Milk structure
What happens to milk after frothing
When you steam milk for a cappuccino, you bring it to around 60–65°C: this is the range where you achieve the best foam—glossy and compact.
At that moment, the milk is at its peak. But immediately after, the critical phase begins: if it stays hot or lukewarm, it starts to change.
- Proteins: the “scaffolding” of the foam
The foam is air stabilized by proteins. With heat—especially whey proteins—they begin to denature and organize themselves around the air bubbles, providing structure and stability. - Fats: they add smoothness, but can collapse the foam
Fats are what make the milk taste rounder and more velvety. In the foam, however, they are delicate: when they remain warm, fats become more mobile and interfere with the protein film that holds the foam together, reducing both stability and texture. - Milk must not remain warm
If milk stays warm for too long, proteins continue to change and aggregate: the foam loses finesse, tends to separate, and becomes “tired.” In addition, between 6°C and 60°C is the temperature range where bacterial growth is more likely; for this reason, proper food handling requires rapid cooling.
And this is where Brino comes into play: it doesn’t preserve, it stops the change.
A refrigerator preserves well, but it cannot cool freshly steamed milk immediately: in the meantime, quality and control deteriorate.
Brino, instead, was designed to do one specific thing: rapidly cool freshly heated/steamed milk, taking it out of the most critical phase within a few minutes.
