Make Bio-Plastic From Milk 

My, oh my. Hate to break it to you, but that Household Hacker video was a dupe. It's not actually bio-plastic. Your inner inklings were right; it is in fact cheese. Vinegar and Whole Milk are the recipe for cheese curds. You did in fact turn cheese on your lathe, and you did it very well.

You were collecting the curds after straining off the whey. Congratulations, you are, in fact, a cheese maker.

Pretty sure that milk turned before it was put on the lathe

so you made hard cheese?

Since you have a pepper pepper mill, can we get a salt salt shaker?

You made cheese (farmer cheese, specifically) then dried it out.

Don't cry over turned milk..?

You guys act like this is something new!! Casein has been used as a plastic for CENTURIES! It was used for all kinds of things like buttons , combs, Pens, pool balls, you name it and it was probably made from it! It would have been better to make it from skim milk as the milk fat is not necessary for the final product. Also the acid production method is not going to produce a good plastic product to do that you should have used Rennet as it makes a much more plastic version. The acid precipitate is and was used in paint, adhesives, in textiles as a fixative and to polish paper. It is what makes milk paint thick and dry hard.

"it's like I'm turning parmesan" well thanks for giving yourself a new project :)

Never use whole milk for casein got too much fat in it . They're absolutely tons more steps that you have to do to get the fats and the other minerals out to make this stuff work. I've made sheets of clear plastic that were very strong out of it's all in the preparation

You can tell he is defeated when he is sitting on the floor

Peter don't cry over broken milk

I guessed cheese on Instagram... I feel like i was 52% right. Very funny video, thanks!

technically this recipe is just super hard dried cheese... 1:48 separating curds and wey...

When he first started turning it and the base of the handle was still square but the top was cylindrical it kind of looked like a vintage milk bottle....then after he finished it it just looked like string cheese. I wonder if the context is just suggesting the subject or if I'm over thinking the fact that someone is working milk on a lathe...

Peter Brown I always enjoy your videos. This one definitely had its ups and downs and I felt SO badly for you and my heart sunk when it broke off the lathe ! I'm glad you pushed through and endured the long project , I would have thrown it across my shop and probably would have just ended it at that point. Everyone I'm sure would have done the same ! Thanks for the great content

Yeah, Fuck baby cows! Finally a channel I can get behind.

That pink blank looks like Fight Club soap, without the letters :P (I'd ask you if you're gonna make that, but I guess you can't talk about it :P)

What you actually made is a kind of farmer cheese which you then dried like kashk (it's a dairy food thing people eat somewhere in Asia and middle east). You can make a sturdy and hard synthetic plastic material from the milk from casein (milk component) reaction with formaldehyde. Google "galalith" and "lanital".

Humidity plays a large role in how it dries

After all these projects, his workshop must smell so weird.

What you basically made is Galalith, but you discovered some of the downsides to it. Prior to WWII it was a relatively common plastic, until petroleum-based ones surpassed it (plus the whole "food rationing" thing during the war.) The problem with the typical DIY methods is that they don't use formaldehyde, so it's not quite the same as the commercially-manufactured stuff. Further, one of the biggest downsides (historically speaking) is that it doesn't lend itself to being molded because it takes far too long to dry for it to be practical. Most of the commercially-manufactured Galalith was made in relatively thin sheets because of this, so it worked best for things like buttons on clothing and that sort of thing. The Wiki entry for "Galalith" has some relevant info. Also, Stewart-McDonald (a luthier/guitar parts supplier) sells a few modern parts made from Galalith if you want to see what commercially-made stuff looks like: www.stewmac.com/SiteSearch/?search=galalith

I thought that you were going to make the handle in the shape of an old glass milk bottle. I think that would be a good idea. Maybe you could mix in fiberglass fibers, like they do with Tiger Hair filler that they use in automotive bodywork.

I love that, nothing for show, just useful information, these "youtubers" make videos for themselves, you on the other hand make videos for us, and you see that in seconds, thanks for this content and not getting caught up in temptations to make clickbait titles and empty promises. Thank you Mr. Brown!

I made that stuff by hiding a glass of milk I finding it over a month later.

As usual, evidence of household hacker being a blatantly fraudulent channel

this is actually a very old way making a usable material from something they had an abundance of in the middle ages. it was discovered fromnover processing cheese. cheese is basicly a gallon of milk and a couple tablespoons of vinager. by adding more vinager to squeeze more water out leaving only the milk fat and solids.

Would it be fair to say it turns... like butter?

I appreciate you posting this regardless of the fail. your dedication to this channel doesn't go unnoticed.

it's dried cheese

when you add the vinegar you spoil the milk, the curdled bit are curds and the water is whey. if you had put the curds in a humidity and temperature controlled environment and waited you could have gotten cheese. im thinking what happens s the left over water in the curds evaporates leaving the solidified milk fats. like butter but with out the water.

You just made cottage cheese and then let it go stale for a month. Then you made it into a cheese knife-thing. You, sir, are a badass.

80 days. wow. way to keep your cool, brother!

What to do when your project goes wrong: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HJpuW7nGpe0.htmlm32s

At my school, we use a device that pulls all the moist from a substance, dried a piece of caseïn bioplastic in a day. As far as I know, this is a natural polymere, so it's a plastic.

I love that you literally made curds and whey, then turned it into hard cheese, then made a cheese plane out of it 😂😂😂 I love it so much! ❤️ Protip: mix alcohol through your curds. It should displace a lot of the fluid, and kill bacteria before hardening. Letting it "dry" under pressure, like squeezing water from home made paper, will also help to displace a lot of fluid

Maybe embedding fibers in it while it's still wet would help with the strength. Leftover fibers from fiberglass could work for example, but in keeping with the spirit of the project maybe use fibers from a corn husk?

Dipit... baby cow... no wait...

I love how positive you are even in the face of such disappointment. I find that really inspiring.

my heart sank too when the work flipped off the lathe...aaaaggghhhh

If "Shop Time hates baby cows" doesn't make it to a sticker, there's no justice in the universe.

Peter, Have you tried dissolving Styrofoam in either acetone or gasoline and then putting the "glop" into a mold? A friend of mine has done this to create blocks of plastic for his art projects. It takes a few days to dry, but it is quite useable, and seems fairly durable too. Of course, only mix this in a WELL vented space. Please keep the videos coming.

The amount of patients that went into this video is astounding.

i just watched a video on a more scientific milk-plastic making video. you may need or want to revisit this idea and make some real casein blanks. i can't post links here, but the title of the video was: "Making Fake Ivory And Casein Milk Plastics, Glues and Paints" so go go google. the short of it is: clean the casein to get rid of milk fats, oils and sugars using ammonia and alcohol. then soak the dried blank in formaldehyde for a few days. it should be like fake ivory and your turning should be a lot better. haven't tried it myself though...

Interesting! The first parts you're doing are basically making mozzarella cheese. You use citric acid to separate the curds and whey, but it looks exactly the same at that point. Also, milk paint is the curds that you separated mixed with pigment. You can spread it on a board and it'll dry like paint.

Now I just found you and I randomly hear you singing hey mambo and I'm like BRUH I SANG THAT 3 WEEKS AGO AT A VERY FAMOUS PLACE IN AUSTRALIA (the Opera House) AND DID SO VERY WELL AND NOW I LNOW THE WORDS TO IT OFF BY HEART! *takes deep breaths* just needed to get that off meh chest lol I love your work by the way and I hope you read this coment!

Your patience is UNBELIEVABLE. well done.

Aww man, when it broke I just wanted to give you a hug. You are far too kind to us with your mad creations, thanks!

Congratulations you just made cheese!!! Just mold ir round and put some sea salt on top and keep turning them over every day for two weeks and you'll get cured cheese! Milk Plastic... I won't even comment on that!

who's ready to CHURN some milk .... ha ... i need a life.

I can't stop watching these videos! Thank you for making captivating, entertaining content!

you are made a cheese plane out of cheese hahaha.

Really admirable patience and persistence. Questions: 1. Can't you put the milk blank in the oven to speed up the drying? 2. Will you seal it?

I underestimate how long it takes to make one of these videos, great job!

Love that you made a handle out of the milk plastic! LOL Amaze

Blessed are the cheesemakers.

When it broke I yelled "fuck" like it was my project. lol!

Can you Epoxy a kernel of popcorn? It would look so cool!!

I like the shot of dejection while you sat on the floor pondering the broken milk handle. So many times I have found myself in the same place.

Shop time - hates baby cows, thinks warm milk is a narcotic substance Me - hits the subscribe button so hard it cracks my screen

This was great Peter! No cheesy responses here.

Blessed are the cheese makers

Oh Peter I do so enjoy you and your work!

I admire your sticktoitiveness and ability to calmly walk away from your project like that. Cheers, Peter!

Very cool Peter! I love baby cows. Veal chops, Veal kabobs, Veal parmigiana.....

Thinking nasty thoughts about milk = milk fic

As others have pointed out, perhaps the fat content was the culprit in making the cheese take forever to dry. A fatty cheddar will start to sweat if left out of the fridge, and the outside will dry out pretty rapidly, but that dry layer forms a barrier that keeps the inside from drying out. It makes its own crust if you will. A lower percentage of fat in the milk will mean that the result is less prone to trap fat on the inside, which is why it never fully dried. The moisture you felt was most likely fat that was trapped inside the blank. Great experiment though! You did proper science in this one.

Hey Peter, I'm a home cheesemaker and you actually did make a very basic cheese. The vinegar is what coagulates the milk proteins within the milk, which is what makes your curd. Then the curd is what is used to make the cheese. There's a whole lot more to it than that, but you get the idea. Love watching your videos!

The boiling and vinegar part in the beginning is how we make paneer (Indian cheese) in India! (Except we use lemon juice instead of vinegar).

"Its like turning parmesan." Well.... prove it.

Hilarious. I enjoyed the ride. It is the same recipe I use to make cheese, but never even considered making a handle or practical object out of it. Think of the possibilities? Food that we can store as tools. LOL. Thanks for a fun and educational time.

Thank you for this video, Being a tinkerer and self proclaimed chef, I stumbled upon this . It made my day to know that there are others like me out there in this world ... :)

"Carry this across... 'The Finish Line'" 👍

Peter you are really milking it now, casein point being this video!! : )

Talk about a "cheesey" video! Lol nice job Peter. You're always pushing the envelope. I love it!

Imagine the dude at Olive Garden being like "tell me when" and just TURNING A FREAKING BLOCK OF PARMESAN, THE SHAVINGS FALLING ON YOUR PLATE, EVERYBODY'S PLATE, THE TABLE. THE FLOOR.

Don't cry over broken milk

Hahah! I think he did his on the surface of the sun. Cool!

Casin glue, made from milk, was used back in the 1920's as a wood glue. The old wood frame aircraft was put together with the stuff. And the hangers were reinforced with it. Don't know about making plastic with it but I know some aircraft from that time period being glued with casin are still airworthy and flying today. Figure that eh?

According to another RU-vid member the Pre WWII recipe required the stuff to be soaked in formaldehyde. He also used skim, not whole milk. He did other things as well. Look up "Fake ivory casein". His name is Robert Murray-Smith. Thanks for the demo.

1:40 that is how much milk you need to make cheese and that is what cheeses are expensive

Wait people from America don't even know what curd is? It's like a really common food here in Lithuania and he didn't even know how to call it.

Omg! My heart broke when the 'plastic' broke off the lathe! I made a loud enough intake of breath my husband wondered what was up!!! Well done for finishing the project - I know how disheartening it is!

Mr. Wizard did almost this exact thing nearly half a century ago. Little Miss Muffet had curds and whey exactly what you just made. And you are also well on your way to homemade cheese. The buttermilk is excellent for biscuits from scratch or as milk substitute / add-in for biscuit mix. Much can be made with your baby cow food & vinegat (soured milk, aka buttermilk).

does this count as crying over spilt milk?

pack it in salt and you should get it to dry real fast

To improve on this process try dissolving out the impurities with alcohol so that you end up with a more pure casein before curing it. After you strain it, put it in a jar with some alcohol like vodka and work it with a spoon. After a bit of working, dumping out the cloudy liquid and adding more vodka, the liquid should start to clear up. From there, just mold it and let it dry.

hey man, you had a great job. thanks for sharing. will try in these quarantine days :)

You literally made dried cheese?

30 days!? I did it in science and waited a week to be sure it was completely dry

Am I the only one who thinks its mesmerizing to watch him trim square things into circles?

You are unflappable sir, you act so calm in moments I'd be throwing stuff and cussing.

Hungry kids in Africa could have used that pot to make meals

I refuse to tell you what you actually turned on that lathe.... I'm pretty sure it's a family channel...

It's 3:40 AM I should be sleeping but I'm watching a guy making a handle out of cheese

We need a wood shop themed restaurant. Waiters stand at lathes with cheese blanks. You stand nearby and collect Parmesan cheese shavings on your plate.

Did it get you cheesed off? LOL

now make milk from plastic

Hows tbis holding up?

Cheesy idea! Thanks Pete.