Mold Size Recommendation For A 5-6 USG Batch?

[humble_servant7]

Any tips on what size molds to get for a 5-6 gallon batch?

How do you match the sizes up per gallon per mold?

[Cheese Head]

humble, good question.

Sounds like you want to purchase rather than make your own mold.

Roughly you get 3.5 to 10 pounds of cheese per 6 US gallon of whole cow's milk, depending on if you are making cream cheese or Parmesan, a large range. Less if you are 2% or 1%.

Assuming you want a single mold per batch and assuming you are talking a pressed cheese, then you'll probably want a mold rated for 5 pounds/2.3 kg of cheese. That is a final cheese weight, not the weight weight after pressing or after brining (if brined).

Personally I like the commercial Kadova Brand Gouda shaped mold's as get nice whey drainage, no cheesecloth and no lines, nice shape, and easy to clean up. They are expensive but should last forever. They are available through a variety of webstores depending where you are.

If you go for a Kadova mold then the 1.5-2.0 kg one would be slightly too small. I have two of them that just barely fit 9 US gallons of whole cow's milk's curds (I have to squish them down and add more curds). The problem is the next size up is 3-3.5 kg, too big and you will not get the optimal height/width ratio for the cheese's development.

If you are making Camemberts or feta's then I just use several Camemberts hoops with mats on each end.

Lastly, I know Likesspace recommends Tomme shaped molds for first ones.

Good luck!

[Alex]

I'd say, 7-8" mould will fit for a pressed cheese.

[humble_servant7]

Great response, John. But I have a couple of questions.

Assuming you want a single mold per batch and assuming you are talking a pressed cheese,

Wait, you can split batches up into multiple molds? Would that be much easier rather than trying to fit it all into one?
And I thought that the only cheese that required a mold was a pressed cheese. Are there other cheese out there that arent pressed that require a mold also?
You dont mind further elaborating on this, do you?

Personally I like the commercial Kadova Brand Gouda shaped mold's as get nice whey drainage, no cheesecloth and no lines, nice shape, and easy to clean up. They are expensive but should last forever. They are available through a variety of webstores depending where you are.

Okay, and this is the part that also confuses me about molds. How do you know which particular cheese to match up to which mold? I'm confused as for what the Kadova Moulds can be used for. I take it from the name that Kadova can only press Gouda or Gouda-esque style cheeses.

But When I go to this site:
http://glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/wax.htm

It lists like 14 other Italian and French cheese molds, that seem as if they need to be bought also. Yet they never specify for which cheese, why and what reason.
I mean-- I am willing to shell out the money, but I am pretty sure buying over 36 cheese molds is just over-kill, when I'm sure some cheese can be duplicated in the same moulds as a few others in substitution.
All I just need to know is which mold goes with which cheese and whether French, Dutch, or Italian molds are the way to go.
But I DO certainly understand from the site that apparently the French ones are for soft and semi-soft cheese and the Kadova ones are for the hard ones. But the Italian has no description of which its for at all.

And I dont mind the cheesecloth, the lines, or none of that stuff. So the inexpensive ones that do that I dont mind.

[Cheese Head]

Humble, others here are probably better at answering than me but my thoughts:

MOLD & HOOP
These are somewhat interchangeable names thus a cause for confusion. Hoops are in general more open ended.

MULTIPLE HOOPS
Yes you can split one batch into multiple hoops a two mold example is my last batch with 9 USG of curds into two Kadova Gouda shaped molds, member DeejayDebi also often does the same. A several hoop example is Camembert making, here 2 US gallons filled 4 Camembert style hoops. Here 1 USG filled 4 small molds or rather draining/dripping molds. All depends what type of cheese and what you are trying to do.

PRESSED CHEESE MOLD SHAPES
Kadova is just one brand, they make molds in many shapes and sizes, for example Gouda, Edam, & loaf. Personally I think the Gouda shaped ones could press several types of cheese, but I think others are knowledgeable.

RECOMMENDATIONS
It all depends on what types of cheese and batch size you want to make. In my opinion, if you want to make Ricotta and/or Feta then a draining mold is best, if Camembert and Feta then several Camembert hoops, if pressed cheeses then a Gouda or Tomme (cylinder) shape.

So what type of cheese(s) do you want to make and why 5-6 gallon batches, is that the size of your vat (ie stockpot)?

PS: You are right, I need to build a mold/hoop webpage.

[humble_servant7]

So what type of cheese(s) do you want to make and why 5-6 gallon batches, is that the size of your vat (ie stockpot)?

At this point-- I am just gathering up all the materials I would need to take me from one cheese to the next-- without having to stop and order anything else.

BUt if buying cheese molds is an on-going continuous buying process as one wades further and further into the world of cheese then I understand.

And yes-- 5-6 gallons is the size of my vat (stockpot) but I more than likely will start light (at 1 -1.5 gallons) of milk first and then progress to doing bigger wheels of cheese, as technique improves.
So thats why initially I just wanted to know the mathematics for trying to convert gallons of milk into mold sizes to predict which molds I would need to buy.
Thanks John!

I'll probably create another thread-- going further into the functions of molds and which ones do what for which cheese.

Oh and BTW John-- what were the sizes of your two pots that you have nestled inside each other for a double-boiler in this picture post?:
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1319.msg9672.html#msg9672

[DeejayDebi]

I do 7 gallon batches and almost always slip it into two batches of cheese. It's just easier to store in my small caves. I use to of the 1.5 kg kadova molds which make two nice little 4 pound cheeses that fit well into a standard 11" vacuum sealer bag.