As Farmers Creamery continues to grow, it is imperative that we update and upgrade equipment to ensure high productivity and efficiency. In late October, we removed our current vats and installed three new vats at the creamery! Our teams spent countless hours updating piping, transporting new vats, welding and cleaning the production area. These new temperature-controlled vats are used to batch pasteurize milk for Kalona SuperNatural™ products. The previous vats at Farmers Creamery held 800 gallons and the new vats hold 1,300 gallons, which will allow us to maximize the amount of milk pasteurized to keep up with demand. Our crew also installed a stainless steel floor plate and resurfaced the cooler floor!

Batch or vat pasteurization is a process where milk is pumped into the vat, heated slowly to a minimum temperature of 145° Fahrenheit, held at that temperature for a minimum of 30 minutes, cooled, and then pumped out of the vat. This method is relatively rare today, and is used mainly by local and regional creameries. The milk used in Kalona SuperNatural™ fluid milk, butter, sour cream, and yogurt has been batch pasteurized.

Here are behind the scenes photographs from the installation!

Original Vats

New Vats