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GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => EQUIPMENT - Forming Cheese => Topic started by: DaggerDoggie on June 07, 2008, 10:05:20 PM
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I wish creating cheese was as easy as making these.
My 2 to 3 pound press is made a 12" section of 4" PVC pipe that I had leftover. I added some extra holes to a PVC floor drain that I never used and bought some stainless steel 3/8" threaded rod, 2 stainless acorn nuts, standard nuts and washers. I cut the rod in half, put the acorn nuts with washers on one end and threaded that through the floor drain and then put the other nuts on the other side and tightened them down.
(http://nexterra.org/gallery/d/4946-1/Cheese+003.JPG)
The threaded rod helps guide/hold the ten-pound weights I use to press.
The follower is a piece of wood I cut using a hole saw and I also used a 3" PVC coupling that I sanded down to fit inside the pipe. I then added a second piece of wood to sit on that. This allows me to use the press for different size cheeses. The press just happened to fit in an 8" cake pan and raised off the bottom without resting on the acorn nuts. I cut a hole in the bottom edge for the whey to drain.
(http://nexterra.org/gallery/d/4949-1/Cheese+004.JPG)
(http://nexterra.org/gallery/d/4952-1/Cheese+005.JPG)
The larger press I made from birch boards and 1 1/4" hardwood dowels. I cut two boards the same size 18" long and 12" wide. The dowels come in 36" lengths so I cut 2 of them in half giving me four 18" followers. Using a forsner bit (flat bottom drill bit,) I drilled a 1 1/4" hole in the bottom board and glued and screwed the dowels in place (I used Gorilla Glue) On the top board I drilled 1 1/2 inch holes all the way through to fit over the dowels.
(http://nexterra.org/gallery/d/4964-1/Cheese+009.JPG)
The cheese goes in an 6" PVC coupling that I cut out the center lip. This fits in the same cake pan as the other press.
(http://nexterra.org/gallery/d/4955-1/Cheese+006.JPG)
Using that plastic cutting board material, I cut a plastic bottom to go in the cake tin. Out of the same material, I also made a piece to go on top of the cheese for both presses. I put this on top of the cheese before I fold over the cloth so I can get a smooth surface on both sides.
(http://nexterra.org/gallery/d/4958-1/Cheese+007.JPG)
I invert the other cake tin, putting them bottom to bottom, and use a ceramic cookie sheet for the whey to drain into. I would have made a wooden follower, but our cookie jar fit just perfectly in the PVC. If the recipe calls for keeping the curd warm while pressing, I fill that with warm water as well.
(http://nexterra.org/gallery/d/4967-1/Cheese+010.JPG)
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DD, great snaps and details, thanks!
YOUR FIRST SMALLER PRESS
Looks like worked well as you hard some of the parts and weights that fit over the threaded rods. I like the nested, next smaller size PVC pipe as follower spacers, could have two three different heights for pressing different amount/height of curds in same size mold. The PVC floor drain with holes and "lip" as centalizer for the pipe is a good trick, I haven't seen that item before in Home Depot or Lowes. Do you know of a parts place on www that I could from? Also, I don't understand why it doesn't stand up on two acorn nuts and thus wobbly?
YOUR SECOND LARGER PRESS
This looks very similar to reg's posted here (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=41.0), popular design :). I've seen those 6" and other size couplings in store, how did you manage to cut out the middle lip so smooth ID? I've ordered from Amazon.com USA three polyethylene 1/2 in/1 cm thick cutting boards to also cut up as bases and followers, I also place my top follower directly on curds and then fold cheesecloth over to get a smooth top pressed cheese. I cut a small wooden plaque to fit as my follower but I think it's not great hygenically against curds so I'm going to replace with the polyethylene cutting board, how did you cut 6" round disks, with jigsaw and then sand to fit? Had to read twice and look closely at pictures but understand that you used two cake tins here, one below mold with notch to drain whey away from cheese and second upside down beneath it to raise the first one because now the whey is being caught in bigger tray rather than your first smaller press which you could put up against edge of sink to drain there. If it wasn't for this second "spacer" cake pan, the first pan and cheese would be almost (except for bottom follower) sitting in it's own whey and thus bottom of cheese stays wet. Ingenious! Last question, your cheesecloth is very thin, presumably to get away from fold lines in side of cheese. Don't the curds extrude through it where your holes in the bottom piece with holes are? Lastly, I drilled small holes 1/2 way up the side of my 4" PVC tubing mold like reg did to better enable the whey to drain.
Great stuff and thanks for ideas!
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The smaller cheese press just happened to wedge itself, just the right size, into the cake tin so the nuts are above the bottom so they don't touch. I would assume that you could get the PVC floor drain from Lowe's or Home Depot. It's a fairly standard item. If not, a plumbing supply company would have them.
My plastic followers are that really thin, cutting board material, which I was able to cut with a pair of scissors. I was going to cut a follower out of wood, but the cookie jar has a flat bottom and fits perfectly, so that is my follower. I do think that the thicker polyethylene cutting board material would make the perfect follower and easy to clean. I am a little concern with getting the wooden ones clean.
I know everything I had read advised against using the standard cheese cloth, but I didn't like all the lines in the cheese. I do drain if well first in heavier muslin and, other than my loose curd problems, it seems to work fairly well. I am careful to add weight slowly and it seems to work. I am looking to try something better. I've tried pillow case material and old T-shirts so far, I like this the best. Plus, it is so inexpensive, I throw it away when I am done. It also seems to make a very nice bandage for cheeses.
I saw the holes in other presses. I may add them as it would be easy to do. Sometimes some of the whey floats to the top as well as out the bottom in my presses, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. I just drain it off when I flip it.
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Thanks DD for details. I like your very thin cloth for press liners so that minimal fold lines on side and starting with light weights so that you don't extrude curds through that thin material. With mine and holes I don't get any whey on top as it's able to escape out side rather than only all the way through the cheese and out the bottom.
Again both look great, thanks for the ideas, I think this system is way better than store bought cheese presses, not because way cheaper but because way more flexible on molds, curd amounts, and weights.
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good design i was racking my brain over what to buld one from never thought of pvc drain !!!! perfect off to plumbing world i go ;D ;D ;D
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Good job, just make sure you read posts by me and Wayne if you decide to go bigger. The bigger the molds the higher the pressure. We've actually determined what pounds per square in are required for bigger molds.
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Question regarding the PVC--is it all food grade, and does the acidity of the curds affect it adversely?
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PVC can be used for drinking water, so for the home cheese maker yes it's fine. All the online shops use the 4" PVC pipe, what you don't want is DWV, drain waste pipe, which can be white or black, but I've rarely seen white, almost all white is regular PVC, it will say on it if it's DWV. USDA won't allow pvc molds in commercial production but say it's alright for home use.
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Thank you all for this discussion about PVC. I was hoping to find the parts for my first cheese press today. I want to make it out of as much recycled parts as I can find.
I went to the Habitat Restore today and found this foot long piece of white PVC pipe, 4 inch diameter, so I bought it for 50 cents. But when cleaning it up at home I saw that it had "NSF dwv" stamped on it. I googled that and you are correct, the "dwv" stands for "drain, waste, and vent applications". Apparently it needs to be stamped with "NSF-pw" for "potable water applications" or possibly "NSF-wc" for "well casing" to be safe for food or drinking water.
I worry a little bit about even that stamped with "NSF-pw" as that may be for running water use. My cheese will just be sitting in this PVC, maybe for hours. I'm now thinking of buying a short section of stainless steel instead. Anyone know of a source for this?
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Where are you located? Orchard Supply Hardware sells 4" PVC by the inch, and it's pretty cheap. You want the white PVC. As for Stainless same question where are you located?
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Silly idea, but what about using the 100 blank CD / DVD cake packaging (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0009RKL62/sr=8-1/qid=1231022977/ref=dp_otherviews_0?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&img=0&qid=1231022977&sr=8-1) for molds/hoops, looks like food grade polyethylene, just drill a bunch of holes . . .
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Cartierusm, I'm in New Orleans. I googled "Orchard Supply Hardware" and see they are in San Jose, CA so that won't work so well. Home Depot and Lowes only sell PVC by fixed lengths. But maybe my local True Value hardware is a good place to check.
Cheese Head, I like how you are thinking with recycling the CD/DVD packaging. But is that strong enough? It's not nearly as thick as PVC pipe.
I'll call some welding supply businesses on Monday and ask if they sell stainless steel by the foot as well.
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Erin, good question on burst strength.
I've no idea of the tensile stregth of that stuff or the hoop loads that would be imposed. But normally during pressing stage of cheeses, you start with a light load and turn the cheese and repeat before building up to higher weights. During that time the curds are being de-wheyed, resulting in higher strength. So I think that by the time you build to heavier loads, most of the vertical weight results in vertical pressure and low hoop stresses.
In summary I don't think it's a problem. I look at my 1st homemade PVC hoop from early in 2008 (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,41.0.html), way way overkill. Good luck.
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Erin, most welding supply stores don't carry metal. You need to find a metal surplus store or metal supplier, try Yahoo Yellow Pages for Metal Suppliers. SS tube is what you want and it might be expensive. Do you have tools to do metal working with? A metal supplier is just going to cut you off a hunk, it doesn't mean that the cut will be square to the sides. Then you'll need to drill holes in it for drainage and SS is not easy to drill into. It's best to just call around to different hardware stores, irrigation supply, plumbing supply and plumbers (actual plumbers who may have cut offs just lying around they would probably give you for free) to see if they sall 4" PVC in cut lengths.
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Erin, if you want to go PVC route, I bought pre-cut 2 ft lengths of 4" & 6" at Lowes Hardware store chain here in West Houston, I then cut in 1/2 with a skill saw and drilled holes. I also bought the next size down as follower - pushers, and made followers out of kitchen cutting boards. See the notes and last picture in this thread (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,105.msg463.html#msg463) to get the idea ;).
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You can buy the cutting board material at Tap Plastics, you should have one local, for real cheap, they can even cut a circle for you.
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Guess I will forget the idea of buying a piece of stainless steel. I do not have the equipment or experience to work with it. So, back to finding something out of some kind of plastic.
How important is it for the bottom to be removable? I have two prospects and they are both clear plastic, one an ice tea pitcher (7.5 inch dia.) and the other a food storage container (5 inch dia.), both with bottoms. Do I really want to cut the bottom off? Or just drill some holes in the bottom along with the sides for the drainage of the whey? I could have the bottom sitting on an "x" made of wood, for better drainage.
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If your mold is for pressing cheese, then it should still work, you basically have to turn the curds after the first light pressing and repeat. It's easier if the mold is vertical, ie not bevelled, but if it's a small amount of bevel you should be OK.
If your mold is for soft cheese then any reasonable shape should work.
If this is your first cheese and you are going for a pressed age cheese then you will be diving in at the deep end, there is a Sticky Post here (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,582.0.html) for people new to cheese making.
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Hi guys,
Ummmm......I manage an oilfield/plumbing supply store for a living and I do know something about PVC pipe.
PVC is poly vinyl chloride. It really doesn't matter if it is DWV(drain waste vent) or PW (potable water) the material used in the making of the pipe is the same.
DWV is a type of pipe that will not handle the pressure that is normally found on potable water although many of the pipes we sell are dual rated.
What dual rated means is that the DWV pipe can be used for pressure pipe as long as pressure fittings are used (deeper sockets). The pipe itself is the same as the pressure pipe but it does not have the belled ends associated with "water pipe".
Many times we will sell the DWV because first of all it can be bought in 10' lengths (as opposed to 20' lengths for pressure) and because it is somewhat less expensive since it does not have the belled ends.
Even the cellular core DWV pipe (which is a solid inner core, solid outer core with a pvc "foam" type of material sandwiched in between) is still 100% poly vinyl chloride. In short, PVC is PVC.
Even the thin wall PVC is the same material although I have never used the SDR35 pipe which is a light blueish green color. I've never done any checking on this product so I can't say that it is 100% PVC.
For my Camembert molds I use the thin wall D&S pipe (D&S stands for drain and sewer). This is very common in nearly every hardware store. I cut the pipe in 8" lengths and then drilled several holes in the side. Works perfectly.
While researching Camembert I came across a website that was something like "the cheeseman.com" and he actually sells camembert molds that are made out of this 4" D&S pipe. Of course the site didn't actually say this (it did describe them as PVC molds) but I recognized the pipe right away.
I've also used 6" thin walled pvc caps as a mold which also works really well for up to 2 gallons. These are the caps with flat bottoms and after holes are drilled in the bottom they work really well (Cresline part number SF70).
I also use lengths of 4" PVC pipe for my Stilton molds but plan on jumping up to 6" or 8" if my current logs turn out well.
I was leary about using PVC as a mold until I read that the USDA does approve PVC for home cheese making use. It is not allowed in commerical applications though.
The problem is that PVC usually has to be purchased in either a 10' or 20' length.
Locally we have a Rural King supply that will sell by the foot and also a mom and pop hardware store that will do the same. The problem is that most hardware type stores only sell in sizes up to 4" diameter.
We currently stock up to 12" diameter PVC (white schedule 40) and up to 15" SDR35 (greenish blue color) but my company only sells this pipe in full joints. This sort of sucks since I would like to move up to a piece of 6" or 8" for my Stiltons.
I'm going to check with some of our plumbers and well drillers and see if they have any stub pieces left over from a job.
I know that Cartier is looking for something in the 8" - 12" range and I've already planned on contacting him if I can come up with something. Hopefully I'll be able to find a couple of pieces for each of us to use.
I hope this information helps those who are looking for something to use as a mold material.
Dave
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Dave, very true, but at my pumbing wholesaler there are grades that are not water safe, so I'd just buy the real stuff as it's not that expensive in cut lengths, when you find it.
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I was just at a huge plumbing supply store where I got my PVC, see other post in for sale section, and they had SDR-35 and they told me it has lead in it and unless it's Potable Water Safe not to use it. I mean if you think about it it if PVC was PVC then they would save a ton of money on one machine and just make one kind of PVC and not have different grades.
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Cartier.....
As I said previously, I have not done any research on SDR35. I should because it's my business to know what is and is not in it.
I have on the other hand done a lot of research on PVC and have been assured by our manufacturer (Cresline) that all of their PVC pipe is made from the same basic material.
I can't speak for other manufacturers but according to our rep the potable water pipe and the DWV pipe (as well as the D&S) is made from the same material.
Each person will have to decide for his or her self if they feel this is a safe material to use in cheese making. Personally I don' t have a problem with it, but if it's like everything else...in 10 years or so we'll find out that it can cause about every health problem imaginable. ;)
On the other board I frequent, there are a few people who are adamantly opposed to using even the potable water PVC as a cheese mold. They are convinced that it will leach out into the cheese causing all sorts of health related problems.
Of course neither I, nor anyone else can say with total assurance that this is a safe product to use in the long term. All I'm doing is giving my opinion that I feel it is safe and I'm not worried about using it personally.
Just my two cents.
Dave
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I have very sensitive taste buds and sense of smell I would know if it's leaching anything as far as smell or taste and it's not. But that's for PVC. In this area, SF, most DWV is not PVC but ABS plastic, which I wouldn't touch with a ten foot curd knife, as far as a mold.
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Okay, you got me there....
I forgot all about ABS being used in certain parts of the country/world. We stopped using ABS plastic around here in the 70's due to warpage in the sunlight and heat.
Good advice. If anyone does only have access to ABS DWV then by all means, don't use it.
All of our DWV, D&S, Cellular Core and PW pipe is white.
Sorry for the confusion.
Dave
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Well, dang.
I told my father a few weeks ago that I needed some lengths of 6" and 8" PVC pipe for cheese molds. And since he knew some people working on a construction site, he managed to magically procure me some beautiful lengths of each. Unfortunately, they're both SDR-26.
So now I have to figure out if these things are going to kill me. And what the heck makes them green.
Anyone have advice on where I might find some solid information on this? Preliminary googling has not revealed anything useful.
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Makkonen...
I would recommend contacting a manufacturer of PVC pipe.
A few names that come to mind are Cresline, JetStream, Eagle, Charlotte and Nibco.
I would recommend contacting Cresline first since I do deal with them quite a lot and they are good people.
Their phone number is: (812) 428-9350.
I would recommend asking for their technical service department or to speak to Jeff Alger which is the sales manager.
If he doesn't have the answers he can and will find them out for you.
Hope this helps.
Dave