Introduction: Home Made Butter/Buttermilk. With a SawZall!!

About: I've always been intrigued by coming up with new ways to accomplish task. I am an entrepreneur at heart. I've owned my own Construction business that specialized in Historic properties, I've flipped home, an…

In this Instructable I will explain how I make homemade raw Butter/Buttermilk with my SAWZALL. First here is a little back story. I love Instructables, it makes my mind work in different ways. The challenges are so intriguing. Some times my wife thinks I'm a little off my rocker when she comes home and sees me experimenting with my crazy spin offs of the Instructable challenges.

I only post about 10% of the things I do on here, their are many reasons for this.
1. Some work some don't. But either way I have fun doing them.
2. Most of the time I get so involved in my ideas and projects I neglect to properly document the process. Via photos or videos.
3. It takes time and dedication to be frugal enough to post Instructables with clear instructions and not sound like a babbling fool. So my hats off to all of us who do take the time to share the fun.

Thank you Instructables for making all this possible!

Step 1: What Came First the Chicken or the Egg?

New Years we had family come to town to visit. One night while grocery shopping my brother-in-law ask me if I had ever made home made butter. I responded with of course not. He got excited and bought two pints of heavy whipping cream. So late that night after dinner he said let's make some butter! We find a mason jar he adds the heavy cream, salt and starts shaking. He is a fit guy and now I understand WHY!

He shakes the heck out of the jar for about five minutes, worn out and sweating he tells me it's my turn. I shake it for maybe two minutes and then laugh! It was still the same! His 18 year old son snatches it up and shakes it Vigorously for ten minutes, the it was his dad's turn. Another ten minutes go buy, I've forgotten about butter and moved on to other activities, when he pops in showing me his jar with butter and butter milk.

I was amazed but at the same time thought I would never make my own butter if it took that much work. That is until I was inspired by Instructables. Now I can make homade raw butter in two minutes or less with minimal work'!

Thank you Instructables

Step 2: What's So Special About Raw Home Made Butter/Buttermilk

This is a good source so just check it out!

http://bodyecology.com/articles/benefits_of_real_butter.php#.U2fumom9LCQ

Step 3: How Do You Make Home Made Butter, You Say!

We'll here is the site I used for my know how. No need for me to plagiarize her work.
Next I'll show you how to make it easier!

http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com/homemade-butter.html

Step 4: Things You Need!

Sawzall
Sturdy table
Clamps, ratchet straps (some way to stabilize your sawzall)
3" no hub band with full metal collar
Old sawzall blade
Piece of 1/2" or so plywood. Cut to 7"x5"( I had some laying around.)
Four spare casters. ( I also had these left over from a plastic drawer set.)
Zip ties or something else to strap jar to sled.
Extension cord
Nut driver
Drill drill bits
Dremel or something to remove the remainder teeth from the sawzall blade.
Table vise
Safety glasses
Two Pint mason jars with tight fitting lid
Pint of heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Colander/ funnel



Step 5: Safety First

Safety is the most important thing in all projects. Nothing is worth hurting yourself or others. So please be ADViSED! Sawzalls are not toys. Please do not try this unless you are taking all safety precautions and are well versed with the use of this tool. Sawzalls are very aggressive and very powerful.

About eight years ago my business partner caught me in the face with one. It was an accident and a poorly engineered trigger guard or absence of one. On a battery operated old Milwaukee. It almost took out my eye. So be safe, it only takes a split second!

Step 6: Removing Teeth

Put on your safety glasses! Take your old sawzall blade and clamp it to a table vise. Using a metal cut off wheel mounted to a Dremel. I removed all the teeth, rounded the sharp end, and smoothed the cut edges.

Step 7: Getting Stabilized

Try to find a very sturdy table, mine was a little shaky. Mount your sawzall to the table.

Step 8: Prepping the Jar

First remove the metal sleeve from the no hub coupling. Then flip the rubber inside out so you expose the coupling divider. This is the thick ridge in the middle. Take a pair of sheers and cut this part off. Discard it. Now, flip the rubber back right side out, put the metal sleeve back on. Now go get your clean pint sized mason jar. Fill it with one cup room temperature heavy cream! Add 1/4 teaspoon salt! Screw cap on tight.

Next flip the jar upside down. Lay your prepped sawzall blade against the side of the jar. Now slip the no hub band down over the jar and blade. Use a nut driver to tighten up the coupling! REAL TIGHT!

Step 9: Sledding

I cut a piece of 1/2" plywood to 5"x7". Next I drilled four holes in the corners about two inches from the edges. Then I laid my jar on top of the plywood and marked four more holes on the ply would a little narrower then the jar and placed to catch my jar in optimal spots. Next I pushed my wheels into the corner holes. Then I ran zip ties around my jar.

Step 10: Shake, Shake, Shake

Now it's time to get your shake on! It only takes one two two minutes to make butter this way. Mount your sled, sawzall blade/jar to the sawzall. Start slow. Check your tie downs. And slowly work yourself up to a comfortable speed. I keep a glove on my left hand to help control the jar and used my right hand to pull the trigger and control run speed.

After about two minutes my butter was finished. You will know this when you see the solid butter form in the jar and become one mass. I usually run mine about 20 more seconds after this point. Depending on how comfortable you are with your set up and the speed you run it. Will change your run time! I ran mine about 1/4 speed with some 1/2 speed burst here and there!!!!

Step 11: Straining the Fat!

Now strain the butter from the buttermilk, put you butter in a container and press out the rest of the buttermilk. As you pack the butter the buttermilk should rise to the top. Stain again.

Now If you only made a little and will eat it in a couple days you can skip this part but if you want to store it longer it is advised to wash your butter. Sound funny huh!

Buttermilk left in the butter will go rancid overtime. So all you need to do is put your butter in a medium bowl and rinse with water. While you rinse it press it out with a rubber spatula. Then pour off water. I used filtered water for this. Repeat three times, then put back in colander and drain of water! Repeat steps for pressing out water like you did previously for the buttermilk.



Now put in appropriate container and store. Thanks for reading all my words! And Please Vote, I'm in the Power Tool Kitchen contest and others.

You can add other ingredients to your butter now. Mix in some honey or cinnamon!

Step 12: Sometime I'm Not So Graceful!

But it still produced butter!