Mold types and volumes

[tashad]

So far, when I've made cheese I've either used the mold specified in the recipe or I've used what I had on hand.  I would like to learn more about using different molds so that I can resize recipes, or split the resulting curds into multiple molds for smaller cheeses, etc.  I know I could just wing it and see what happens, but I'd prefer to have a bit of knowledge backing my choices.  So, I have several questions.

I recently made a port salut with 12L of milk, in a tomme mold.  I think the width to height ratio is pretty good.  But in future makes, I'd like the option of splitting it into two smaller molds but hopefully maintaining a similar form factor.  I'm not sure how to sort out what size of molds to use.  Do I need to know the volume of curds at the time that they'll be going into the molds?  Or the volume of the finished cheese that I already have? I understand how to figure out the volume of the molds that I have, but I'm not sure that will give me the answer I need since the height of the mold isn't necessarily indicative of the height of the cheese.

I would also like to attempt reblochon one day in the near future.  I have seen the molds for that, they look a lot like my tomme mold, but smaller.  I have a couple of molds that are roughly the same diameter as the reblochon molds, but slightly tapered rather than completely straight. They have many more holes in them than the reblochon/tomme molds have.  Would that have a big impact on the cheese?  I assume the whey would drain out faster...Would I need to do something different to compensate for that?  The link shows the molds that I have.

https://www.fromagex.com/can/english/moule-a-fromage-caciotta-1000g-1064

[Gregore]

That mold looks close enough to the reblochon mold to,work . The extra holes cloud not effect it that much as the cheese cloth is what really helps remove the whey from the surface .

You will fill the mold above the top a little and it will settle down to about 1/3 to half of the mold 

A ball park  measure for cheese molds is 2 times higher than the finished cheese on dryer cheeses and 3 or more on wetter curds .

[awakephd]

Tasha, how much of a glutton for punishment (aka, math) are you? If you just want a quick and simple answer, here it is:

• To get the same height/width ratio when doubling a cheese (using twice as much milk - which should give approximately twice as much curds), multiply the diameter of the mold by 1.26
  
  
• To get the same height/width ratio when halving a cheese (using half as much milk - approximately half as much curds), multiply the diameter of the mold by .7937
  

If you are interested in the mathematical formula, which would let you generalize to other ratios, e.g., 3 times as much milk, or 1/4 as much milk, here it is:

[target diameter] = cube-root([change in volume]) * [initial diameter]

Where [target diameter] is the diameter of the mold that you need to use to achieve the intended result; [initial diameter] is the diameter of the mold that gave you the earlier result that you want to duplicate (in terms of height/width ratio); and [change in volume] is the ratio between the desired volume of curds (or milk) to be used over the initial volume of curds (or milk) used.

To illustrate with an example:

You made a cheese with 12 liters of milk using a 200mm mold. (I'm guessing on the diameter of the mold you used - adjust the calculations below as needed for the actual diameter.)

You want to make another 12 liter batch, but you're going to divide it into two 6 liter cheeses, so you want to use half the volume (6/12) of milk (and thus half the volume of curds) per mold. Plug in the numbers:

[target diameter] = cube-root(.5) * 200 = .7937 * 200 = 159

So, you will be looking for a mold with a diameter of approximately 159mm.

If you are REALLY a glutton for punishment, and interested in all the gory details for deriving this formula, here is a link: http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,14911.msg114054.html#msg114054

[tashad]

Thanks guys.  Andy, it took me a while but I think I've got it.  My tomme mold is 180mm, so if I want to make this cheese with the same amount of milk but make 4 small cheeses, the formula would be the cube root of .25 multiplied by the diameter of the tomme, yes?  .6299*180=113.38, so I'd want molds of approximately 113mm in diameter.  Does that sound right?

[awakephd]

Exactly right!

The calculation is not very intuitive - one would think that for half the curds, use a mold that is half the diameter -- but reducing the mold diameter by half provides only 1/4 the volume IF the height is identical -- and less than 1/4 if you reduce the height in proportion to the reduction in diameter.