pressing weight question

[steffb503]

I am trying to figure this out and drawing a blank, Yes it happens after a certain age.
Typically I press 4 wheels ,8" diameter at a time. 2 on each press. My press is a version of Saliors.
What do I need to do to press 3 on each.
I can place a board on top of the two and then the third on top of that but at what weight do I press. What do I go by, the total area, just the area of the top wheel, or none of the above?

[jwalker]

You can't press them like that and get equal pressure on each , the top one will get almost twice the psi as the two bottom ones.

The top one would get the full weight of the press , the bottom two would get the full weight of the press , plus the weight of the top cheese , divided by two.

So if top cheese weighs 4 pounds , and press weight is 10 pounds , top cheese gets 10 pounds pressure , bottom two get 14 pounds divided by two , which is 7 pounds each , or 30% less than the top one.

You need a board that will span all three at once without too much flex , a piece of 2 x 12 maybe.

[steffb503]

So how do they do it in this pic?

[Alpkäserei]

Alpine cheesemakers often will stack 3 or 4 cheeses on top of each other from the same batch and press them. THis has worked well for centuries. Just place a board between each two cheeses.

[smolt1]

In the picture, lets say each of the 3 cheeses weighs 5 lbs and the press is pressing with 100 lbs.

The cheese on top is getting the full 100 lbs from the press.

The 2 cheeses on the bottom are dividing the weight ( if you position the top cheese exactly in the middle ) from the press.
They also have the additional weight of the top cheese, so the total weight on them is 100 lbs plus 5 lbs. but each is only getting 1/2 of that weight.

The result is 100 lbs on the top cheese and (100 + 5)/2 or 52 1/2 lbs on each of the bottom cheeses.

To get the pressure, divide the weight on any one of the cheeses by the area of the top of that cheese.

[jwalker]

So how do they do it in this pic?

They could just be sitting there temporarily while the lady in the pic is setting up the press , in the very back , there is two cheeses on top of the two bottom ones , that would be fairly equal pressure , not accounting for the weight of the top cheeses.

In her hands she has a metal plate like the one at the top on the back two , she could be getting ready to add two more cheeses to the front ones and put the plates between the press and the top cheeses , just a guess tho.

But the front two are still unequal as they are currently positioned , with the top ones getting nearly twice the pressure of the bottom ones , even a skilled cheese maker can't change the laws of physics. ;D

You could probably get away with the "one on top-two on two bottom system" if you rotated the cheeses on a regular schedule , it would take some timing and experience to get it right tho.

[John@PC]

They could just be sitting there temporarily while the lady in the pic is setting up the press , in the very back , there is two cheeses on top of the two bottom ones , that would be fairly equal pressure , not accounting for the weight of the top cheeses.

But it appears that the front two presses are already loaded.  Also, it looks like there are 8 large (Kadova, I assume) molds (12 kg?) and the two molds on top at the back are smaller (8-10 kg?). Anyway, it's a beautifully made press (enlarge the picture and you'll see what I mean).

[jwalker]

But it appears that the front two presses are already loaded.
[/quote]

It sure does , with a setup like that , I imagine they have a system and have done it many times before.

The middle one has an extremely long arm , a lot of leverage there.