the elusive 6.5"D cheese hoop

[MarkShelton]

I have looked through all of the regular cheesemaking stores sites and some commercial ones also in search of a cheese hoop that is 6.5" in diameter with no luck.

Does anyone know where I could find one? It doesn't matter if it's stainless or plastic, as long as it is food grade. I don't have a preference of having a bottom or not, or even a follower, though that would be nice also. It just needs to be 6.5" (~17cm) in diameter and hopefully at least 8" (~21cm)tall.

(Besides the strange 15" tall one @ Ullmer's with the flair end, no drain holes, and a handle in the middle for $70)

[Majoofi]

I had the same question. Finally I made one out of a Cambro food storage container that I bought at a restaurant supply store. It's like a Tupperware container but hard. I bought two cut the bottom out of one and sanded it down to act as a follower and drilled holes in the other one for drainage. There is a very slight flair in the shape but I don't think I can see it in the cheese.

The trouble is that I couldn't drill holes without getting little twisted plastic bits sticking out on the inside. So I had to sand it down and ended up scrubbing the shiny finish off of the tub. So now I worry that screwed up the safeness of it. Cause now it feels just like PVC. Ugh.

Any thoughts?

[MarkShelton]

So you think that all the little scratches from sanding made it unsafe? I'm sure that it's made completely out of food safe material, but yes, the little scratches would make good homes for bacteria to live. I would at least be very thorough about cleaning and sanitizing it.

[DeejayDebi]

How about using a reamer? I drill smaller holes and open them up with a small reaming tool. Comes out nice and clean without sanding.

[coffee joe]

Mark,

175 mm is pretty close and standard here in Brazil. the link below accepts credit cards and mails items, I can translate if needed. I use these to fit a 6" white PVC in, it holds the cheesecloth almost perfectly in place!

http://www.queijosnobrasil.com.br/lojabrasil/product_info.php?cPath=5&products_id=41

[Sailor Con Queso]

Use a hot nail instead of a drill.

[Gina]

I used a heated ice-pick with a cool handle on my homemade tupperware mold. Worked well enough with 2 exceptions - I didnt like the melted plastic fumes, and if the metal pick isnt the right temperature, plastic 'pimples' can form on the inside of the mold around the new holes.

[MarkShelton]

@CoffeeJoe: That would be pretty good for me, but I can't really see it that well in the picture   That, and yeah... I don't speak Portugese. Google will translate most of it, but not all. Do you have one? Can you post a better picture of it? And I wonder if they will ship to the US...

[DeejayDebi]

It's not plastic but this is as close as I could find to your sizes.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=38277&catid=823