Smelly Milk Carafes

[Kone Tiki]

Is there a secret to cleaning the can't-get-to inner lining of milk pitchers? I thought I was doing the right thing by buying these things (they really keep the milk cold) but after a month they smell! It's not the inner stainless part, it's in between the liner & outer casing.

How do you keep your milks cold for customers at a self serve fixin's bar?

This is our third round of pitchers - first were glass lined (staff dropped 2 & shattered them), second were all plastic & they're not insulated so we used a timer to make sure we checked them regularly, now these stainless lined which we like but they don't come apart!

Anyone else in the same milk boat?

 

[CoffeeQban]

smell

are you taking apart the lid assembly? The lids are hollow and need to be disassembled nightly, or you make cheese!

 

[ElPugDiablo]

You might want to look into nsf rated carafes. They make cleaning half and half carafe less miserable.

 

[NW JAVA]

dump and clean EVERY day at end of day. That might help......Ever tried to clean a milk pitcher that sat over a holiday with milk in it? It's got a hard line of fatty milk, that has to be scrubbed off, with HOT water. My .02

 

[Kone Tiki]

We definitely clean the pitchers well every night - including using a toothbrush-type thing for the lids and "neck" of the carafe. What's funny is that when you shake the cleaned out/drained carafe you can hear water still inside somewhere. Like it's gotten inside the walls of it.

Believe it or not we tried the Scuncii Steamer on them and it worked for a week or so -

 

[NW JAVA]

Ewew....sour " water" in side...yuky......Thats' your problem most likely.

 

[NW JAVA]

Maybe soak the pitchers in bleachy water ? it probably says in somewher that the pitcher should never be submerged......So this is a last resort. And then do the bottoms unscrew or anything?

 

[joesonthenose]

Did you figure out the cleaning of the carafes yet?

One more thing, make sure to take off the rubber gasket that sits on the lid. The rubber is what makes the seal so milk/cream doesn''t leak out- and that''s what I found really smells.

I was dumping, cleaning, sanitizing the carafes every night, with the same problem. I had to use a flat head screwdriver to pry the rubber gasket free the first time, but once I started cleaning ALL the parts of the containers, the problem was solved.

Any other tips? Would love to hear them.

David
david@joesonthenose.com

 

[John P]

Don't leave cream out for "self serv" would be my advice.
Keep a small pitcher refrigerated, provide when necessary,and add cream as needed.
Clean pitcher nightly.

OR

Use a small metal or ceramic cream pitcher, keep on ice in appropriate tray or bowl, replace ice and cream as necessary.

 

[crema123]

John P - interesting... would you advise against putting any milk carafes / containers out?

I think it's a good idea but some people are quite particular about the amount added to the coffee and could slow things up. Maybe I'll give it a try and see how it goes!

I like the idea because there could be a higher perception of freshness...

 

[John P]

Crema,

People will adapt. You are giving them a HIGHER level of service, especially if you go a little further and add it yourself.

If you leave cream out you are subject to ghetto lattes, idiots adding more cream later, all sorts of crap. We control how much cream is added by controlling how much the cup is filled. If they want extra room, we'll charge them for it.

I would dispense with any self serve.. you are not a gas station.

 

[speckledbird]

Okay, so here''s what I came up with:

After trying each separately with minimal success I used the following:

Capful Bleach
1/4 cup Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Cafiza (a powdered espresso machine cleaner)
Fill to the top with boiling water (from the hot water tap on the coffee maker)

I let it sit overnight and it worked great, BUT where the lid screws in is plastic and on one of them I didn''t fill it high enough, so I have to redo it. So make sure you fill it so anywhere milk/cream was is covered.

-CK

 

[spf]

Really isn't wise to add bleach to other chems. Nasty lung eating gas could ensue.