How high will my cheese be after pressing?

[Michelle]

I am hoping to make my first cheddar very soon.  What I want to know is how much the curd will decrease in height after pressing.

For example, if I fill my hoop with curd to a height of 15cm, what height would I expect my finished block of cheese to be?

I just would like to know a rough idea of how much curd I should put in the hoop.  e.g. would I expect the height to decrease by half, or by about 20% or so on...

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks,
Michelle

[Cheese Head]

Michelle, I haven't made cheddar but for my washed curd Gouda's and Havarti's I'm averaging about 15%. I'd put all the curds in the hoop, what else are you going to do with them?

[DeejayDebi]

Michelle -

Get as much in as you can punch it down with your fist or even the follower as much as you can. You'll probably end up around 10 to 12 cm after pressing and maybe 10 to 8 cm after aging.

[Baby Chee]

I would think it depends on how you harvest the curds and drain them before pressing.  Something soft like a brie which is ladled from cubes in pot to mold will decrease plenty in the mold, while something like a gouda which is drained in the post most way will decrease far less. 

A cheddar done with the traditional english cheddaring/layering shouldn't decrease much at all in the mold, since most whey will already be gone my molding.  If you are doing a cheddar any other way you could have more moisture.  Cheddar is also pressed fairly heavy for a good amount of time, so it will decrease some.

I've never made one, but will in a few days.  I can't imagine a reduction of over 20%, but others here would know better.  You might want to post your process you plan to use and maybe someone having done that technique could be very specific.

[Sailor Con Queso]

There are different kinds of Cheddar - Farmhouse, Stirred Curd, or Traditional Cheddaring. They give different results. With a Traditional Cheddar I wouldn't expect more than a 10% reduction during pressing.

[FarmerJd]

My cheddar almost always reduces by about a third to a half but I also shoot for 15 to 20 psi on the last pressing. I agree with DeejayDebi that your final cheese will probably be about 8-10cm after drying out. This is assuming your original 15cm is just the loose curds. Like sailor said it depends on your process. I let my curds mat while cheddaring and then cut them into 3/4 to 1 inch cubes. The times early on when I just stirred them while cheddaring they were much smaller and took up less room in the press and therefore didn't compress as much. I remember the first time I tried a larger batch (6 gallons or so i think) I just figured on the final product size and forgot about the unpressed volume. I had too much curd for my little 6 inch hoop. We ate a lot of fresh curds. Nobody minded though

[DeejayDebi]

Yeah it's never hard to get rid of cheese curds frsh or fried. Better than chips or popcorn for watching a good movie IMHO! 

[Michelle]

Thanks for the feedback guys.  I'll let you know how I get on.  I think I'll be using 10 litres of milk for this one, so I'll see what volume of curd I have after milling.

Cheers,
Michelle