Cheese Making Machine Manufacturers

Cheese production machinery — an overview

Cheese manufacture requires a series of processing steps, each with specific equipment. Milk is first pasteurised and standardised for fat content, then transferred to a cheese vat (cheese maker or cheese tank) where starter culture and rennet are added to coagulate the milk into a gel. The coagulated milk is cut by curd knives (rotating wire harps or blades) into curd particles of a defined size — smaller cuts produce harder cheeses (cheddar, parmesan), larger cuts produce softer cheeses (camembert, brie). After cutting, the curd is heated and stirred to expel whey. The curd-whey mixture is then transferred to a drainage table or continuous drainage conveyor where whey is separated. The curd is then moulded, pressed, salted (brined or dry-salted), and placed in a ripening room. For mozzarella, the curd undergoes plasticization in hot water using a stretching and moulding machine. The specific equipment required varies substantially by cheese type.