Fermenters and Cream Ripening Baths for Butter Production Equipment

Equipment for butter production is divided into machines for preparatory operations and machines for the butter-making process itself. The preparatory operations are carried out using starter-culture units and cream-ripening vessels, while the conversion of cream into butter is handled by churns and butter-formers.

For producing butter, factories use butter churns and butter-formers. In a churn, butter is obtained by beating cream with a fat content of 30–40% through the mechanical action of the apparatus's working parts on the cream.

To obtain butter by churning cream of normal fat content, both batch and continuous churns are used. The conversion of high-fat cream into butter is carried out with butter-formers of the drum and plate types, as well as vacuum butter-formers. For making butter, starter-culture units and cream-ripening tanks are also required.

What is a starter-culture unit?

A starter-culture unit is an apparatus for producing the bacterial starter (leaven) used in butter-making. Industry produces single-section units with a capacity of 350–630 L, as well as two-section and four-section versions.

The Г6-03-40 starter-culture unit (Fig. 1) is a thermally insulated, rectangular bath holding two vessels for preparing the starter culture. These vessels — pails — are cylindrical containers fitted with handles and a lid, and they are seated in grids inside the bath.

The welded bath consists of an outer and an inner wall, with a layer of heat-insulating material between them. The top is closed by a lid mounted on special hinges so that it can be raised and swung aside. A steam-distribution head is mounted in the lower part of the bath; it is shaped as a cylinder with 144 holes of 3 mm diameter on its side surface.

On the side facing the electrical cabinet, the bath houses an electric heating element rated at 2.5 kW together with the sensor for the temperature-regulation (БРТ) and temperature-measurement (БВТ) blocks. Steam is supplied to the bath through the steam-distribution head when the unit operates in pasteurization mode.

Cooling of the milk is achieved by feeding in cold water, and the inoculation temperature is maintained automatically. The working capacity of the two pails is 40 L, and the time for heating and cooling the milk is 60 minutes.

The Г6-03-12 starter-culture unit differs from the model described above in its capacity (12 L) and in the number of pails (3 units). It has no steam-distribution head. The water in the bath is heated to pasteurization temperature solely by means of the electric heating element. Figure 1 — Starter-culture unit Г6-03-40: 1 — outer wall; 2 — inner wall; 3 — thermal-insulation layer; 4 — overflow tube; 5 — lid; 6 — pail; 7 — water-drain handle; 8 — steam-supply valve handle; 9 — coolant-supply valve handle; 10 — control panel; 11 — electrical cabinet; 12 — БРТ and БВТ sensor; 13 — electric heating element; 14 — steam-distribution head; 15 — valve; 16 — valve stem.

What tanks are used for ripening cream?

Cream-ripening vessels are divided into horizontal types (the ВСГМ-800 and ВСГМ-2000 baths) and vertical types (the Я1-ОСВ or the Л5-ОАВ-6,3 cream-ripening apparatus). Each is built around a jacketed vessel with a stirrer that conditions the cream before churning.

A cream-ripening bath with a capacity of 800 or 2000 L is fitted with a stirrer and a drive mechanism, and contains a semi-cylindrical inner vessel set inside the body. The space between the inner vessel and the body acts as a heat-exchange jacket, which is filled with water.

To heat the cream, steam is fed into the heat-exchange jacket through a sparger (barbotage tube). The working tank is equipped with a tubular oscillating stirrer, the ends of whose tubes are joined by manifolds for supplying and discharging the coolant (brine carrier or iced water).

The drive mechanism makes the stirrer oscillate at a frequency of 12–18 oscillations per minute. The oscillation angle of the stirrer can be adjusted within a range of 60° to 100°. To protect the cream from contamination, the bath is fitted with a lid.

The Л5-ОАВ-6,3 cream-ripening vessel (Fig. 2) is a heat-insulated cylindrical container equipped with a jacket for heating or cooling the inner cylinder, a mechanical stirrer, a drive, and instruments for regulating the operating modes.

In addition to the jacket, the inner cylinder is fitted with a coil, into which a heating or cooling medium can likewise be supplied. Mounted on the lid of the vessel are the drive with a protective housing, a hatch with an inspection window, a lamp, a cleaning head, an inlet pipe for filling the vessel, and a device for visually monitoring the level of the cream. Figure 2 — Cream-ripening vessel: 1 — product-quantity sensor; 2 — hatch with inspection window; 3 — cleaning head; 4 — drive housing; 5 — drive; 6 — coil; 7 — stirrer; 8 — thermal insulation; 9 — support.

A tap for taking samples is provided on the side wall. On the front face, in the lower part of the vessel, there are fittings for the sensors of a pH meter, a resistance thermometer, and a glass thermometer. A ladder and a platform are provided for servicing the vessel.

The hatch lid is interlocked with the stirrer drive by a limit switch. The water is heated by steam in a dedicated device. The cream-ripening process can be controlled either manually or automatically: the set temperature is maintained throughout the working cycle by periodically switching on the stirrer and supplying iced water.

An electronic automatic-control system monitors the cream-preparation time, the ripening and cooling temperatures, the level of cream in the apparatus, and similar parameters.