Caerphilly #6 - Combination 8" mould / press

[John@PC]

This is an add-on to the topic on heating clear pans I posted earlier today but has to do with pressing.    I know there are several of us who like polycarbonate cylindrical moulds because of the visibility factor and toughness.  It's the latter that made me think about trying to combine the mould and press together as one.   I planned to make an 8 gal. batch and decided to make two 8" rounds, so I thought I'd try this crazy idea.

I knew I needed a tall mold so I cut a 8" dia. tube to 12", then drilled staggered holes with Al's recommended 1 1/2" spacing (for helping piercing) in case I ever wanted to use it to make a 12 lb. Stilton .  I wanted to make the criss-cross pusher out of 1/2" HDPE but didn't have any so I used some 1/2" walnut I had.  Didn't have thicker HDPE for the base so just used a spruce board, then screwed in some cup-hooks for the rubber bands.  I then used the rig to press two cheeses stacked.

Note:  6" dia. mold is shown beside it for scale.

Turns out the mould was taller than I needed (in part due to the milled and salted curds) and I had to add several spacer blocks which wasn't really a drawback.  The cup-hooks I had on hand were too small also, but the bottom line is that it worked quite well.  Best thing was it was easy to keep the followers horizontal.  While I haven't tried it yet, the same rig should work with any mould that would fit inside, so you could use it to press a 6" dia. cheese.

With the equipment stuff out of the way, next up will be details for the cheese make.

Note: A 6" dia. mould is on the left to show scale.

[Al Lewis]

That's really cool!  If you can measure the pull of the rubber bands you could calculate the number needed for a particular pressing weight. AC4U for your ingenuity!!

[John@PC]

Thanks Al.  These were size 105 rubber bands (about 10 cents apiece) and provide about 6 lbs @ stretched to that length, so if you wanted 100 lbs you would use 4 on each hook.  For first press I used a couple of smaller ones to start off with 8 lbs total then went up from there.  You certainly can judge press weight by no. of bands although I've gotten to where I go by look and drip rate.  By beefing up the hooks and going to a stronger elastic like surgical tubing you could go pretty high if you wanted. 

[smolt1]

John:

Love that chriss-cross pusher, a great way to keep the follower level.

Al:
I think that rubber bands follow Hookes law F=kX so they act just like a spring.

[smolt1]

Look out spring presses, here comes the Criss-Cross!!

[scasnerkay]

John you continue to impress! Always thinking and creating!! Does your brain get tired sometimes?? A cheese to you!

[Kern]

John:

Love that chriss-cross pusher, a great way to keep the follower level.

Al:
I think that rubber bands follow Hookes law F=kX so they act just like a spring.

While the bands do act like a spring one can always add another band as the curd compresses.  You really can't do this easily with a steel spring.  If fact, one could "calibrate" the rubber band in a stress/strain fashion and add an additional band to maintain a more of less constant pressure.  Finally, if things look like they are going very badly in the press one could simply launch the curd like a water balloon.   

[Kern]

These were size 105 rubber bands (about 10 cents apiece) and provide about 6 lbs @ stretched to that length, so if you wanted 100 lbs you would use 4 on each hook.  For first press I used a couple of smaller ones to start off with 8 lbs total then went up from there.  You certainly can judge press weight by no. of bands although I've gotten to where I go by look and drip rate.  By beefing up the hooks and going to a stronger elastic like surgical tubing you could go pretty high if you wanted.

I came back and revisited your post.  Maybe it's the engineer in me appreciating your really simple and elegant design.  So, have a cheese on me.  Now for some ideas that could "improve" your design.  (Bye, bye simplicity, LOL)  You could fashion a drain pan under the hoop with stainless steel hooks coming up through it.  Use the sealant I sent you to keep the whey from going way under the drain pan around the hooks.  I like the walnut cross but cup holder hooks don't do it for me.  I'd get some long clothesline type hooks, drill a hole for them in the walnut and then epoxy (ahem!) them in.  All in all this will make everything much studier.  You'll sleep better knowing that nothing is going to go "sprong" in the night and shoot a hook into the ceiling.

Incidentally, did you get the 105's at Office Depot/Max, etc. or from an industrial supply company?      

[John@PC]

Thanks for the suggestions Kern.  I've had some other good suggestions by our "king" of presses, Smolt.  I did get the sealant (thanks a bunch) and the drip pan idea would be a good test of it.  And don't worry, the cup hooks are history.  Just waiting for some material to come in to do proto #4 and use it to, well, make cheese .

As for the bands I got them from the same place I get most of my other stuff: McMaster Carr.  I've been buying from these guys going way back when you actually ordered by something called a telephone .   I was always impressed that they would pick up the call even before it rang on my end.  Great customer service and competitive prices.

[Kern]

Thanks for the suggestions Kern.  I've had some other good suggestions by our "king" of presses, Smolt.  I did get the sealant (thanks a bunch) and the drip pan idea would be a good test of it.  And don't worry, the cup hooks are history.  Just waiting for some material to come in to do proto #4 and use it to, well, make cheese .

As for the bands I got them from the same place I get most of my other stuff: McMaster Carr.  I've been buying from these guys going way back when you actually ordered by something called a telephone .   I was always impressed that they would pick up the call even before it rang on my end.  Great customer service and competitive prices.

I note that Uline also has the #105 rubber bands.  The more I think about your idea the more I like it!  One huge advantage is its "compactness".  It would be really easy to keep the curd warm using your press.  Just cover it with an upside down container with a Perfect Cheese controller running a light bulb inside.  Why heat an entire room when all you want to do is keep the pressing area warm?  You could also use hex head bolts on the cross piece rather than hooks so that the same cross piece would fit a six AND eight inch molds.

Tons of possibilities with your rig.   

Incidentally, my cheese cave is now complete and running flawlessly.  Time to make cheese!   

[John@PC]

I still haven't posted my Caerphilly #6 make (really nothing new there except for the pan and press) but I did want to update the development of the "twins".   Just to summarize this was a 8 gal. make split into two 4 lb. cheeses.  The knitting could have been better and there were some surface crevices; superficial but enough to give a home for blue mold.  After 10 days I brushed with light brine and bagged.  One week later I decided to do an experiment and took one of the twins and clipped two of the corners to give a small passage of air infiltration. 

Pulled the twins out today (now at 1 month, 2 weeks after clipping the corners) and you can see the difference in the second picture.  Very nice b. Linens development (and aroma) and some spotting of grey mold on the clipped one while the sealed bag's rind was pristine.  The abundance of the red mold surprised me ; could it be due to the cheese being in a very high %RH environment? Also, how the the b.L get there as I washed both cheeses with light brine before bagging?  Anyway I brushed and washed the "orange" twin with a salt / vinegar solution and put it back in the cave (no bagging) to see what happens.

[awakephd]

That orange-red with the blue-grey around the edges is quite pretty! I've grown to like a little linens on my cheeses ... though my wife detests the smell!

[Kern]

The abundance of the red mold surprised me ; could it be due to the cheese being in a very high %RH environment? Also, how the the b.L get there as I washed both cheeses with light brine before bagging?  Anyway I brushed and washed the "orange" twin with a salt / vinegar solution and put it back in the cave (no bagging) to see what happens.

My guess is that the cheese effectively raised the RH in its little chamber.  The clipped hole was small with respect to air exchange thus creating good conditions for the growth of b. linens which likely found the hole huge for going in and growing on the cheese.   As the old saying goes "one air mass' pin prick is a microorganisms Lincoln Tunnel"!   

[John@PC]

As the old saying goes "one air mass' pin prick is a microorganisms Lincoln Tunnel"!   

Ain't that the truth.  From what I've read mold spores are less than 4 microns so a pinhole is many times 4 microns.  My "cut" were even larger.  I'm still not sure if the Linens was there all along or if it infiltrated.  I've been thinking about going to paracoat (with natamicyn) or maybe even back to wax but first I'm going to pull out my miniature bi-polar ionizer and give it another try (after sitting on the shelf for 2 yrs).  When I started PC I had a nephew that designed and patented a miniature ionizer about the size of half a pack cigarettes.  In fact the first "Cave Cube" had one of these.  I used it for awhile but when I got into doing washes (and wanted beneficial surface mold) I put it on the shelf.  Then I moved it up to the kitchen as the ionizer pretty much eliminates odors as well.  What I'm going to do is run the ionizer when the humidifier runs and see how my cheeses do (including the orange Caerphilly).