On this page, we will talk about milk jugs or stainless steel dairies. We have already seen on our website how to froth milk correctly, an essential process for making such popular drinks as cappuccinos or lattes macchiatos. If you have an espresso machine with a frothing device at home, you must master this practice to get the most out of it.
And if you have read that article, you will know that it is essential to use one of the typical stainless steel milk jugs to froth the milk properly. Without a skimmer, your lattes and cappuccinos will not taste the same, whether it’s with the coffee machine’s steamer or one of the world’s best milk frothers. You always need a good pitcher. We guarantee it:
NOTE: Most of these stainless steel milk jugs are also available in other sizes and prices. Search well through the offers and choose only the one that best fits your ideal size.
Frothing milk pitchers: What should we keep in mind?
When buying a milk jug (for frothing), you really don’t need to consider too many things. Just make sure it is a stainless steel milk jug and that its size is appropriate for the amount of milk you are going to froth. It’s not just any kind of milk container, let alone an aluminium milk jug, and here’s why.
The size is very important because you have to fill the steel frothing jug to a certain level. You can’t skim milk well if the milk container is too empty, nor can you skim it if it’s too full, In Medio Virtus. Bear in mind that the milk, once it begins to form air bubbles (however small they may be), will increase its volume considerably and will spill from the milk jug if it is too small.
So an inox milk jug of any size is not suitable. As a reference measure, you should calculate that to make milk froth; you will need a jug with twice the capacity of the amount you want to froth. In other words: to froth 100 ml of milk, you will need a 200 ml jug and so on with all the measurements.
However, inox milk jugs are cheap, so regular baristas or amateurs usually have a set of two or three of different sizes at home to use for each occasion.
Qualities of a cappuccino frother
The matter of the milk jug material is not trivial either. To make a perfect froth, inox milking machines are used because stainless steel dissipates the high temperature of the steam very quickly, and this, in turn, delays the time it takes for the milk fat to melt. Why are we interested in this? Because the bubbles stop forming in the milk when the fat has melted.
It is why we must clearly differentiate the (stainless steel) emulsifying milk jugs from ordinary milk jugs. The latter milk jugs are made of ceramic or porcelain and are only used as a service for our coffee table.
Another aspect to consider, if we want to get a stainless steel milk jug, is that the mouth must be wide enough to be able to operate the steamer comfortably, as we see in this video:
In this respect, it is important to know how to distinguish between a stainless steel barista milk jug and a simple milk jug, which may also be (or not) made of steel, but which is intended for other purposes and not for working with a spray tube inside.
Milk jugs with integrated thermometer
To emulsify the milk correctly and achieve a dense, silky froth, several conditions must be met. One of them is temperature: the milk must be cold before starting and reach a temperature of between 65ºC and 68ºC. How can we achieve this precision? Well, if we don’t have much experience as baristas, the best thing to do is to buy a milk jug with a built-in thermometer, like these:
They’re a little more expensive than the regular ones, but it’s worth it. If you don’t want to go down this road, you can always buy a separate kitchen thermometer, which will also serve you for more uses in your day-to-day life:
- Cooking Thermometer,INRIGOROUS Digital Meat Thermometer with Instant Read
- Keelsio Digital Meat Thermometer, Super-Fast Read
Stainless steel milk jugs: Sizes
We have already talked about the importance of our milk jug being the right size according to the amount of milk we are going to froth. In this sense, when we go to buy a stainless steel milk jug, we will find the sizes of one third (350 ml), half a litre (500 ml) and one litre as the most common options. Barista milk jugs are usually bought in sets, not individually, as they are cheap, and the idea is to have a specific milk jug for each size.
It does not mean that some brands do not have other exceptional sizes, such as the APS brand individual stainless steel milk jug with a capacity of only 150 ml or this enormous 2-litre milk jug by Lacor. As you can see, there are options for all tastes.
The best-selling milk jugs 2023
Do you want to know which is the best-selling stainless steel milk jug today? Here’s the answer:
