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Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 8:46 am
by Jakev1988
Hi everyone, long time no post for various reasons mainly work and lack of brewing.

I’ve got a great source of fresh cows milk whey, I’ve been told it makes a great vodka or neutral. Does anyone have any info on this in reassess to process but more importantly the yeast type required to convert the sugars to alcohol?

Cheers Jake.

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 9:05 am
by The Stig

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 2:01 pm
by RuddyCrazy
I tried a whey ferment in my 60 litre fermenter and everything I tried just wouldn't work and my next job is to find some ear plugs to use as nose plugs as the stuff stinks. Just just a word of warning EC1118 and bakers yeast won't ferment this stuff so do some research first or expect a smell you never wanted to smell

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 2:16 pm
by gap
google Hartshorn gin. A Tasmanian Gin distiller using whey left over from his sister's cheese making factory.
Standard yeast will not ferment the whey.
I have used some whey from my cheesemaking to make a milk stout, a great beer I am currently drinking.

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 5:02 pm
by hillzabilly
Found this https://homedistiller.org/sugar/wash-sugar/lactose .cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 5:30 pm
by Arismac
gap wrote:google Hartshorn gin. A Tasmanian Gin distiller using whey left over from his sister's cheese making factory.
Standard yeast will not ferment the whey.
I have used some whey from my cheesemaking to make a milk stout, a great beer I am currently drinking.


So true. The important thing to remember is that yeast is the name we use for a category of fungus, most of which serve us well. Selecting the right fungus for the particular "job" we have in mind is critical. Getting the selection wrong can lead to catastrophes and even poison. Take care ...

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 7:28 pm
by orcy
Just buy some lactase tablets from the chemist. Breaks the lactose into fermentable sugars. Not many yeasts that make ethanol can eat lactose directly.

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 5:43 am
by wynnum1
https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i6/Acid ... apped.html


Nonetheless, patent applications and company statements provide details about efforts to handle acid whey. A quick search of global patent applications related to the use of yogurt acid whey was conducted by CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, which also publishes C&EN. The search revealed more than 3,500 patents, 75% of which were published in the past five years. Much of the work has focused on extracting valuable ingredients, such as proteins and lactose, from acid whey using nanofiltration and other membrane-based filtration processes.

Cow milk whey seems to have a small percentage of lactose they say about 5% and that would produce half that as alcohol and what would the efficiency be of alcohol left seems that the whey needs to have water removed to get a workable level of lactose to make viable..
Reverse osmosis or putting the whey through distillation to remove water is needed.

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 2:02 pm
by Jakev1988
I did read that Wynnum and it has turned me off the whole venture lol a lot of work for a similar result

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 8:23 pm
by bluc
So is anyone doing a sussesful whey fermentation? I am about to start a homemade cheese hobby and wondering if its viable to ferment the whey or just ditch it..

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:18 pm
by Teddysad
In New Zealand Fonterra have a big plant which does exactly this and produces large volumes of Ethanol.

They use a propriety yeast which is not available to outsiders.

I can provide further info if required.

Re: Cow milk whey

PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2020 2:50 pm
by bluc
Thanks teddy although cant see much point if yeast is propiertry :crying-blue: