) and I've gotten mixed results.

This first one was a jar of milk from the first day that I bought milk. Somehow it got shoved to the back of the fridge and I didn't see it until was almost a month old and had started to kinda smell off. I thought, "Perfect!" I'll set it out, cover it with cheesecloth and see what I get." It's sort of gel-ish inside a bunch of oily-looking liquid...but it smells pretty strongly like cheese and is getting more pungent the longer it sits. SERIOUSLY. I'm sitting six feet away and still think I can smell it...it's not necessarily a BAD smell; it actually smells like a pretty decent cheese (a pungent mozzarella maybe? lol) but since cheese wasn't what I was aiming for, I don't know what I have.   
Sour Milk turned Clabber?

This second jar was an after-thought. I made butter last week and this was the leftover buttermilk. I had used a recipe that asked for the milk to set out overnight, so from the way I understand it, this is cultered buttermilk turned clabber. (??) Before I decided to clabber it I tried to drink it (seems like such a waste not to do SOMETHING with it) but EGHAD was it strong!  (puke) It's set up REALLY thick practically in barely 48 hours. When I stick my nose in the jar it smells less strongly of cheese than the first jar.
(Cultured?) Buttermilk turned Clabber?

These last two jars were actually the FIRST two I started; they're older than they other two jars, are kind of slushy inside and starting to separate. If I stick my nose wayyy into the jar they do have a smell but it's not cheesy. 
Sour Milk turned Clabber?

Are any of these true clabber? Should I toss one/all of them out and start over?
Aaannd now...to see if I can get the photos to come up....
Nope. Guess not. Click the links to see the photos. =)

[sdmilkmaid]

You have what I would call clabber...
Not necessarily 'use for mesophilic cheese starter' quality, but hey, you were aiming for chicken feed, right? Now go feed it to the chickens, and whichever jar you best like the smell of, pour skim milk into it, and it will set up even faster, maybe even in less than 24 hrs, depending on temp.
Rachel

[Debbie Lincoln]

I agree - whichever one smells the best, save 1/4 cup to "start" the next batch and feed all the rest to chickens. Only leave it for 12 hours, though - 80 degrees or so. After that it becomes pretty thick and goopy. It's still OK, just starts getting a mind of its own, and you don't want to argue with clabber. It always wins.

[Jes]

Jul 23, 2014 21:32:54 GMT -5 Debbie Lincoln said:

It's still OK, just starts getting a mind of its own, and you don't want to argue with clabber. It always wins.

I can see what you mean. That first jar is looking pretty odd nowt. In the hour since I posted this, all of the goopy stuff floated to the top of the jar (it was at the bottom) and the oily-liquid is sinking down.

The chickens are going to have a scrumptious breakfast.

[guernseygirl]

I've feed some pretty crazy clabbers to chickens and pigs with no detrimental effects. I had one that got all spongy and climbed out of the top of the jar (guessing I somehow got yeast into it), not too much fun to wake up to a wild beast spreading across the kitchen counter.

[crose]

Thanks Jes for posting this along with pics. Sometimes I get myself so confused when I try to learn something new. Been trying to figure out what the heck is clabbered milk let alone try to make it. Now I think I understand. I just threw away some old milk as we were on vacation and I could have made clabbered milk. Bummer Love the replys too.

[lew92]

Just to clarify in case there is anyone who has not read the clabber thread through: Really old RAW milk that has thickened is fine for chicken/pig clabber. But, if you want clabber for feeding to your family, you really do need to go through the steps that Lannie laid out to make good, human-food grade clabber.

The only shortcut I've found is to use store bought active culture buttermilk at the rate of about a quarter cup to a quart of skimmed raw milk.

[Jes]

Crose, I'm glad my experiment was useful to you. Lol

I'm sure I'll do this again but will have to start again next week. I was still sleeping this morning when I dumped it all out for the chickens and didn't save any to start more.

[lew92]

If just making for chickens and you didn't wash out your container, there should be enough in there to jumpstart the next batch.

For human use, I prefer to keep it all a bit cleaner.