Page:EB1911 - Volume 07.djvu/773

Rh the milk for cheese-making. The rectangular form shown in fig. 3 is a Cheshire cheese-vat, for steam. The inner vat is of tinned steel, and the outer is of iron and is fitted with pipes for steam supply. Round cheese-tubs (fig. 4) are made of strong sheets of steel, double tinned to render them lasting. They are fitted with a strong bottom hoop and bands round the sides, and can be double-jacketed for steam-heating if required. Curd-knives (fig. 5) are used for cutting the coagulated mass into cubes in order to liberate the whey. They are made of fine steel, with sharp edges; there are also wire curd-breakers. The object of the curd-mill (fig. 6) is to grind consolidated curd into small pieces, preparatory to salting and vatting; two spiked rollers work up to spiked breasts. Hoops, into which the curd is placed in order to acquire the shape of the cheese, are of wood or steel, the former being made of well-seasoned oak with iron bands (fig. 7), the latter of tinned steel. The cheese is more easily removed from the steel hoops and they are readily cleaned. The cheese-press (fig. 8) is used only for hard or “pressed” cheese, such as Cheddar. The arrangement is such that the pressure is continuous; in the case of soft cheese the curd is merely placed in moulds (figs. 9 and 10) of the required shape, and then taken cut to ripen, no pressure being applied. The cheese-room is fitted with easily-turned shelves, on which newly-made “pressed” cheeses are laid to ripen.

In the butter dairy, when the centrifugal separator is not used, milk is “set” for cream-raising in the milk-pan (fig. 11), a shallow vessel of white porcelain, tinned steel or enamelled iron. The skimming-dish or skimmer (fig 12), made of tin, is for collecting the cream from the surface of the milk, whence it is transferred to the cream-crock (fig. 13), in which vessel the cream remains from one to three days, till it is required for churning. Many different kinds of churns are in use, and vary much in size, shape and fittings; the one illustrated in fig. 14 is a very good type of diaphragm churn. The butter-scoop (fig. 15) is of wood and is sometimes perforated; it is used for taking the butter out of the churn. The butter-worker (fig. 16) is employed for consolidating newly-churned butter, pressing out superfluous water and mixing in salt. More extended use, however, is now being made of the “Délaiteuse” butter dryer, a centrifugal machine that rapidly extracts the moisture from the butter, and renders the