I'm turning to this website to find out about an item I bought at a second-hand place yesterday. I neither work in or own a coffee shop.

I thought I was buying a simple milk pitcher with a hinged lid for frothing milk at home, but, after trying to use it, it seems useless. The pitcher itself gets burning hot but no amount of heat transfers to the inner vessel. The milk remains stone cold. The inner vessel holds about 12 oz., the maker is NSF-Model 4045-stainless steel 18-8, and it appears to have been manufactured in Bloomfield, Indiana. My google searches have turned up nothing! What on earth can this thing be? Ideas or explanations are welcome.

Sorry I wasn't clear. The "shell" of this pitcher is thick like a thermos so that heat from my stove top flame doesn't transfer to the inner vessel where the milk is. What I normally do at home is stick one of those hand-held battery operated frothers in the milk once it's warm. I should have guessed by the construction that is is no ordinary pitcher, but why would such a pitcher exist?

I know this it outside the realm of you serious baristas, but I thought someone might have come across such a pitcher. It seems something for commercial use--I suspect that.

nanckauf wrote:The pitcher itself gets burning hot but no amount of heat transfers to the inner vessel. The milk remains stone cold.

Sounds like a service pitcher; a photo would be helpful. See Posting images on HB for instructions.

nanckauf wrote:Sorry I wasn't clear. The "shell" of this pitcher is thick like a thermos so that heat from my stove top flame doesn't transfer to the inner vessel where the milk is. .

Sounds like a double-wall, vacuum insulated vessel for keeping milk or cream cold. Transferring heat through a vacuum is inefficient use of thermal energy. It is apparently doing exactly what is was designed to do- keeping milk cold in a warm atmosphere.

NSF problably stands for National Sanitation Foundation, see more here: http://baldmountaincoffee.com/page/BMCC/CTGY/NSF_Carafe

And I agree with the previous posters, you are probably not meant to use it on a stove.