my first farmhouse cheddar.......

[tina]

.... was kind of an interesting process, mainly consisting of stacking the weights, hearing them all fall down, then restacking them. By bedtime, I decided to take one of the bricks off in hopes that the other 3 bricks and 2 (2kg) weights would stay the night, and they did! Unfortunately, there was only about 32 lbs. of weight instead of the 50 that was recommended in Ricki's book, which prompts a question: How much weight is really needed for cheddar? Ricki's recipe said 50, the 200 Cheese Recipes book said "medium weight" and the Leener's website (http://www.leeners.com/cheese-recipes-cheddar.html) said 10 to 12 lbs.

The next step is figuring out how to make a 'cave'. Cooler in the garage with a small frozen bottle of water replaced every few days?? The hard part will be to keep from slicing off little bits to try!

[MrsKK]

It looks good!  What size is it?

Your adventures in pressing sound a lot like my early efforts - I didn't want to spend any money until I knew that I really wanted to get into this, so I used a 5 gallon pail and filled it with whatever I had that weighed a lot.  Sometimes it stayed where it was supposed to, sometimes not.  Most often, my cheeses were lopsided.

I have a cabinet in my basement that works fine for wintertime ageing, but within a month or so I will need to move everything to my spare refrigerator.  I'm hoping someday to add another fridge and get a thermostatic control so I can keep it at 50-55 degrees, but for now it works.  It just takes longer to age the cheese at normal fridge temperatures.

[tina]

Thanks! It's 6" in diameter, a cake ring purchased at a restaurant supply place. Had a follower made at a plastics shop and I'm just balancing all the weights on one brick that fits in the mold, upright. I only had 1 3/4 gallons of milk to use in this experiment but would like to make a bigger one next time. Mixed cow and goat milk due to limited source of goat milk.

Those thermostatic controls look very spendy. I need to find another solution, hopefully non electric. Will need to read the cave threads and find something I can use.

[padams]

Hi Tina!  your cheese looks beautiful, and looks like knit perfectly!  I am very encouraged by the look of your cheddar with such low weight....that has been my concern also.  But it looks perfect!  Enjoy the "cave" treads....all that info will leave you crosseyd andwith a headache   Once you get it all sorted tho, you will find exactly what you need....these guys are amazing!!

[DeejayDebi]

Your cheese looks very nice. Good job!

I think the weight has a lot to do with how long you press and how warm you press. My initial press in usually in a 3 gallon bucket like container which keeps the curds warmer for a longer period of time - so I get by with stacing #10 can of tomatoes and such. Sometimes I will just refill the empty milk bottles or another of those 3 gallon containers I have with water.

something like todays cheese:

[FarmerJd]

The best way to keep from eating it is to keep making cheese; the more you make the more you forget about them.  
As far as pressure, you can't get too much on a cheddar. Most milled cheddars call for very high psi (10 -50 psi) which would mean at least 200 lbs on a 6 inch mold. Your curds were probably easier to knit together than a milled curd so you would be fine not to use that much but the more you put on the better. As Debi says, if using lighter weight, press a little longer and always try to keep the curd warm. Great looking cheese! Good luck.

[justsocat]

Very nice looking wheel, tina!
I'm after Farmer - you can't get too much pressure on a cheddar. About a week ago i cut my first three month old cheddar and though it looked ok outside there was quite opened structure inside. It makes me think of more pressing weight and time along with warming the mold somehow.

[tina]

Thanks for all the great feedback! I love your set-up, DeejayDebi, with the ropes to prevent a collapse. Will have to figure out a way to support all my bricks and weights in some way.

FarmerJd; are you serious about 200 lb. weight?? I guess I was extremely lucky to have it knit together at all, then.

I appreciate all the great expertise and knowledge here. Thanks so much.

tina

[FarmerJd]

Yes, a 6 inch mold has a an area of about 28 square inches.


radius = 6 divided by 2 = 3,
area = radius squared times pi = 3 x 3 x 3.14 = 28.26
Pounds per square inch (psi) = weight divided by area = 200lbs / 28.26 = 7 psi


To get it up to at least 10 psi you would need about 280 - 300 lbs or a dutch press that multiplied the pressure for you.


I am not suggesting you do this; just showing the math. Different cheeses call for different pressures and your cheese will taste fine, but if you are trying to achieve the texture of commercially prepared cheddar, you will have to consider the pressure. You can see from Pavel's cheese that it still looks very good! I have found that vacuum sealing also helps reduce the mechanical openings. Good luck.

[wharris]

Wow,
Could this be this forum's first "disagreement-free' discussion of PSI  for hard milled cheeses? 
Nicely played FarmerJd!!!
Well done.

[justsocat]

Wane, i was never in any PSI discussion because it's quite clear. The more square the more pressure i need. More pounds for EACH more square inch But now when i go up to ten times bigger wheels it seems to me that i have to add even more than plain math calls for
Thanks for an idea with vacuum sealing, John!

[wharris]

Pavel,
I was not singling you, or anyone out...  I just seem to recall some rather rigorous back-and-forths on the topic.

[justsocat]

It was just a joke, Wayne I was always smiling at those hot psi discussions, when Sailor tried to prove obvious things. But i've just found out that my new press may be don't provide the pressure i need. Silly me

[FarmerJd]

Wayne, I was hoping my comments would fly under the radar.  Try not to bring any extra attention to this thread.   (Tongue in cheek). I am glad Pavel is in my corner.

[wharris]

I can be as subtle as a fart in church sometimes...




but my point remains.  I think we all actually agree!  Woohoo!