Alpine screw press

[ArnaudForestier]

Now that my cave is up and running, final preparations in place for making my 20# "Abondance" cheeses.  I built an alpine screw press.  Very much influenced by Jos's press design (thanks so much, Jos). 

Aided on some of the finishing by a luthier friend of mine.  Central worm screw is a German bench press screw, 32mm diameter.  All else is either 4x4 or 2x4 simple SPF.  Laminated base:



The 4 x 4 uprights and crossbeam are mortise and tenon.  The uprights will be bolted on the bottom on a cross-strutted 2x4 frame.  All that's left to do is bolt up the uprights to the frame, and finish the lower foncet, or disk:



These cheeses will be made with 20 gallons milk, though once in full production I will be doing 60 gallon makes in a copper chaudron.  They will have a twin-temp incubation emphasizing S. thermo and lactobacilli, with some addition of Alp D.  The hoop is an authentic Abondance form, with concave sides.  The wash regimen will be a simple morge, using Beaufort rinds portions.  I'm working on a pilot project on alpine forages in pastoral settings, such as mine.  Cows will be Tarentaise, almost exclusively.

[Spoons]

Nice job, Paul! I especially like the base with the whey runoff.

A cheese for you! 

[ArnaudForestier]

Thanks Eric!  Just can't wait to get the large stuff going - my harp from France has been sitting idle for far too long.  I hope to log my experiences there, too.  So much fun, this world, eh? 

Merci, mon ami. 

[OzzieCheese]

Another <Sigh> moment.  In my mind I have racks of large cheese all awaiting their time on the plate and then I wake up .... Difference between fantisies and dreams - one has no chance of coming true - now how to a turn a dream into reality ? 

--Mal

[Andrew Marshallsay]

A lovely piece of work.
What sort of mechanism do you use to turn the screw and maintain pressure as the cheese loses whey?
Any idea what pressure you will be able to produce?
Well done and worth a cheese even before it's finished.

[ArnaudForestier]

A lovely piece of work.
What sort of mechanism do you use to turn the screw and maintain pressure as the cheese loses whey?
Any idea what pressure you will be able to produce?
Well done and worth a cheese even before it's finished.

Thanks for the cheese!  This type of press depends on a hoop with an adjustable diameter.  It takes some practice, but it's a process of screwing down the press, and tightening up the hoop (see below).  Eventually, ideally, you have the cheese fully pressed into the form, and the proper tightness (diameter), going into final draining period.


 

[awakephd]

Paul, something to think about--something you may already have thought about--is the placement of the screw mechanism and the implications for where failure could occur under pressure. With the mounting plate on top, you are counting on the mounting screws to hold against the pressure that is applied. That may work just fine. If not, redo your top beam, but put the mounting plate on the bottom; then the pressure will be pushing against the whole beam, not just the screws.

[ArnaudForestier]

Paul, something to think about--something you may already have thought about--is the placement of the screw mechanism and the implications for where failure could occur under pressure. With the mounting plate on top, you are counting on the mounting screws to hold against the pressure that is applied. That may work just fine. If not, redo your top beam, but put the mounting plate on the bottom; then the pressure will be pushing against the whole beam, not just the screws.

Awake, thank you - I hadn't thought of that.  Fantastic solution!  I was going to simply bolt the plate through, rather than depend on screws.  The one drawback here is that the press screw is fairly short, and we're a bit tight in clearance - but I still think we have enough to go with this idea.  Will try it out.  Thanks - cheese to you!

[Alpkäserei]

Have you thought to look at cider or wine press supplies? There you will be able to find a big screw and its hardware designed for this type of thing, often rated for much much higher pressure than you will ever need in a cheese press. Fruit presses are often made to exert several tons of force, while in a cheese press you usually only need a couple hundred pounds (unless you press out big Emmentaler wheels, and need nearly a tone of force to do it)

[ArnaudForestier]

I did look into it but by that time, I'd already acquired this German bench screw pretty reasonably, and the cider/etc. presses I saw couldn't accommodate the 24" diameter I was looking to do.  Project's completed now, anyway - so we're in business.

[awakephd]

Thanks for the cheese! Bolting it through would certainly be stronger than just screws from the top -- I personally wouldn't be concerned about that pulling out, even under two or three hundred pounds of force, unless you are using really wimpy bolts and/or insufficient washer diameter on the bottom side.

With a 32mm diameter for the bench screw, I would think you could exert quite a lot of force if desired -- maybe not a few tons, but certainly a few hundred pounds. (I have to confess that I don't have the formulas on hand to back that up, so I may be wrong.)

[ArnaudForestier]

I hope so, Awake.  Thing seems really stout, but I guess we won't know until I put it to the test - this Tuesday, my first large wheel, so we'll see.  I'll report here, hopefully it's with some good news...

[Alpkäserei]

With a 20 pound wheel, you will need up to 200 pounds of force according to the way we calculate pressing force for Alpine style cheeses (we keep a similar form factor across the range -Alpkäse, Emmentaler, Gruyere, etc. that all come from the same tradition). We figure 8 to 10 pounds of force for every pound of cheese. Since you are using the traditional forms, use this traditional means of calculating press weight needed. It's designed to go with those forms, and works ideally. 

You will have to do some experimenting to figure out how much you have to crank the form to get the desired weight. Just as a hint, it is going to be a lot more than you think.

Often I see these screw presses used only for the first rotations in the press (the 5, 10, 20, and 45 minute pressings, that are also covered up to preserve heat) then the long presses, they are put under a heavy beam. This is because of the issue addressed earlier, you lose height during the pressing.
You also only want to adjust your Trugel (the wooden block to tighten the form) outside of the press, not under pressure. That's a good way to break things. And also for the record, professionally made forms will have a Trugel that is made to be adjusted with a hammer. We would pull it tight by hand, then give it a few taps with a hammer to secure everything.

[ArnaudForestier]

I've seen these being used in the French Alps through to completion (as crazy as it may sound, my French supplier wasn't familiar with the term "Dutch press."  I'm sure he's seen lever presses, still found it a bit funny the term wasn't known to him), though the use of these is getting more and more rare, from what I can tell (I could have gotten a wall mounted screw press....for $1200.  I decided to go DIY.  My supplier said most are using pneumatic presses).  As to pressure needed, it seems at least from what I've seen, it's just a game of knowing your cheese, and your press.  The French guys I've seen do it, simply flip, adjust the tightener, press down, repeat, etc.  All with a rubber or wooden mallet (I've a rubber mallet).  I plan to keep the form warm with poured whey through the first several flippings, then a change of cheesecloth about halfway through.

[Alpkäserei]

I was taught to change the cheesecloth with every pressing. This makes a nice wheel.
You leave whey in the vat while pressing, and throw the cloths you aren't using in. Then switch out, the cloth is warm and soaked in whey so won't stick to the cheese.

With each pressing we unwrap the wheel and trim it if it needs it (usually the first couple pressings don't need trimmed). This helps us prevent a lot of cloth marks in the wheel, and keeps any bits that squeeze out over the form from folding over and making creases in the cheese. then put the cheese on a fresh cloth, drop in the form, tighten until it squeezes the cheese out just a little bit, fold the cloth over top, put the pressteller (the plate that goes on top, don't know what to call it in ENglish) on top and push down.

I don't like pneumatic presses. There, I said it. I feel better now.