Why do I always have small lumps when mixing milk powder?

In most cases, there will be no particles or lumps in the milk powder after it is mixed. If lumps appear after the milk powder is mixed, it is likely that it is incompletely dissolved. If the mixing method is incorrect, the milk powder will not dissolve well. Sometimes, some original imported milk powder may have larger particles, which will also cause incomplete dissolution of the milk powder. For this type of milk powder, half of it needs to be added multiple times and mixed separately. If the milk powder is relatively fine, similar problems generally will not occur.

Why are there lumps when mixing milk powder?

1. The size of milk powder particles is not ideal . If the milk powder particles are too large, they are easy to infiltrate and settle but difficult to disperse and dissolve. On the contrary, if the milk powder particles are too small, they are easy to float, which is not conducive to infiltration and sedimentation. In addition, the capillaries inside the fine-grained milk powder particles are relatively thin. When they come into contact with water, they easily form a liquid film that blocks the capillary openings, making it impossible for water to penetrate and diffuse. This is also not conducive to infiltration and sedimentation, and ultimately leads to the appearance of "lumps".

2. The fat content in milk powder is too high . Milk powder contains about 20%-25% fat. Fat is hydrophobic. Too high a fat content will hinder the infiltration process of milk powder, and then affect the sedimentation, dispersion and dissolution of milk powder particles, greatly reducing the solubility of milk powder. Therefore, under the same preparation conditions, skimmed milk powder generally prepares better than whole milk powder.

3. The water content of milk powder increases . Freshly opened milk powder is easier to mix, but after a period of time, the milk powder may become damp and the water content increases, which reduces the wettability of the milk powder and reduces the mixing effect of the milk powder.

4. The protein in the milk powder denatures. The protein content in milk powder is about 20%. If you use water with too high a temperature to mix milk powder, it will easily cause the protein to denature and coagulate. The coagulated protein will make it impossible for the milk powder particles to disperse and dissolve better.

How to avoid lumps when mixing milk powder

From the above content, it can be seen that the particle size, fat content and starch content of milk powder are factors that we cannot control (we can only look at the production process level of the milk powder company). Only the water content and protein denaturation of milk powder are what we can "control". To avoid milk powder from clumping, the correct approach is as follows: First, after unpacking, store milk powder or other prepared foods in a low temperature and dry environment to prevent them from losing their reconciliation properties due to moisture. Secondly, when preparing milk powder, try to avoid using water with too high a temperature to prevent protein denaturation, which makes the milk powder difficult to disperse and dissolve.