Question about cheese presses- I bought a cheese press!!!

[urban dreamer]

Could you use a cheese press as a cider press too? I am looking at buying a cheese press and it occured to me that designs of the two presses are vitualy identical. I would really like to get into cheese making (even though I don't have my own dairy animals-yet) and I also want to start making my own ACV. Just curious if anyone eles uses them vice-versa.

And I sure there's nothing wrong with stocking up on equiptment right, you know, for the future?

 

[freemotion]

I don't know too much about cider presses, but I do know about cheese presses. That reminds me, our camera is talking to our computer again, so watch the "Intermediate cheesemaking" thread for my press design and pictures. If I could just get the editing program to let me crop a picture.... For some reason that feature disappeared when the program was put back on our virus'd computer.

Anyways, enough whining....a cheese press puts a steady, even pressure over a period of up to 12-18 hours, and the weight needs to follow the cheese as it shrinks. My understanding, from looking at fruit presses, is that great pressure is applied using gears and the principle is completely different. I would not think they can be used interchangeably at all. Sorry.

Invest in the cider press if you want both, since you can make a cheese press for almost nothing and very little work. As you will soon see, I hope!

 

[Emerald]

Also, the bacteria in fruits and the bacteria in cheese while important to each to make them what they are-I would think that you could not clean it enuf to not taint one or the other.
Cheezy fermented apple juice?
Or applely flavored cheddar?(well that might not be too bad )
Just a thought--I do know that if I goof up and try to ferment my wine in one of the sauerkraut buckets--you know it right off-very sour nasty "not wine" but not quite vinegar either.

 

[patandchickens]

Cross-contamination woudl not be a big problem, because cheese never comes into direct contact with the cheese press. The press merely exerts pressure on the cheese *mold* (and follower) which are placed INTO the cheese press.

(That said, if you had a buncha stuff cultured up all over the cheese press I would not count on some of it not mysteriously migrating into the cheese, just from you touching both of them alternately, you know?)

As free has said, though, the MECHANICS of a fruit press and a cheese press are quite different. It certainly might be possible to make something that would do double duty but I am not sure off-the-shelf commercial models would be that way.

You can make a perfectly good cheese press yourself for free, you know, with a board and a fulcrum (e.g. something attached to your wall that you can wedge the end of the board under) and some weights. I'd suggest maybe doing that for the cheese, and buying a proper fruit press

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[urban dreamer]

Thanks for the advice guys! I guess I haven't done enough research yet LOL. I have seen where people have made cheese presses with some timber and weights. I am still very nervous about trying cheese, and well, fermentation in general. What would ya'll suggest is a good cheese for a beginner? Mabey one that dose not require a press? I need an "intro to cheese" class!

 

[patandchickens]

If you want to just "get your feet wet", try making yogurt (reculture a commercial live-culture yogurt into properly-warmed milk).

For something more directly cheeselike, make whole-milk "ricotta" (or any of its other probably-more-accurate names -- basically, whatcha get when you acidify whole milk with citric acid or lemon juice and then heat it up up to about 185 F til it curdles and sieve the curds out in a butter-muslin-lined strainer).

When you are comfortable with that, drain it extra, salt it extra, and press it lightly in a homemade mold (turning and salting occasionally for the next few days) to make "sorta" ricotta salata.

If you want to take the plunge into real hard cheese, I highly recommend a basic "farmhouse cheddar" type recipe as being fairly straightforward and forgiving.

You will probably run into that "30 minute mozzarella" recipe as you get interested in cheesemaking. Be aware that I, and practically everyone else I've heard of, find it rather difficult and unreliable. By all means try it if you are not the type to be discouraged and if you are happy to use a failed batch for lasagna or stuffed shells or feeding chickens; but if you are easily frustrated it may not be a good thing to start with

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[me&thegals]

Pat--Do you have a farmhouse cheddar recipe posted anywhere on here? Thanks!

 

[patandchickens]

I do not know if there is one posted on this forum, but a good web-accessible recipe is at http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese98.htm

The only thing about it is that for whatever reason it expects you are using junket rennet tablets (NOT the same as regular rennet tablets) which few people have these days. Use 1/4 tsp liquid rennet instead, for this 1-gallon recipe). It is not a terrible idea to add calcium chloride solution as well, if you are using storeboughten milk, but you will get SOME kind of cheese even without it, in my experience (i.e. "mileage with YOUR milk brand may differ")

You can also use normal mesophilic cheese starter, instead of the cultured buttermilk (from grocery store) that his recipe recommends. Using the buttermillk gives you a cheese that tastes, um, like buttermilk for the first month or so, but once it has aged past that it is not distinctively buttermilk-y and is pretty ok.

There are a lot of slightly-different permutations for doing this type of cheese -- books always have a recipe -- but the above link is easily-available AND has pretty good detailed directions with photos. So I think it is a reasonable starting point.

Be aware that you will have to make the recipe a number of times before you really feel comfortable that you know what's going on and can START experimenting with different culture times, temperatures, pressing times/weights, etc. The results make really good macaroni and cheese, btw, even though the cheese does not melt fully/smoothly. (Tastes *great*)

Or, get a cheesemaking book and try a recipe labelled "colby" or "gouda", which are a little more involved but still pretty easy and relatively-predictable.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[urban dreamer]

So I decide to get my feet wet yesterday and try making yogurt. And it worked! I even made cultured butter too! Cottage cheese next weekend mabey?

 

[patandchickens]

So I decide to get my feet wet yesterday and try making yogurt.

Gee, that's an interesting new approach to yogurt culture! Must taste interesting

LOL,

Pat