I've been busy lately, including a weekend trip to New Hampshire (1000 miles away) due to the duties of my other profession...
Here's an update of things over the past while, got my first shipment of tools from Winkler AG in Konolfingen, BE, Switzerland. THis included forms (Järb and Vättere type -that is, slip forms and cylinder forms) A harp, a curd stirrer (not sure what to call it? In German it's 'Brecher')
also a good thermometer -a mercury thermometer, optimized for Swiss style cheese making (that is, 30 and 50 C are marked boldly to make quick referencing easy). It's mercury, so it is very fast and accurate.
A few other items as well...
Then on Monday, I made my first batch of cheese in the cabin, in a makeshift setup with my new equipment (Trying to figure out how to optimize my setup before I install shelves, counters, the press, etc.) This is a Mutschli made to a low temperature, so it will be fast-ripening. Cooked to 40 C, so it is ready after 2 or 3 weeks.
The Mutschli is pressed lighter than others, so as you see here you can get a lot of mechanical openings. THat's OK for this cheese, since it isn't aged for very long. Also the way I have them arranged in the press as you see here means they won't get a whole lot of weight on them. For other cheeses, they will be in the slip hoops stacked vertically to ensure maximum weight.
Also my actual press setup will have more room to allow the stacking of the cylinder forms as well.