Hi Pam, have fun with them!
I'm using store bought past & homogenized whole cow's milk and I also don't get a firm curd set like when you use normal amount of rennet. I thought about ladling mine directly into the molds, a small amount initially so that it doesn't squirt out the weep holes, but it would take a while and I only have three of these pyramid molds and they are not very big. If they were bigger or I had more then they should have worked. So instead I did like Alex and you, pre-drained via hanging bag.
I think I drained in bag too long as was soft cream cheese consistency and I had to pack it in a bit to fill the corners of the mold and as I got minimal whey drainage while in molds.
My understanding is as only very little rennet is used and at low temp you don't get normal full rennet curd and if using non-homogenized milk it will separate while forming soft curd as long time ripening in vat. I wrote some
good notes here on acid vs rennet coagulation that explain it better.
Looking forward to reading about and seeing your results. I have
second batch aging now
.