Making a hard cheese without a press?

[nym]

Hi All

I've been making cheeses for about nine months and have had a few successes (and failures) with blues and bloomy rinds.
I'm going to carry on experimenting with these but I would really love to try a hard cheese and I've been looking at the recipe for the quick maturing Lancashire which has been discussed on this board.
But it seems that to try this (or any hard cheese?) I'm going to have to be able to apply substantial amounts of pressure to the mould. I've acquired bits and pieces of equipment over time but I can't justify buying a cheese press at the moment. At best I might be able to get up to ~15Kg by stacking up my kitchen weights and my son's diving weights (!).
Is there any recipe that I could attempt with this set up? I'd love to try the Lancashire (I was born in Lancashire) but suggestions for any hard cheese would be very welcome.

[Al Lewis]

With that weight you could probably do an Emmentaler (Swiss Cheese) but I don't think you could do a "hard" cheese.  I could be wrong though so wait for some other inputs.

[AnnDee]

How about Havarti or better yet, Tomme? Havarti needs about 7-8 kgs pressing for 8 liters batch and Tomme only need as much as it's own weight to press it. I think you also can make most of Alpine/Swiss cheese, they requires very little pressing.

[nym]

Thank you for the responses but I did SO want to try a Cheddar or a Lancashire as my next cheese type. I guess that it's time to start saving for a press...
From what I've seen on the forum, it seems that the Dutch type press is favoured over other sorts? In anticipation, could anybody comment on the efficacy or otherwise of

http://www.cheesemakingshop.co.uk/Wooden-Dutch-type-Cheese-Press.html

or

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dutch-cheese-press-Classic-cheese-Complete-kit-make-Your-own-cheese-/132056211953?hash=item1ebf29e1f1:g:rqsAAOSwp5JWWzV7

or make another recommendation that would be available to me in the UK?

[AnnDee]

I love the one from sturdypress.com

[Al Lewis]

If you can get one over there from SMOLT1 buy a Sturdypress.  You'll never regret it.  At any rate you will want a press that will give you the weight you want and that has a large spacing between the uprights.  They always show these presses with the mold under the press block but keep in mind you will want to sit that in a container to catch the whey you are pressing out. Have a read of the thread I did when I was looking at them.  http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10906.0.html  And yes, the flag is a real one. LOL

[nym]

Thanks for the advice. Looks like I need to save up for a Studypress!
But it's not clear from the website if they are still available and I dread to think what the shipping costs to the UK would be...

Nice flag!   

[nccheesemike]

I have the cheese press from New England Cheesemaking Company. If you're willing to purchase from US I can't recommend that press enough. I love mine

https://www.cheesemaking.com/shop/cheese-press-home.html

[smolt1]

nym, look at your PM's

Smolt1