Flash chilling is very simple. Just make sure you have a fairly large ice bath (ice and water that is at least 50% ice) and put the meat immediately from the heated bath into the ice bath. This will rapidly chill the meat prior to refrigeration. Make sure you leave the meat in the ice bath long enough for it to chill to the center if it's a thick cut or a roast.
1 How big should I expect the swings in my home fridge to be with normal usage?
The mild swings from opening and closing your refrigerator door a couple times a day aren't going to really make big difference. Just make sure you don't leave the door open for extended periods of time.
2 If I have a second fridge and the door rarely opens, what will the temperature swings be there?
There are a lot of things that influence the temperature of a refridgerator besides opening and closing the door. A refrigerator goes through cycles for chilling (and for defrosting) etc where the temperature varies. Some brands of refridgerators (i.e. Samsung) have separate cooling systems for the freezer and fridge portions so freezer defrost cycles do not cause swings in temperature in the fridge section.
Also, an empty refrigerator loses a lot more heat than a full refrigerator when the door is open. Storing plastic bottles of water or cans of soda and beer on empty shelves will actually make the temperature more constant over time since they retain more heat (or "cold") than air. Of course, if you turn a fridge into a beer-fridge, chances are that the door is gonna get opened a lot more.
3 Since the botulism concern is due to the vacuum, am I correct in thinking that this concern will disappear if I remove the meat from the vacuum to store it? Obviously, this approach would reintroduce all the normal safety concerns with storing cooked meat.
Sous-vide cooking should pasteurize the meat if it was cooked long enough and kill most . Keeping the pastuerized food that is sealed at a controlled temperature is going to preserve it for much longer than breaking open the seal and allowing any pathogens in before keeping it at the same temperature.
The most important thing is to follow the established safety charts for cooking times, temperatures, using correct flash chilling and then following the safety charts for storage temperatures and duration as well.
I'm not sure when that about.com article was written, but if it was posted less than about about 8 months ago, it may have plagarized The Culinarian: A Kitchen Desk Reference by Barbara Ann Kipfer. In that, Kipfer provides "Hints" after the description of what feta is (p. 224-225; you can view it on Google Books):
Consumers who dislike feta's salty taste may soak the cheese in fresh water to leach out some of the salt...Feta cheese is best when eaten fresh, so always check the date. If you will not be consuming it immediately, store feta cheese in a brine or milk bath in the refrigerator. The milk bath will reduce the saltiness and help keep the cheese moist and mild in flavor. Properly stored in brine or milk and refrigerated, feta cheese will last for up to three months. Feta cheese is not a candidate for freezing. Barrel-aged feta sold straight from the barrel may be wrapped in lightweight paper, then wrapped in a plastic bag or plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator. Keep the feta in paper, even when the paper gets soggy from the cheese moisture.
Emphasis is mine to show you that the bit about the milk bath matches about.com's article word for word.
Since The Culinarian was published by Wiley & Sons, a reputable publisher that puts out a lot of textbooks and academic and trade journals, I would assume that it was properly fact-checked. Given that Kipfer talks about salt leaching out into regular water and the milk bath reducing the saltiness of the cheese, I would guess that there's a strong chance enough salt leaches into the milk bath to act as a preservative.
Take all this with a grain of salt, though (no pun intended); I've never tried keeping feta in a milk bath myself.
Best Answer
Handling raw milk is risky, and please note this information is not professional advice and is not to be taken as an authoritative response. I will, however, attempt to provide some thoughts on handling raw milk below.
Selling unpasteurized milk is illegal in some countries, and official sources usually discourage the consumption of raw milk instead of offering handling instructions (for good reason).
The FDA has this article on dangers of raw milk.
There are other real dangers such as Brucellosis or Maltese's Fever with which I bouted as an 8-year old. Think of 107F fever.
Also, keep in mind when you boil the raw milk you are going through a similar process as pasteurization in regards to the theory on breaking down the complex proteins and milk protein allergy. Probably even more than pasteurization since that occurs at lower temperatures. Those theories, however, aren't proven (yet) as far as I know, but you do burn some of the sugars in milk if you go above 70C.
The actual answers:
3: Theoretically, if you do everything right and vacuum pack the milk, it might last a couple of weeks, but the longer it stays, the more dangerous it can get. Freezing might be a better option (we keep our pasteurized milk a couple of months in the freezer).
1: I can't tell you how long to boil it for, though the last time I had fresh milk, it was kept simmering on the burner for about 5 minutes by the folks at the farm. It was also minutes after it was collected (fresher is better).
one of the safest things you can do if you're going to have raw milk, is to know the source and get it from a farm that takes care of the conditions. If you know the farm, the farmer, and the cows conditions are safe, you're more likely to be able to enjoy raw milk in peace.