Milk does a digester good?

[Dug Out]

What do you think about Milk,
would it make a good anaerobic fuel?

The reason I ask (true story) is because I found a 1/2 gallon of milk in my refridge about 1/4 full of aged curdled milk and the sides of the plastic carton were bulgded out like a balloon. So carefully, with an ice- pick I poked a small hole in the cap held a match to it . . . and got a small blue flame to light. I was rather surprised.

What puzzled me is that my refrigerator is kept about 40 degrees . . . I would think that the little bacteria critters couldn't live and work at that temp? Of course, the jug may have been there for a number of months.

So my assumption is that milk would probably make a pretty good source of methane. I believe it was 2% fat, bacteria must be some what health conscious too.

[Bob]

Hmm... Milk, huh?

That's a surprise. I don't its composition, but I would guess that, by itself, the C/N ratio would be too low to produce very much methane. Hydrogen, maybe?