Making Cheese?

Ernest T. Bass · March 20, 2011, 01:09:26 AM

Hey, Oljarhead, you're over on the cheese forum that my sister is on! She's been making a lot of cheese lately. Yummy yummy... I just made her a new press.

Nice looking cheeses you've been making, btw! Love the red wax..

OlJarhead · March 20, 2011, 03:48:22 AM

Wow! Sweet presses! Mine is very crude and roughly tossed together as a learning experience and in part because I don't seem to have a lot of time to do some nice work. Something about being at the cabin nearly every weekend does that to ya!

Very nice cheeses there too! What kind does she make? Not much weight there it seems??

I'm shooting for 10psi on my 4 1/2 inch mold which takes a whopping 158lbs! To achieve that I have a 6x multiplier and 25lb weight hanging off the end. It's crude but seems to be working -- though it creaks a lot and is hard to keep centered and straight -- when I get ready to make a NICE one I'll be using a more stable design. But for now, it's working.

Here is a 2lb cheddar in the press. I wanted to use the press to make two cheeses at once but design flaws stopped me

SO I'm pressing one in a cheap (ly made) spring press and this one in the dutch style press. It will be a good test to see the difference in the finished product.

March 20, 2011, 10:45:27 AM

I really don't know anything about her process, so you'd have to ask her... The press multiplies 10x, so those jugs are about 12 lbs and the molds are almost 6'' diameter. Guess that works out to about 4 1/4 psi.

OlJarhead · March 20, 2011, 11:33:17 AM

Quote from: Ernest T. Bass on March 20, 2011, 10:45:27 AM
I really don't know anything about her process, so you'd have to ask her... The press multiplies 10x, so those jugs are about 12 lbs and the molds are almost 6'' diameter. Guess that works out to about 4 1/4 psi.

WOW! That's why...hmmm....I need to take a look at doing something similar! Pressing two big cheeses at once would be awesome.

4.52PSI with a 7.75lbs free weight pressing weight. I have a calculator I made for this purpose. If you tell me the free weight I can give a more exact PSI.

To make cheddar she would need to double that to get the preferred 10psi. I calculated her hanging weight to need to be 27.5lbs to reach 10psi. and a pressing weight of 282lbs!

Ernest T. Bass · March 20, 2011, 04:42:14 PM

What is the free weight? I thought you just divided the pressure on the cheese by the surface area of the follower?

March 20, 2011, 06:26:39 PM

Quote from: Ernest T. Bass on March 20, 2011, 04:42:14 PM
What is the free weight? I thought you just divided the pressure on the cheese by the surface area of the follower?

Measure the weight of the press on a scale without any added weights. This is the 'free weight' or 'empty pressing weight' then add it to the weight AFTER multiplication and use it for determining PSI.

Ernest T. Bass · March 20, 2011, 09:40:43 PM

Our scale isn't super accurate, But I just weighed the weight, and then I put the scale under the press and it was a little over 120 lbs. I guess that isn't micro precision, but I would think it'd get close... I do think we should double the jugs up, though.

OlJarhead · March 21, 2011, 12:33:50 AM

Guess it depends on what you want to make and how much it matters? If Cheddar and other hard cheeses are desired then I'm told a 10psi pressing pressure is desired, but it's also 'what's working' from what I see so why change it?

Here are today's cheeses:

4 lbs total after we ate the left over curds (couldn't get them in a press) which would have been 1/2 or so.

considerations · March 23, 2011, 09:02:18 AM

The roaster oven batching technique is very clever....very clever.

March 23, 2011, 11:50:32 AM

That cheese looks good! Are the curds what they call "squeaky cheese?" I love squeaky cheese!

OlJarhead · March 23, 2011, 03:07:23 PM

Quote from: Sassy on March 23, 2011, 11:50:32 AM
That cheese looks good! Are the curds what they call "squeaky cheese?" I love squeaky cheese!

Yup:) Squeaks when you chew it

OlJarhead · March 23, 2011, 03:08:02 PM

Quote from: considerations on March 23, 2011, 09:02:18 AM
The roaster oven batching technique is very clever....very clever.

Got that idea off the cheeseforum I go to

OlJarhead · March 30, 2011, 07:23:45 PM

After a week and a half my cheeses seem to be developing a nice rind however I noticed that each time I flipped them the opposite side seemed to have more rind -- this would switch each time I flipped the cheese....wondering about that a little.

Anyway, they had some small cracks in them (guess I needed more moisture in the cave and warmer temps -- time for a PID I guess) and some white mold. So I washed them in vinegar and salt and waxed them up to see what happens next!

Funny how the 3rd (and 4th really) cheddar means very little in the learning curve! So much to learn, so little cheese to eat!

Rinds are about what they were when I waxed No.2 (which is gone now as well as no.1) and I think they could have gone a few more days but without a little warmer temp and more moisture I would end up with big cracks. Figured better to age them now.

Waxing these with my little chocolate double boiler was a challenge! I need something bigger to melt the wax in it appears. But in the end I managed to get them fully waxed with several layers.

In the cave...perhaps in the next few months I'll get a PID and a larger cave -- this one gets a LOT of condensation that I'm always having to mop up...anyone else have this problem?

Can't wait to eat them now!!! But I've committed to give them two months to age and develop.