Option for heating curd

[scasnerkay]

Wanting a pan that was rectangular, low and wide rather than round and tall, I purchased the Avantco warmer unit as used by others here. I found it challenging to use because of slower than desired temperature increase, and then finding it easy to overshoot the temp when heating the curd. Same reasons I do not like electric stove tops! I think I have a solution for myself...  I bought a second simmer plate (already had one) and lined up the pan across two burners. So far it has worked like a champ for both a mesophilic and a thermophilic type make. Temperature was much easier to control. I hope the thin stainless pan holds up with this kind of use, but this is a relatively inexpensive pan.

[Danbo]

Good idea. I have been thinking about using similar pans... Great to hear that it works! :-)

[Spoons]

Great to hear you found a working solution!

So what do you think was hard to control with the food warmer? The built-in heating elements or the reaction time due to the water bath?

BTW, here's a possible extra for you on that new simmer plate setup:
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/stainless-steel-steam-table-spillage-water-pan/92299765.html
It should help maintain the temp during ripening or rest times. Your full pan fits rights on top. You might need a probe in the water to know when to shut off the stove.

[scasnerkay]

In the avantco unit, I was using a probe connected to the PC temperature controller, so the heating element was turning on when the water was too cold, and turning off when the water got to the selected temperature. But the heating element still retained heat in it, and the water would continue to heat about 8 degrees more. It was also quite slow to come to temperature for ripening.

I do not seem to loose much heat during ripening or resting the curd. I think the volume of milk, plus the lid, plus a towel thrown over if needed works just fine. Those simmer plates retain some heat as well. After turning off the burners, I still get 3 to 4 more degrees in the pot. I was concerned about too much direct bottom heat, but with gentle stirring it seems not to be a problem.

I wonder what the volume is on the steam table pan you mentioned. I suppose an 8 inch deep full size pan would also work.....  Aiming bigger!

[John@PC]

I wonder what the volume is on the steam table pan you mentioned. I suppose an 8 inch deep full size pan would also work.....  Aiming bigger!

Susan, I use a 8" deep full size pan like this when I want a 5 or 6 gal. make. Otherwise I use a 6" deep because our cutters fit them better.  I have not used a spillage pan, but from the picture the lip is mighty narrow and may be harder to pick-up which is a nice feature of the food pans.   It's been my experience as well that lower heating mass gives better control and less overshoot (which is why I like my electric griddle ). 

[Spoons]

John, I just ordered an 8" pan and you made me realise I may need to make another curd knife. How close to the edge of an 8" pan is 6 gallons of milk? My current curd knife is 7", might be a close call.

[John@PC]

Susan:  You're 7" cutter should work with 5 gal. batches (and maybe 6 gal, I forget  ).  Either way you will want to keep the level 1" or so below the top to keep from sloshing out when stirring.  I do have a cutter sized for the 8" deep pans (is actually the width of the full-sized pan or 9 1/2 inches).  It's a bit of a different style in that it's a 1" spacing and you "flip" the cutter to get 1/2" curds in two passes.  If you want to try it out I'll send you one of the prototypes (we don't sell these because not too many people are using 8" pans - yet .

[Spoons]

I've been called many things before, but Suzan is a first

Thanks for the offer, John, but I already bought the metal for my next curd knife.

I'm making this version narrower. I have a hunch that my 1/4'' cut was pushing the whey around because it was too wide and trying to cut too much mass on one single pass.

Spoons' V.3.0 curd knife coming up in a few weeks.