Curd Stirrer - Automatic Ideas?

[Likesspace]

Although I do love making cheese the one thing that I hate is when the recipe enters the stirring stage.
Not only is it extremely boring to stir curds for an hour straight, I've found that when moving up to larger batches of cheese it can also be somewhat hard on the arm muscles.
I've been giving this problem a lot of thought over the past few weeks and have decided to give something a try. I thought I would post this to get opinions from others (listen up, Carter).
My idea is to take an electric rotisserie that is made for a gas bbq grill and adapt a stirring device to the shaft.
The shaft (or spit) will have to be sawed off and I'll have to attach some type of stirring device to the shaft via a stainless set screw style of coupling.
I do have one design in mind (see Carter's parmesan #6 post) but I'm not sure it will be feasible, especially in this application.
At work, I also have some PVC splines that are used for attaching couplings to a certain type of potable water well piping. These are small diameter (around 3/16") and quite flexible. They are approximately 18" long.
I'm thinking I can fuse the top of these splines together and then flatten them out on the bottom. This will create little "paddles" that should move the curd in a gentle fashion.
At the top I will use the set screw style of stainless coupling to hold the fused splines which will create two flexible "legs" that go down into the curd.
I don't yet know the exact rpm of the rotisserie motor but I would guess it to be very slow (10 - 20 rpm range). I'm also not positive that the spit is stainless steel which is absolutely necessary unless I cut it short enough so that in no way comes into contact with the whey.
I'm only thinking of giving this a try since my dad is willing to give me his old rotisserie since he never uses it.
I plan on using a flat bar of HDPE over the cheese pot (a design I've stolen from Carter) and attach the motor to this bar. I'll probably also steal his idea of placing the motor inside of a secondary container to keep any contaminates from dropping into the curd.
So, please give me your thoughts on this.
I'm really good at dreaming up ideas but really bad at seeing all of the potential problems associated with my designs.

Dave

[Cartierusm]

Post a pic already of the free chicken ferris wheel, that's what they are ferris wheels for chicken. Anwyay, sounds good, does the motor come with the stainless rod and barbs? If so just cut off the long bards and leave the rod which fits the motor already. Then just get a piece of 3/4" HDPE about 5" high and a few inches short on each side of your vat. Then drill an undersized hole and press the stainless rod on and you're done. I wouldn't fuss with all the pvc and stuff, the only reason I had probably chopping the curds was it was way too fast, the paddles will be fine. Or make it even more flexible and take 3" high HDPE x 2" wide by 1" thick, drill the undersized holes and press fit onto SS. Then Predill into so 1/8" HDPE that is 5" wide x 5" high and stainless steel screw it onto the larger 'collar'. that way you have some flexibility in the 1/8" HDPE.

[Likesspace]

Carter, thanks for the different ideas. I will be sure to give this a try, IF I ever get this project off of the ground.
My major problem at this point is that my dad can't find the rotisserie. He knows he has it....he knows it's somewhere at his house yet it remains lost.
Hopefully over the next week it will be located and I can start working on this next weekend.
From what I've read, most grill rotisseries only turn at 2.5 - 4 r.p.m.. I'm not sure that this will be fast enough to do much good but at least it gives me a starting point for experimentation.
If this experiment doesn't work, but shows promise then I can go ahead and purchase a gear motor and see what I can come up with.

Dave

[Cartierusm]

I think it will be fine. Some movement is all you need.

[tbbxrr]

I just built a curd stirrer for my wife (she's the cheese maker). I had tried the rotisserie motor, but it was too slow and only wadded the curd up. This one is based on a design of my own and I have written up a bill of materials and instructions on how to build it. Plus there is  video on YouTube showing it in action.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Picture? Materials? You Tube link?

[memkuk]

Just like Dave, I found the one hour stirring pretty boring and wanted to automate this process. This is what I came up with: electric motor from a big satellite antenna, power supply 0 - 30 Volts DC, 3 amps. Turns nicely at 8 Volts. The vat can hold up to 70 liters of milk.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Very nice Eric. Seems like a lot of work for just 35 liter (7.9 gallon) batches. When are you going to move up to a bigger pot?

[Cartierusm]

Eric, very nice. What kind of milk are you using, Fresh Raw or store bought? If it's raw that speed might be good if it's store bought you might have to slow it up considerable as the curd will break apart a lot. I've built quite a few auto curd stirrers in my time and for such small batches and store bought milk you would be surprised at how slow you have to go.

[memkuk]

@ Sailor: pls note that the vat holds 70 liters, not 35 liters. This gives me a wheel of 5 kg and one of 2 kg, which is 7 kg total per run. Since I am doing it purely as a hobby, that makes plenty of cheese, of which my friends are the biggest beneficiaries. 

@Cartierusm: I am using fresh raw cow's milk, which I get from a Cooperative. The price just went up as of the 1st of July: 20.= Thai Baht per kilo, which is about 0.60 USD (still not a bad price I believe). I can turn down the speed lower than what is shown in the video, thanks to the variable DC power supply, so I think it will be OK. Only tried it so far by letting it turn for over an hour with water in the vat. Checked the temperature of the power supply and motor, which remained stable. Will try it in about 2 weeks, because the Supreme Commander (read: my wife) and 4-star General (read: our daughter) have decided they need their designated driver (read: me) to drive down to Phuket island later this week to visit another 4-star General (read: our son). Will stay there for a week to 2 weeks, one never knows. 

[BigCheese]

That works out to about $2.35 per gallon. That, good sir, is a good price! What kind of cows?

[memkuk]

What kind of cows...? Uh... I've only seen some pictures at the Coop. Never thought about asking. Will do that next time I go there. Only thing I know from the pics is that they are black and white... 

[BigCheese]

Probably Holsteins. Most milk is from Holsteins. Other breeds can be better for cheese, but Raw Holstein milk for that price, you've got it made.

[DeejayDebi]

Just like Dave, I found the one hour stirring pretty boring and wanted to automate this process. This is what I came up with: electric motor from a big satellite antenna, power supply 0 - 30 Volts DC, 3 amps. Turns nicely at 8 Volts. The vat can hold up to 70 liters of milk.

Very nice setup! I love it - beautiful well thought out and professionally built! Worthy of a cheese in my book!

I was thinking of looking for a cheap BBQ rotisserie unit to add paddles to.