Quickes Cheese upgrades boiler capacity

Bristol, UK -- Devon-based cheese maker Quickes Traditional has decommissioned its existing boiler and installed a dual-fuel steam boiler to increase steam capacity at its dairy processing facility.

The company selected an RBC steam boiler from Fulton Boiler Works to comply with latest regulations governing the operation of continuous-running boilers. These requirements included a down-rated RBC 750 with automatic main blowdown system, a BDV5 blowdown vessel with after cooler and high-integrity controls.

Manufactured as a horizontal extension to its vertical boilers, Fulton’s RBC range of wet back fire tube boilers has capacities from 957 to 4787 kg/h and operating efficiencies of over 90%. The system at Quickes was designed in Bristol by Fulton engineers and installed by Bridgwater-based VAS Engineering.

“Steam from Fulton’s RBC boiler is used at every stage of the process from pasteurising, scalding and brine washing, to the cleaning and sterilising of cooking vessels, which is why we needed a larger, purpose-built boiler system to increase steam capacity,” said Malcolm Mitchell, Quickes dairy manager.

After milk has been collected from the company’s own herd, it is pasteurised to 73°C using steam from the Fulton boiler and then cooled to 89°F. It is then mixed with a starter culture and rennet and left to set in a junket to produce curd.

When set, the curd is cut into small pieces and placed in double-skinned vats where it is scalded to 107°F, again using steam. The curd and whey are stirred for a further hour, at which point whey is drained off and the remaining curd is cut and turned until it reaches the required acidity. It is then put through a chip mill where salt is added.

After this process, the curd manually punched into cheese moulds and pressed over a three-day period. Mid way through pressing, the cheeses are washed and scalded in brine using steam from the boiler, to help the rind set.

The final stage is to cover the cheeses in a larded cloth before sending them for maturation, which can take from nine months to two years.