Author Topic: my attempt at a press (in progress)  (Read 9604 times)

Offline Boofer

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Re: my attempt at a press (in progress)
« Reply #30 on: April 14, 2012, 11:49:20 PM »
Okay I see it now very nice! I suspected that was the case. A cheese for you that is the prettiest press I've seen!
Yeah, MOMA* called, they're sending a truck over to pick it up.  ;)

-Boofer-

(MOMA* = Museum of Modern Art)
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Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Offline H-K-J

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Re: my attempt at a press (in progress)
« Reply #31 on: April 15, 2012, 05:12:58 PM »
Okay I see it now very nice! I suspected that was the case. A cheese for you that is the prettiest press I've seen!

Yer makin me blush ^-^ DJD

Yeah, MOMA* called, they're sending a truck over to pick it up.  ;)

The wife said she aint gonna let-em have it, it took to long for me to build :-\

Thanks to all for the cheeses and the support ;D It was a project of hit and miss, had fun building it, when yer unemployed you do most anything to keep yer sanity  :o

I do have questions like;
most recipes I am looking at call for pressures like 25# or 10-12-15#, I have used the calculators on site and were my arm and plunger weigh 11 to 12# and my M/A is 5.676471, I would only need a half of a grape  ;) to get the lower pressures  and a whole one to get 25#
So what is the purpose of the quad pulley system, I  placed 20# on the arm and got about 122# +/-  on my scale, granted it is an analog and it was only a test.
 soooo, in what situation would I need 200 to, say, 300# or more, I can reach this as I have added 45# to the arm and am getting approximately 240# although I can see where 5 or 6# hanging from the pulleys would be easier to handle and  I do think it would look really cool 8), is there a time that I will need this kind of pressure or am I just over thinking it like I usually do ???
As usual all help and comments are welcomed.

H-K-J
Never hit a man with glasses, use a baseball bat!
http://cocker-spanial-hair-in-my-food.blogspot.com/

Offline Boofer

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Re: my attempt at a press (in progress)
« Reply #32 on: April 15, 2012, 07:40:34 PM »
soooo, in what situation would I need 200 to, say, 300# or more,

 is there a time that I will need this kind of pressure or am I just over thinking it like I usually do ???
Hey, I think you've "broken through to the other side"....

Very rarely do I find a need to press in the extreme. Quite often my Dutch press sits quite lonely and probably feels abandoned out in the garage. I use the downward force of the lever & piston (11 lbs) to safely press quite a few cheeses. That is often quite enough to knit the curds and expel whey, especially if the pressing is done in the pot and/or with a seed-heating mat wrapped around the pot to keep the curds warm while pressing. I have found that for peace of mind I will put the pot under the press, even if pressing lightly (11 lbs), so that I don't have lopsided cheeses or falling weights. The pic shows one such pressing with just the weight of the lever arm, piston, and the can of soup :D.

I did have to put on some weight (yes, I know...it's the cheese I eat!  ::)) to get to a higher psi for my recent Maasdam (250 lbs/ 7.9 psi)and Double Gloucester (575 lbs/ 13.7 psi). The Maasdam guidelines called for 4.3-8.8 psi. If there is a true Cheddar in my cheese-making future, I will no doubt put some weight on for that pressing.

So the question might be: what cheese styles do you intend to focus on? If you concentrate on blues, you probably won't need a lot of pressing power. Still, if you wire it up, it could make a fine lamp table for the corner...and maybe add a planter. ;)

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Offline H-K-J

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Re: my attempt at a press (in progress)
« Reply #33 on: April 15, 2012, 11:37:00 PM »
Boofer, thanks for the strait in yer face answer :) love it, I was thinkin lava lamp hangin from the arm and an orange juicer under the press ;D

my focus has been Stilton type blues and will continue, they are my favorite, well any of the blues, just want to get these down to what I like,
but I want to try Alpine types, Swiss style, and get into the cheddar's,
what I have been reading they only use 25# for the overnight or 24 hour pressing period or less, if that is all I need then maybe a grapefruit will work for the hanging weight :)
now that brings to mind another question, as in the pictures you can see my mold in the press and there is the full 11 to 12 lbs of pressure on the follower, it aint movein I even pressed on the lever and after quite allot  of down pressure it did move, wont this friction cause an effect on my PSI? should I sand the follower down to relieve this?
should I sand it down even further to allow for the cheese cloth?  :-\
these are thing I loose sleep over :o and need to find out before I go spend $30. to $40. on milk
I dont want to through it out. (of course that aint gonna happen I will just invent some kind of cheese ???)
O.K. I'll quit for now. thanks for your comments and input,
 H-K-J
Never hit a man with glasses, use a baseball bat!
http://cocker-spanial-hair-in-my-food.blogspot.com/

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: my attempt at a press (in progress)
« Reply #34 on: April 16, 2012, 01:56:59 AM »
The follower should move smoothly and not restrict the pressing at all. I would sand it until it slides nicely throught the mold. It would be bad if you thought you were pressing and it was just stuck. I like to round out the edges so if they get tweaked they don't hangup. I had one I bought from a local vendor that hung badly and had to sand it. After you sand you can hit it QUICKLY with flame to smooth it out - but QUICKLY or it will melt.

dthelmers

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Re: my attempt at a press (in progress)
« Reply #35 on: April 16, 2012, 07:42:23 PM »
I cut my follower down to almost an eighth inch smaller than my mold because I found it hanging up now and again if it wasn't perfectly straight. Now I get a little ridge on my finished cheese, very small. I wait until after brining and slice it off with a paring knife or cheese plane so I get to taste the cheese.

Offline H-K-J

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Re: my attempt at a press (in progress)
« Reply #36 on: April 16, 2012, 07:52:50 PM »
Thank you  ^-^ I have read somewhere in the forum (I believe it was Sailor) has a problem with a ridge from his mold, his fix was to place the follower on top of the curd pulling the cheese cloth up and over the follower, that apparently solved the little ridge problem.
But I kinduh like the prospect of trimmin it and havin a little taste ;D
Never hit a man with glasses, use a baseball bat!
http://cocker-spanial-hair-in-my-food.blogspot.com/

dthelmers

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Re: my attempt at a press (in progress)
« Reply #37 on: April 16, 2012, 07:55:59 PM »
I was doing it that way, but sometimes my follower sticks; it's made from a wooden cutting board. So now I carefully pull on corner of the cloth over the cheese and put the follower on top, and usually just get the little ridge on the far side.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: my attempt at a press (in progress)
« Reply #38 on: April 17, 2012, 03:00:18 AM »
When you have little ridges in some molds you can just flip the cheese and they go away - like the tome molds but snacks are always good!