Method and apparatus for preparing a dairy product

A method of preparing a dairy product, comprising the steps of:

• a) preparing an aqueous suspension of a dried or frozen microbial starter culture in a pasteurised or sterile water;
• b) mixing a metered flow of the aqueous suspension with a metered flow of milk, to form a starter culture composition;
• c) passing the starter culture composition through a pre-incubator, in which the starter culture composition is maintained at a preincubation temperature which is greater than about 10°C. but not sufficiently high as to have a deleterious effect on the microbial culture, wherein the residence time of the starter culture composition in the pre-incubator is such as to pre-activate the starter culture composition to form an activated culture composition;
• d) dispensing the activated culture composition and an additional quantity of milk into a fermentation vat to provide a fermentation mixture;
• and
• e) maintaining the fermentation mixture under fermentation conditions to obtain the dairy product.