Author Topic: How much milk do I need for my tomme  (Read 1224 times)

olikli

  • Guest
How much milk do I need for my tomme
« on: November 29, 2015, 12:30:24 PM »
I am planning on making a basic tomme as my first big cheese. I have a mould that has a diameter of 20 cm and a height of 15 cm. Mathematically the volume is just above 4.7 litres. What would be the amount of milk needed for this mould? It comes with a pressing lid to put weights on top.

Offline awakephd

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: North Carolina
  • Posts: 2,351
  • Cheeses: 240
  • compounding the benefits of a free press
Re: How much milk do I need for my tomme
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2015, 01:06:31 AM »
That is more-or-less the size of my largest mold. I have found that a 6-gallon make is about right for that mold -- but of course that partly depends on the type of make and milk. Low-fat, drier curd makes like Parma-style will make much less than high-fat, higher-moisture like a Caerphilly ... my results reflect store-bought P&H milk, approximately 3.2% fat.
-- Andy

olikli

  • Guest
Re: How much milk do I need for my tomme
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2015, 06:38:43 AM »
I use 3.6% "creamline" so the yield might be slightly better. My biggest pot has 22 litres so it should work out. Thanks.

Offline awakephd

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: North Carolina
  • Posts: 2,351
  • Cheeses: 240
  • compounding the benefits of a free press
Re: How much milk do I need for my tomme
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2015, 10:14:06 PM »
Only one way to find out. :) Let us know how it goes ...

By the way, my largest pot is a bit less than 4 gallons. To do the 6-gallon make, I had to use two pots. It was do-able, but mostly because the recipe I was using (Cantal) required no stirring.
-- Andy

Kern

  • Guest
Re: How much milk do I need for my tomme
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2015, 06:17:09 AM »
I got tired of trying to stuff a fixed number of gallons of milk into my limited mold selection and thought about flipping the problem around and asking how much milk I'd need to fit in a certain size mold to get the aspect ratio that works best for that particular cheese.  Put another way - What's wrong with making a 3.5 gallon batch if that provides the correct amount of curds to press to get a 2:1 (diameter:height) cheese.  After all, you can make tapioca pudding with the left over milk even if it is raw milk.  ;D

So, I came up with a little Excel Spreadsheet that helps facilitate this.  A copy is attached.  Note that the inputs are gallons, yield and density.  Yield and density are generally available for the cheese you want to make if you look around.  (200 Cheese Recipes has yield data and densities vary from about 1.02 to 1.07 - soft high moisture cheeses to hard grana cheeses).  You can enter your mold diameter where appropriate, have the spreadsheet calculate the area and then play around with the milk volume to get the aspect ratio for the mold you want.  Play with it and you'll see how to make it work.