Whey draining of goat milk cheese: A model study using frontal filtration

In cheese manufacturing, a compressive stress may be applied to accelerate whey-draining, but this process is mainly empirically mastered. This article describes the draining of goat milk cheese under frontal filtration conditions. An experimental set-up was designed to monitor the volume of whey released through a filter over time at constant stress. At short times, insoluble elements from the curd concentrate nearby the filter surface and form a filtering cake whose thickness progressively increases. At long times, the cake is compressed and its resistance to whey flow may increase dramatically. By studying the draining of a reduced fat content curd, we show that the presence of fat globules slows down the draining process. Homogenization of the full-fat cream results in slower drainage, compared to a non-homogenized cream. These results were rationalized considering observations of the curd structure by confocal microscopy, dry extract measurements along the curd and drainage models.