I would say you did not press it enough, from the sound of things.
Proper cheesemaking in
der Schweiz requires that cheese be pressed for 24 hours at as much weight as you an give it, and during this time turned over no less than 6 times to get an even, consistent form with no flaws.
Also we leave our curd in the whey at 50 deg. C (about 125 degrees F or so) for a very precise amount of time. This time dries the curd, and if left for too long the curd gets too rubbery and will not press right. So we heat it up slowly over a period of 25 to 40 mintues from 32 degrees up to 50 degrees (90 to 125) strring very rapidly so that the curd does not clump, and then at the proper temperature hold it under constant stirring for 5 to 15 minutes -really to the time when the curd is right and then remove it. After this, we want it to cool down fast so that it will stick good to itself. The less it is cooked, the better it will stick to itself. The more it is cooked, the harder and drier the final cheese will be. It takes a great weight to press cheese that is cooked too long.
The way I learned it is that you first drain the curd -at room temperature- for an hour or so to let excess whey run off. Then -again at room temperature- you knead the curd into the forms, which are lined with a cloth, and press the cheese. We make multiple wheels from a single batch, and they are stacked one on top of another. If you do this and have more than 2, it is necessary to also rotate their position in the stack.
The cheese stays in the first pressing for two hours or so, then all is taken out, turned over (if pressing in the cloth as per traditional methods, you have to take it out of the cloth and turn it over so you get rid of the wrinkles)
You take it out and rotate it at least 6 times, spread out over the course of the day. And all pressing is done at room temperature, nothing under whey.
When pressed for a day at a high weight, your cheese will not come apart. But beware, too much weight and your cheese will not form eyes. But that is ok, because in the mountains where I learn, eyes are considered a flaw any way
We also use a special form for our cheese known as a
Järb. The Järb is a piece of wood bent into a circle with an adjuster so you can change the dia. of the cheese wheel.
The methods I describe work very well with the Järb, but maybe not so much with a plastic bucket (my not-so-endearing term for the plastic cheese forms)
When using the Järb, you have to adjust it to just the right size so that your curd slightly overfills it (contained in the cheesecloth) and then it is pressed with a board on top that if done right will eventually come down to just above the top of the Järb
