Cheese ripening chamber
Standard Tech offers turnkey system solutions for the ripening, curing and drying of any kind of cheese. Thanks to more than 25 years of experience and its collaboration with the best and most prestigious European cheese producers, in addition to building these cheese ripening chamber, the company also offers clients expert technological support intended to combine the most modern ripening technologies with the production and product processing stages.
This technology is mainly formed of:
DRYING SYSTEMS
Made with entirely stainless steel units, with cooling and heating coils also in stainless steel, the drying systems are sized to allow the “free water” in the cheese after the salting stage to leave the heart of the product and dry superficially, in order to maximally optimize subsequent ripening and curing.
The fin spacing of the elements drastically reduces the number of defrosting procedures and make this phase, which lasts for some days, more high performing. The controlled parameters are temperature, relative humidity (prevalently low), air velocity and flow, and can change based on the type of cheese placed in the room.
Air distribution takes place through special laser micro-perforated polyester VELO-CE® air ducts, which are sized in relation to the geometry of the room and can be changed by installing frequency converters coupled with the fans located on the air handling units.
RIPENING SYSTEMS
Standard Tech offers systems for the curing and ripening of any kind of cheese: cow, goat or sheep’s milk.
The systems handle temperature and relative humidity in particular: during ageing, the cheese loses a significant amount of water (weight loss), the paste becomes compact and the transformation of fats and proteins occurs (lipolysis and proteolysis), as does the fermentation of residual sugars.
For this reason, Standard Tech offers TECHNOFLUX SYSTEM® created with entirely stainless steel air handling units with cooling and heating coils also in stainless steel, combined with a special widespread air distribution system to treat all kinds of product in the same way, and to guarantee the same thermohygrometric content within the rooms at any point.
During the ripening phases, formation of gas can also occur, from which holes of variable sizes can derive (transformations most evident in cheeses processed with raw milk); it is for this reason that it is important to combine the units with a special air exchange and product oxygenation system, sized in a suitable way to favour the final desired effects on the product.
For soft, mouldy and blue cheeses, or in general, for soft pastes, Standard Tech offers systems with extremely high values of humidity to avoid a drastic decrease in water content in the product leading to consequent deterioration and hardening of the crust.
They are available with special BIOXTECH® technology – particularly suitable for curing biological products – which uses totally sanitizable convection systems with extremely high exchange surfaces to maintain the correct relative humidity values without the aid of external humidifiers.
The air exchange system is still present in order to avoid the formation of damaging or excessive superficial mould.