I'm trying to decide what recipe I want to make for my first pressed cheese. I've read many of the threads here in the forums regarding pressing weights, psi, etc., but I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere yet.
In the wiki instructions on pressing various cheeses, it doesn't clarify whether the weight given is psi or simple weight. For example, in the Gouda recipe:
"Press the cheese lightly for 15 minutes at ~2 pounds per US gallon or 0.5 kg per liter of milk used.
[...]press again at ~5 pounds per 1 US gallon / 1 kg per 1 liter of milk for ~1 hour.
[...] press again at ~12 pounds per 1 US gallon / 1.5 kg per 1 liter of milk for final ~8-16 hours (i.e. overnight)."
Should I assume this is simply 2, 5 and 12 lbs of weight, or is this actually psi?
The cheddar recipe calls for 50 lbs. If it's psi, that's around 1400 lbs of weight on a 6" hoop; whereas if it's 50lbs of weight, that only comes out to around 1.5 psi, which seems kind of low.