Author Topic: Press - Dukester's Homemade Cheese Press  (Read 3117 times)

Dukester

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Press - Dukester's Homemade Cheese Press
« on: April 10, 2009, 01:51:20 AM »
Put together my first rough press tonight.  It's a 4" or so mold at the bottom with a follower.  This is similiar to other designs I have seen on here, but mine seems large.  I guess I was thinking it would be more stable/sturdy and allow me to put as much weight as possible on top where the jug is.  Comments welcome from others that use something similiar to this.  Haven't made my first cheese yet, but hoping to get something done this Saturday

wharris

  • Guest
Re: Press - Dukester's Homemade Cheese Press
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2009, 02:08:18 AM »
I don't use one like this, but this looks fantastic to me.  Great job!

Dukester

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Re: Press - Dukester's Homemade Cheese Press
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2009, 02:13:52 AM »
Thanks.  Not knowing if this hobby is for me or not yet (but have always been interested), I didn't want to spend a lot of money or time into my first press.  Just something functional until I learn what the heck I'm doing.  Boards were from an old unused shelve and $4 worth of dowel roads, a drill, some glue and screws and thats what I came up with.  I'll post later how it works hopefully.

MrsKK

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Re: Press - Dukester's Homemade Cheese Press
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2009, 03:07:43 PM »
Your's is much like the one I made and was able to use for the last 3 cheeses I made.  I bought 6 inch PVC and cut a wooden follower, then use a soup can to "chase" the follower with a board on the top.  I did not glue or affix the dowels in any way.

I was previously going the cheap route (not sure if cheesemaking was going to be my thing so didn't want to spend money on it).  I used an old deep fryer basket as my cheese mold, cut several followers from ice cream pail lids, and used a combination of coffee cans full of sand and water, plus dumbbell weights as my weight system.  The cheeses turned out okay, but were wide across and shallow in depth, which made for dryer cheese after the ageing process.

I still use the weights I used before, but now they are quite stable on a wider platform above the cheese.   I hope to find more and bigger dumbbell weights to add to my collection, as they are easier to keep stable than the coffee cans, etc.

Once you get a cheese out of your press, please post pictures!

alvinco

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Re: Press - Dukester's Homemade Cheese Press
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2009, 08:18:51 AM »
I don't see any whey catcher nor any route for the whey to go to. 

MrsKK

  • Guest
Re: Press - Dukester's Homemade Cheese Press
« Reply #5 on: April 17, 2009, 12:31:04 PM »
The whey does find a way to get out.  The bottom board on mine is also flat.  I set my whole getup in a one-inch sided cookie sheet, then all in the bathtub, with the bathroom door closed, as I have cats and dogs who would love to eat the cheese and whey, properly pressed or not.

Dukester

  • Guest
Re: Press - Dukester's Homemade Cheese Press
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2009, 01:09:32 AM »
I do the same thing. Place a lined cookie sheet on the bottom with the mold on top of that.  As the press pushes the whey out, I usually just use some paper towels and keep it soaked up.  I plan to modify a cookie sheet to be sloped and provide for an outlet for the whey.  So far, no big deal to just soak up the whey every hour or so.  After a few hours there's not that much whey being expelled anyway.  Not pretty, but it works.