Why does the milk keep going sour?

[SongsOfDragons]

Ello, small culinary/storage question...

We have a small fridge, it's not too old. We keep our ordinary store-bought semi-skimmed milk in the fridge door, but recently (over the last several months) it keeps going sour early. As in, today the 6th I tested the milk that had only been used for tea two days before, and it was distinctly badly off, yet its sell-by was the 12th!!

It had to go. It's getting extremely wasteful and I'm missing my Cheerios. Does anyone have any advice on what I can do to save our milk?

[Ree]

Don't keep milk in the door of the fridge.

Every time you open the fridge door, items stored in the door run a greater risk of being exposed to fluctuating temperatures.

Foods that spoil easily should be stored within the body of the fridge.

[spark]

It can also help to make sure the fridge is set cold enough. My husband likes the milk practically frozen (on occasion, since it's not that precise, it does freeze, and then we have to set it out to thaw!) and everything in our fridge keeps forever, because it's so cold in there. It doesn't have to be that cold, but if it's running a little on the warm side milk will be the most obvious problem.

[SongsOfDragons]

Our fridge has seven temperature settings, and ours is currently on three. I don't have the manual for it any more (I think it got lost in the last move); should I turn it to a bigger number?

[Ree]

Do you have a fridge thermometer so that you can determine the actual temp of the frdige and make sure it's working properly?

If there are 7 settings, and you are at #3, you might consider going higher.

Definitely move the milk into the body of the fridge, though.

http://www.dairycouncilofca.org/milk..._Handling.aspx
Store milk in the back of the refrigerator and away from the refrigerator door if possible to keep the temperature at a lower and more constant temperature. Frequent opening and closing of the refrigerator door welcomes warm air in, which interacts primarily with foods immediately inside the doors.

[PepperElf]

our milk usually lasts a day or two past the expiration date - and yes it's in the back corner on the hinge side, so ... i never though about it before but it gets the least exposure i guess.

the door holds our lunch meat, cheese, salad dressings, mustard and beer.

[SongsOfDragons]

*ponders* I should look into getting a fridge thermometer. I remember my mother had one.

Thanks guys I shall place the milk where we currently keep the orange juice and put the OJ in the door. The big section of the door is mostly taken up by the filter jug and otherwise that's where the cheese lives, and we've had little problem with the cheese.

[AccountingDrone]

We keep eggs, butter, cheese and condiments in the door. Milk goes on the upper shelf next to the freezer wall. Meat in the all the way bottom drawer [if it drips it can't contaminate anything] and coldcuts in the drawer above the raw meats. The raw meat gets depackaged and broken down into smaller packets usually the day after shopping and vacuumsealed, and popped into the freezer unless it is going to be used that night or the next day.

Keep in mind the door sucks for temperature control, and cooler air drops to the lower regions, and you should be able to keep milk better. Also, more fat in the milk less speedy spoilage. If you normally do skim milk, why not change to powdered milk and just mix it up as needed? I have friends who do that. [I make soy, rice and almond milk on demand, I have a soy milk maker]

[wolfie]

The dial should have "warmer" and "colder" marked on it, in addition to the numbers. Do you have one dial, or two (freezer and fridge)? If two dials, they interact - one is the thermostat, and the other adjusts a vent between the freezer and fridge. On single-door fridges, there may be a manual flap at the back of the meat tray (immediately under the freezer) - flipping it back blocks cold air falling from the freezer, while flipping it forward (into the meat tray) opens the path (warmer freezer, cooler fridge for a given thermostat setting).

Also, besides being subject to warm air from opening and closing, some fridges "cheap out" on door insulation - they have a single panel of foam, and the shelves moulded from the inner panel are hollow. More expensive fridges fill the back side of the moulded shelves with "foam in place" insulation - more insulation, and also stronger.

Be glad your milk is going sour - if they crank up the pasteurization temperature a bit, it kills the bacteria that sour the milk, but leaves the ones that rot it.

[MoonCat]

Definitely check the inside temp of the fridge, though. And maybe check the door seals. Are they mashed a bit so that the door isn't fully closed and letting in warm air? If so it might be possible to get those replaced, which is cheaper than replacing the whole fridge.

Also check the back of the fridge. If there's a lot of dust bunnies clumped up back there, the fridge has to work harder to keep things cold.

[Merriweather]

Our fridge has seven temperature settings, and ours is currently on three. I don't have the manual for it any more (I think it got lost in the last move); should I turn it to a bigger number?

That totally depends on your fridge, and may or may not match the manual anyway, especially if it's older. I've had ones I had to set at the lowest, and ones I've had to set at the highest. And some that have changed where they need to be over the years. I'd start at the middle, and then adjust up or down one number at a time til it's how you prefer. If you're worried about safety, invest in a fridge/freezer thermometer. Keeping one in there can help you tell at a glance if things are starting to go wrong, too.

Being military, we rented all our lives, and I always kept both a fridge/freezer thermometer, and an oven thermometer to check out each new house or apartment's appliances. Kept me from filling up a new fridge or freezer only to find it wasn't working right and lose the food, and I knew from the start whether the oven setting needed to be set above or below to have foods cook properly.

[TheSHAD0W]

(1) You may want to scrub out the fridge, and look for any open packages that might be hiding in the back.

(2) If the fridge is *packed*, you may be disrupting airflow and causing some areas to heat up a bit. Try to make some space for air flow.

[Barracuda]

Put a box of opened baking soda in the fridge. Milk can absorb odors and taste "off" as a result. Baking soda is more efficient at absorbing odors than milk is, so it can prevent this.

[SongsOfDragons]

The dial is literally just one turny-thing with seven numbers. No indication. I've turned the dial up to four now, and dinner didn't defrost quite as well (still turned out okay) so I think higher is colder. Plans to give it a good possing are being floated with Housemate

AccountingDrone: It's semi-skimmed milk, not skimmed, that's stuff's white water yeuch!! I don't know what semi would be over there...one of the 1 or 2% or something mayhaps.

Shadow: Fridge only gets really packed on shopping day, or if we're entertaining. Currently though there is a large Roses tin in there containing a lot of chocolate truffles...the kind that melt the moment it sees the sun.

Barracuda: We do this God I love that stuff. Makes cakes rise and can take the odours out of eeeeeverything ^^

[thehuckster]

I had the same exact problem, only this time it was actually the fault of the general store I was shopping at. Whenever I got milk from there, it would expire days early whereas if I bought it at the supermarket, it was fine.

If all the other suggestions fail, try buying your milk elsewhere and if you notice that milk's not going bad, it could be the store's problem.