Cheese brining apparatus

Not applicable. Above-ground tanks form brining cells into which cheese blocks are conveyed by common inlet and outlet flumes. Each cell has a removable conveyor assembly having a looped link belt driven around a frame by a motor. Perpendicular, tubular, or hinged segmented flights project from the belt to engage infed cheese blocks, and submerge a series of rows of blocks. An infeed flume delivers a stream of cheese blocks to a cell. Once a level below a flight is filled, the conveyor is actuated to submerge that level, and the next level is then filled until the tank is filled. After brining, the conveyor is incremented to discharge the cheeses flight by flight into an outlet flume. The flume may have a lower segment narrower than an upper segment, such that by draining the tank smaller cheese blocks may be better controlled.