Cheese press questions

[Iceblink]

Has anybody here rigged up their own cheese presses? Please tell me about it if you have. What did you use for specific weights?

And where did you get your cheese wax? How much do you go through?

 

[patandchickens]

Someday Real Soon (tho I've been saying this for a few months now ) I am going to make one of the lever-type cheese presses, you know, where one end is attached to a wall or whatever and the cheese is pressed under the portion near that and then a weight is hung towards the end after applying a little math to calculate appropriate weight and location on lever to obtain desired press weight. (e.t.a. - because this can be made basically for free from a little bit of scrap wood. You can just do the math to design it, or some places [www.cheesemaking.com comes to mind but I am quite certain there are others] you can spend five bucks to buy plans -- actually it is quite possible there are free plans posted somewhere on the Internet, I don't know, you might google 'cheese press plans' or something like that)

Thus far however I have been making only cheeses that require fairly modest pressing (like 10-20 lbs or less) and been using a complex junkpile consisting of several pots/kettles, some really heavy books, and some bungee-strength elastic Which works sort of ok but if you care a lot about exact pressing weights it doesn't allow you careful calibrated pressing.

I have cheese wax from Hoegger Goat Supply, the different mail-order sources seem to be pretty similar in prices so it doesn't seem to me like it matters a whole lot where exactly you get it from. I am going to guess that I'm using something on the order of 1/8th of a 1 lb bar of wax to do a 2 lb wheel of cheese -- that is a pretty fuzzy guess so don't be doing exact calculations off it but it should help you make a ballpark guess for your needs.

My first two hard cheeses that I waxed (I did several before them that did not require, or at least did not GET, waxing) had horrible awful nasty things happen to them during ageing, I'm not sure what the problem was although I can think of several possibilities. But the current two of them don't seem to have anything eeuuwwy going on and I will probably open one of them up in a couple weeks to try it.

BTW, by any chance do you know any good online cheesemaking type forums?

Have fun,

Pat

 

[freemotion]

I whipped up a simple one from scraps of wood.....after hours of online research. It is very simple, uses one long lever arm attached to an upright piece with a heavy hinge, and that is attached to a 2" x 10" scrap that the mold sits on. I use dumbells tied with a loop of heavy string for the weights, and used a bathroom scale under my molds to determine the pressure, then marked the lever arm so I would know where to put the weights for each increase in pressure needed.

I have to put it under a cabinet so it won't tip over. It fits just right. I didn't want to attach it to the wall, but that would've been easier in some ways.

I used plastic bain marie pots from a restaurant supply to make the molds, drilling holes in one and using another for a follower, with a board that is pointy on one end under the lever arm, and with a scrap of 2x4 on the bottom of the pointy board that sits in the follower.

I don't have it set up to drain the whey into the sink, so I fold up a heavy hand towel and put it under the mold, which is set in a casserole dish, to catch the whey from the first pressing. A heavy washcloth, folded, catches the whey from the next pressing, and a fresh washcloth is fine again for the third pressing.

I have found that these bain marie pot molds work great for ricotta salata too, as I can just fill the follower with water for the light pressing that this cheese needs. I also did this to speed up the draining of my last batch of chevre, and it worked.

 

[patandchickens]

Any chance you might still have some of the links to the sites with plans, free? I really DO need to get off my butt and build one of those!

How is the ricotta salata working out for you now?


Pat

 

[freemotion]

I used a combination of plans and figured out how to simplify it so I could use what I had on hand, with the exception of the bain marie pots. When looking for a restaurant supply place, I discovered one that is about 2 miles from my office.....very dangerous for me, considering my love for cooking and good equipment!

eta: I found that I saved it to Word, so here is the link I found my best info on: http://www.cheesemaking.com/Fall08Newsletter.html

Oh, and with the bain marie pot press, the ricotta salata works great! I'm gonna try my hand at mozzarella again this week, after having more cheesemaking experience under my belt.

 

[Iceblink]

Ok, thanks for the ideas. I am having a hard time picturing the lever system though. I can't get my head around it. Any chance of pictures?

I thought a bain marie would be a wide shallow pan, I have only ever heard of them for baking? I was thinking about making holes in a quart yogurt container and using another one for a follower. Does that sound like it might work?

I know this is a catch 22, but I want to make sure I can make a good cheese before I invest a lot of time and money into equipment. On the other hand, I would probably increase my chances of sucess if I had the proper equipment.

I will check out Hoegger Supply. Thank you.

 

[patandchickens]

Until more appropriate (straighter sided, and sturdier) containers come my way I'm using the round plastic tubs we get our ice cream in as my cheese mold. I poke a lotta holes all over it (larger holes are better than teeny ones btw) and then cut the rim off the lid so it fits as a follower, backed up with a very big glass jar since the lid is so flimsy.

If you are trying to envision that kind of press, it is a lot like the thingie used to put bottlecaps on bottles by people who homebrew beer, if that helps? Sort of like:

|
|
|==========================
| || :
| --- :
| | | :
| |__ | weight

if that makes any sense?

Another place to get cheesemaking supplies online is www.cheesemaking.com . I think there is a "Caprine Supply" that also sells cheesemaking stuff. And a place in Ontario, Canada the name of which escapes me offhand but is not of relevance to Americans anyhow

Pat

 

[Iceblink]

Pat, does ice cream come in smaller plastic containers in Canada, or do you really use the gallon size ones? I haven't bought ice cream in a long time, but the only plastic containers it comes in here are maybe 8" across. That seems so huge.

And with the press, does the actual presser part connect with a hinge, or do all the cheeses come out lopsided?

I visited the lady I want to buy my goats from, and tasted fresh raw goats milk for the first time, it was unbelievably delicious. I can't wait to get some.

 

[patandchickens]

It's a 1.5 L container, so yes, smaller than a gallon (I think a US gallon is, what, 4 L ish?). I use a large margarine tub for making ricotta salata but it's borderline too small for a 1 lb hard cheese and way too small for a 2 lb. Just find some appropriate sized container, though, to try your first batch on... your first batch will not be perfect *anyhow* so there is no problem experimenting, and you can always use something different the next time. No need to put things off until the perfect thing comes along

On the type of press being discussed, the "actual presser" part of the press does not connect to the follower, but the angle of pressure will not make the cheese lopsided (the angle will be negligably different from vertical if you've set it up right). However unless you've been VERY careful to pack the curds evenly and center the mold under the press, and check and adjust the mold periodically for the first several hours or so, it *can* come out slightly lopsided. But, you know, Oh Well, you can do it better the next time and a slightly lopsided cheese is not the end of the world (My cheeses pressed in the three-kettles-and-books-and-elastic arrangement are sometimes uneven for the same reason, b/c I typically press them overnight when I am not available to adjust them as they start to go lopsided; but you know what, they still taste perfectly fine )

Have fun,

Pat

 

[freemotion]

I used the picture from the above mentioned link (the newsletter, scroll down in it for the press pics......I copy/pasted them to Word and stretched them out a bit so I could see a bit better.) Mine has a bottom board, so add that to Pat's clever drawing, and the vertical board fits just under one of my lower kitchen cabinets so it doesn't tip over when I put the heavier weights on.

The upright arm of the follower on mine is pointy, and I cut a slot in the horizontal arm, so there is no lopsided cheese issue as long as I eyeball it and make sure everything goes into the press evenly.

My follower consists of an upright, pointy-at-the-top 1x2 board with a block of 2x4x.....5? screwed on the bottom that sits in the non-perforated bain marie pot, this actually presses directly on the cheese, so the board never touches the cheese. I looked at those round blocks of maple sold as followers and knew that was WAY beyond my ability to make.

So I needed two containers that had straight sides and fit nicely into each other, and went on a search....hence the bain marie's. The come with optional lids, which are VERY handy. The plastic ones (they come in cheap stainless, too) are very easy to drill and are very sturdy. They come in a variety of sizes, so I have my 2 lb press and my 4 lb press, which I use more. It takes about 5 hours for a batch of cheddar, so I only make it in four gallon batches now.

Whatever you find for the containers, they need to be fairly sturdy to handle the 50 lbs of pressure for 12 hours that many recipes require. (I use only a 10 lb dumbbell, you could use a plastic bottle filled with water. You get the increased pressure with leverage by using the long arm and moving the weight out further on the arm.) Remember, too, that you will be drilling holes in the container, which will weaken thinner plastic. I wouldn't want to get up in the morning to a ruined cheese.....but most cheeses aren't really ruined, they are just a different type of cheese, not what you'd planned, but perfectly edible. Like my many attempts at mozzarella. Not stretchy or stringy, but very tasty nevertheless.

Oh, and also remember that the containers for your molds need to be bigger than the finished cheese, as the cheese goes into the press with a lot of whey still in it, and you need room for the follower.