The current research effort consisted on design, building and testing of a customized apparatus - a closed cylindrical, double-jacketed cheese vat, with a 50 L-capacity, aimed at manufacturing Serra da Estrela cheese (or similar ewe's milk cheeses), provided with knives that play a double role - stirring and cutting, a combined device for draining and pre-moulding, and a cleaning-in-place system. This novel apparatus makes it possible to semi-automate cheesemaking in small scale - including a continuous cycle of hands-free sequential coagulation, cutting, syneresis and moulding of cheeses. It was successfully applied to ewe's milk cheese manufacture, and was able to reduce duration of the overall cycle - with concomitant standardization of the process, and a significant (P < 0.05) increase in cheese yield and fat recovery. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.