How long can milk sit out?
 

Left my milk sitting out for probably six hours today... had my air conditioning set at 75. Is it good or should I not take the risk?

Smell it and if it smells off in any way.. toss it... food poisioning is not worth a jug of milk worth 3 bucks. You'll be out of commission for 2-5 days depending on severity. Just buy some more and be sure.

Smell is clue #1. Obvious curdling is clue #2. If neither than plop it back in ASAP.

food poisoning? What the heck did people do before refrigeration?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soured_milk

all that does is lower the shelf life a bunch, better drink or use it today

i strongly agree

Assuming no curdles, toss a small pinch of table salt in it - give a shake and chill it again.
Will not taste salty and that should assist in returning its shelf life a bit since you killed some of it.

when you drink it, if you find yourself having to chew, then stop!

it's all about the smell and taste, best way to judge

You always have the best food answers. You are like the alton brown of GFY :1orglaugh

Naaaaaasty :Oh crap

It should be fine..just smell it before you use it. A good way to tell if your milk is bad..pour it in hot coffee..it will curdle instantly.

It can sit out forever. It just turns into cheese after a while.

What would make it nasty? You would be adding maybe a quarter teaspoon of salt if that to nearly a gallon of liquid, which already does have salt in it. It adds no salty taste, hell you can not taste the salt and it actually brings out the flavor of the cream more.
The small amount of salt just happens to slow down the microbial action in the milk which causes it to spoil. Heat increases such action, so odds are it currently has higher microbial activity and the salt would help balance it again and give him an extra 2 days or so. Typically if you add it the first day of purchase though it can extend the shelf life roughly 5-7 days after expiration date.

Well cows stay outside for most of their lives... so... I'm guessing awhile. :winkwink:

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

i would dump that like yesterdays garbage ....

Me too. :thumbsup

Add salt to it? You can't be serious... you living in a third world country or what? You can't tell me you'd do that to avoid buying another jug...

Milked the cow/goat every morning...

Or at least had a delivery guy drop some off before the sun came up.

ASM's advice is right on the money. :2 cents:

Milk does not last around here really though out of habit I still do it with every jug we purchase when we open it.
I just offered the advice to help extend it for sly if he wanted to keep it an extra day or two.

A FYI you can also freeze milk, though it will separate on you even if it is homogenized cause it will not be after you unfreeze it.

Now if I was in a third world country I would be dealing with milk from the teat or more likely canned and dehydrated milk.

you cant get sick of drinking it, if it has only been out for a day, the worst thing that could happen is if the milk turns into cheese, cause the milk with become sour, the pH will drop and it will slowly coagotale (or whatever it is called in english) and become into cheese... but proberly the wouldnt even happen in a day, even if it gets lots of sunlight

You are a wealth of information!

Thanks Elli. Though ussually the information has very little actual value outside of trivia or say this board :)

Yea... that would be a sight every morning... 10,000 people having their morning coffee!

:winkwink::1orglaugh

I admit that I do a small freak out if somebody leaves milk out on the counter.

Smell it...if it doesn't help, then try it!! I wouldn't, but if you want to take the risk...go ahead!!