I've made three Farmhouse Cheddars (Carroll book, followed faithfully if occasionally incompetently especially early on) and pressed them in 6" molds. Then I discovered the recipe was meant for a 4" mold, so this time I tried it in a 4" coffee can.
But it won't fit. It was totally piled up above the edge of the can, and there were still a couple handfuls of curd left in the bowl. I'm pressing it now at 50, and the follower is barely beneath the edge of the coffee can.
I've ended up with a nice 2" high cheese from the 6" press. I haven't tried any of them yet (made the first one the 17th) so I don't know whether pressing them at the weights recommended for a 4" press while using a 6" press is going to cause a problem, but the cheeses look pretty good. When they came out of the press, they looked like the photos here of other people's cheeses straight out of the press on the last pressing.
I'm not seeing other people asking about this, so I imagine it's not usual? What are my possible problems?
Thanks for any assistance!
Val