Butter Churn Yield Calculator

Work out butter churn yield instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Butter Churn Yield Calculator

Butter yield is fat recovered divided by butter fat content. Since butter is about 82% fat with the balance water, salt and solids, each kilogram of fat makes about 1.22 kilograms of butter — an overrun of roughly 22%. Fat lost to buttermilk should be under 0.5% of the fat charged in a well-run churn.

Formulas

Butter yield

Fat recovered = cream mass x fat % x (1 - loss); butter = fat recovered x 100 / butter fat %

Overrun

Overrun % = (butter - fat recovered) x 100 / fat recovered

Worked example

With the default values below, Butter Churn Yield Calculator returns Butter Yield of 485.37. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Cream Volumeminimum 0 L: 1,000 L
Cream Fat Contentaccepts 0–90 %: 40 %
Butter Fat Contentaccepts 0–100 %: 82 %
Fat Lost To Buttermilkaccepts 0–10 %: 0.5 %

Results

Butter Yield: 485.37
Buttermilk Produced: 514.63
Fat Recovered Into Butter: 398.000
Butter Overrun: 21.951%

Step by step

1Values used
2Butter yield
3Overrun
4Butter Yield= 485.37
5Buttermilk Produced= 514.63
6Fat Recovered Into Butter= 398.000
7Butter Overrun= 21.951

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
Butter composition including minimum fat and maximum moisture is legally defined. Verify against the applicable dairy standard.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Butter composition including minimum fat and maximum moisture is legally defined. Verify against the applicable dairy standard.

Frequently Asked Questions

What controls fat loss to buttermilk?

Cream fat content, churning temperature, ripening and churn fill level. Higher fat cream and correct temperature give cleaner separation; over-churning emulsifies fat back into the buttermilk.

Why is butter overrun important?

It is the difference between fat purchased and butter sold. Working the butter to the maximum legal moisture content maximises yield, but exceeding the limit is a compositional breach.