Used Dairy Processing
Equipment For Sale

Used Dairy Processing Equipment: Pasteurizers, Milk Tanks, Separators & Cheese Vats

Our yard stocks used dairy processing equipment from closed milk plants, creameries, and food factories. Typical lots include plate pasteurizers, stainless steel milk tanks, cream separators, homogenizers, cheese vats, and partial yogurt and ice cream lines. Every unit is inspected before resale, and most machines can be test-run under power on request. Compared with a new-build budget, second hand plant of this type typically lands at 30-60% of new price, with delivery in weeks rather than months.

Milk Pasteurizers

Second hand milk pasteuriser stock usually covers plate-type HTST units from 500 to 10,000 litres per hour and small batch pasteurizers for artisan production. Plates and gaskets are the wear parts: we open the frame, check plate condition, and list which gasket sets need replacing before the unit ships. Batch pasteurizers with jacketed vessels suit small dairies that want to make yogurt or soft cheese in the same vessel.

Milk Storage Tanks & Cooling Tanks

Used milk storage tanks in SS 304 and SS 316 are the most requested items in this category: vertical silos, insulated tanks, and agitated mixing tanks from 500 litres to 100 m³. Used stainless steel milk tanks with cooling jackets serve as bulk tanks at collection centres, and a used bulk milk cooler is often the first machine a small dairy buys. Larger vessels are listed under used storage tanks and pressure vessels — tell us the volume and we will match it against the yard.

Separators, Clarifiers & Homogenizers

Disc-stack cream separators and milk clarifiers remove cream and impurities ahead of standardisation. Listings for a used milk separator for sale rarely tell the whole story: bowl condition and spare-part availability matter more than the year of manufacture, so we photograph the bowl and disc stack of every unit. High-pressure homogenizers at 100-250 bar complete the pre-treatment line for drinking milk, yogurt, and ice cream mix.

Cheese Making Equipment

Used cheese making equipment moves through the yard regularly: jacketed cheese vats, curd cutters, moulds, presses, and brining tanks. The cheese vats used in most small plants are 1,000-5,000 litre jacketed vessels with slow agitators, and when a used cheese vat for sale is not in stock at the right size, a jacketed vessel from our used industrial mixers and blenders stock can often be adapted. Butter churns and small butter lines appear less often — ask, and we will flag the next arrival.

Ice Cream & Yogurt Lines

Used ice cream manufacturing equipment includes continuous freezers, ageing vats, mix plants, and filling machines, usually sold as partial or complete lines. For cultured products, yogurt making equipment centres on incubation and culture tanks; suitable jacketed culture vessels are also listed under used fermenters and fermentation tanks. Tell us the product — set or stirred yogurt, mix throughput for ice cream — and we will propose a matching line.

Who Buys From This Category

Three buyer groups account for most enquiries. Milk collection centres need cooling tanks, storage tanks, and simple pasteurisation. Mid-size dairy plants buy the equipment used in milk processing at industrial scale: separators, homogenizers, CIP stations, and fillers. Farmstead cheese makers and artisan producers look for creamery equipment for sale in small capacities — a batch pasteurizer, a cheese vat, and a cold room cover most start-ups. Related machinery for juice, sauces, and canning is listed under used food processing equipment.

Buying Used Dairy Equipment: What to Check

• Material certificates — product-contact surfaces should be SS 304 at minimum; SS 316L is preferred for high-acid products and long CIP exposure.
• CIP compatibility — confirm spray balls are present and that the line was cleaned in place rather than by hand; CIP-run equipment usually shows less surface pitting.
• Seals and gaskets — EPDM and nitrile parts age even in storage; budget for a full gasket set on pasteurizers, homogenizers, and plate heat exchangers.
• Surface condition — look for chloride pitting on welds and heat-affected zones inside tanks; we photograph the interior of every vessel before quotation.
• Documentation — dairy plants keep maintenance logs, so ask for them; a homogenizer with a service history is worth more than a newer one without.

Requests for a second hand milk packing machine or filling line are handled case by case, since pack formats vary widely — send a photo of your pack with the enquiry. For everything else, send the equipment type and capacity and we reply with photos, condition notes, and an FOB or CIF price within 24 hours.