Hi shotski, nice to see another Ontarian around here. I was laughing pretty hard when I saw the reactions to the bagged milk. Your cheese press and operations remind me a lot of mine.
Cheese looks pretty good. Where did you get that cheese mold? I'm looking to upgrade to a larger size when i move into my new house.
Also, why did you choose 2% instead of homo milk(3.25%)?
Hi Jim what part of Ontario are you near? The recipe I have said that Edam is traditionally made with skim milk ( I have seen posts here where a higher fat milk is used.
As far as my set up is concerned I am relatively new to cheese making, I have only made 5 so far and wasn't sure if I would spend a lot of time making cheese. That said I am really enjoying this hobby.
I have been getting my moulds and supplies from ( They are very helpful)
http://www.glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/moulds.htmI got the Manufactures number 3888 and 3889 it is 6" high and 8" round. it is very versatile as you can make soft, semihard or hard cheeses in it.
I went down the path of trying to be frugal on that one but decided in the end that for the most part for the price of a couple of items that will be reused it is well worth the investment.
In this recipe for Edam I used 16L of milk and that ended up using 2" of the 6" height of the mold so even if I double it to 32L it will fit.