Using Whey?

[3KillerBs]

So, I periodically make acid-set cheese from discount milk and end up with several quarts of whey remaining.

I can use a quart to make bread if I have guests (I'm on a low-carb diet so I need to feed bread to other people so I don't eat it all).

I can drink a cup or two (hot, with salt and pepper). No one else will drink it.

I hate pouring it down the drain, so ...

Can I use it up in any useful quantity making mash for my chickens? Mixing it with feed and/or scratch?

Especially, if I mix it with scratch will it help improve the nutritional quality? I only give scratch once or twice a week -- mainly as a training treat or to help the integration process by letting all chickens have a treat together. When I give scratch I often mix it with things like scraps from soup-making.

This is the best nutritional info I've found, but I don't know if the sodium content reflects mine because I don't salt the milk before making the cheese, preferring to salt the cheese afterward.

https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Whey,_fluid,_acid_nutritional_value.html

With my math disability I get lost in feed analysis numbers beyond simple things like % protein and grams of carbs.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

@U_Stormcrow

 

[Sally PB]

I end up with half a gallon of whey when I make yogurt. I use it instead of water for making chickie snack mash, and they like it.

Other uses: It's fantastic for acid loving plants. I give some to my blueberry plants. I have dumped it on the compost, before I had chickens. Making bread, as you mentioned. I can't quiiiite bring myself to drink it, but I could try it hot. I put it in smoothies, and have used it to cook rice.

There are two kinds of whey, sweet and acid. Sweet whey is from making cheese. You can use it to make ricotta cheese, then find a use for the whey leftover from that.

Acid whey is from yogurt and other fermented dairy products. I tried to make ricotta, with dismal results, because I didn't know it was the wrong kind.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I make milk kefir and use the whey that rises to the top as a starter culture for fermented vegetables like sauerkraut. It's sweet whey and all the animals around here enjoy it. I use it cold to preserve its probiotic qualities.

Cultures for Health (CFH) also has some ideas for using both kinds that you may find helpful.

Personally, I'd try using the acid whey in fermented feed (FF), but your poultry may not like the flavor. Perhaps using it as CFH suggests for skincare, especially in the bath, might be a backup plan if it's not a hit in FF..?

 

[glib]

Whey is particularly good for animals. it promotes growth (if you are raising them for meat), it promotes good fermentation, and it contributes K in good amounts which balances the high acidity of grains. it really should all go to your chickens and pigs.

 

[3KillerBs]

There are two kinds of whey, sweet and acid. Sweet whey is from making cheese. You can use it to make ricotta cheese, then find a use for the whey leftover from that.

I don't know what you'd class this as. It's acid-set cheese, the kind where you heat the milk and add vinegar or lemon juice, let it sit, then strain it -- getting a result rather like Farmer's cheese.

Personally, I'd try using the acid whey in fermented feed (FF)

I don't do fermented feed except by accident when a feed gets wet from some kind of leak or spillage.

which balances the high acidity of grains.

I think this would be pretty acidic with having added vinegar to the milk.

 

[Sally PB]

I don't know what you'd class this as. It's acid-set cheese, the kind where you heat the milk and add vinegar or lemon juice, let it sit, then strain it -- getting a result rather like Farmer's cheese.

no idea, but now I'm curious... do you have a recipe to make this? I want to try it.

 

[3KillerBs]

no idea, but now I'm curious... do you have a recipe to make this? I want to try it.

I use this one: https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-ricotta-cheese-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-23326

The writer called it ricotta, but it's not really. I think it's more like what I used to know as farmer's cheese.

I've varied it in different ways, including mixing in plain yogurt or sour cream when I had some that needed to be used up (after heating, not before), and like the flavor I get from white vinegar best.

 

[Sally PB]

Thank you! I have to try this.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thank you! I have to try this.

It works best with full-fat milk. I've used 2% and it was rather dry.

I eat the end result as if it were cottage cheese and put it into lasagna like ricotta. I haven't tried it because I'm low-carb, but I think it would be perfect to use in potato-cheese piroghi.