Wayne's Cheddar: 082209

[wharris]

Thanks for the kind words.
I would be mindfull of the force needed for a 12in hoop.  A 12in hoop gives you 113 square inches of surface area.  In order to achieve 6 PSI across that much surface area, you will need 678lbs of force.

I do like a levered approach because I get a 4X mechanical advantage due to the length of my lever arm relative to the pivot-fulcrum distance.

Cheddar is definately a lot of work and a lot of time.  The difference 'tween a good batch and bad one, may be only 5 minutes of slacking off.
Good luck and do not hesitate to write or call.

[FarmerJd]

That is the reason I asked about your weight and arm. With an 8 inch hoop you have about 50 sq in and at 19psi you are still talking 1000 lbs of force at the fulcrum. With a mech adv. of 4 you still need 250 pounds of weight. I am considering making my arm of 2 2X6's 10 feet long. This gives a MA of about 6-8 so i can keep my weight under 300 lbs. i have considered making a press with a hydraulic piston. I am currently working on a log splitter and just bought a 24" piston that i could use for my press too. Any advice on that would be appreciated.  I read that commercial plants only press for as little as one hour. I know that they use a vacuum process too though so I wonder if the decreased time is due to the vacuum or just more pressure applied in gradually increasing amounts. Sorry so many questions. This isn't the kind of conversation you can have with just anybody By the way, my degree is in math and physics. It is nice to be able to have an intelligent conversation about the value of simple machines!

[wharris]

I did this once. 

I got 19psi on a 6 gallon batch.

I would not do this again.  I did see the advantage in the end product, as a matter of fact i saw a fracture in the cheese.  The curd was still not completely closed.

That bing said, I am gonna limit my next 25 gallon cheddar to under 10 psi.

Long terms, I am going to redo my press to include a cheap Carter-esque press (pneumatic cylinder) and a home-made vacuum chamber. 

I strongly believe that the key to a perfectly closed cheddard curd is time pressing in a vacuum.

I already have a vacuum pump that I use for degassing/racking wine barrels.

[FarmerJd]

Where do you get the pneumatic cylinder and what specs should I look for? And do you know anywhere to look for info on this "homemade" vacuum chamber". I really want to try that myself.

[wharris]

I have not nailed down my specs yet for either.
That is, the bore diameter, stroke, return, mounting. All questions.
I need to continue to play with that design in my head. 
But the actual cylinders all over ebay.  I andticipate spending about 50 bucks on one.

The Vacuum chamber is even less thought out. 
It needs to be airtight.  (check)
It needs to be large enough for the cheese. (check)

Thats about all i got worked out at this point.  (lol)

[Sailor Con Queso]

Just use the EXTRA, EXTRA EXTRA large Ziplok vac bags. 

How does the whey escape if you vac bag during pressing?

I know that fiberglass kayaks used to be vac bagged. The idea was to remove excess resin to keep the weight down. So removing liquids is definitely possible.

Perhaps it gets sucked out into an inline trap, like a diesel engine.

[wharris]

Its a chamber, not a bag.

But the point of the Vacuum is not really for whey removal, its for a curd knitting.

The vacuum pulls out trapped gas and makes the cheese much less open.

[FarmerJd]

is there any info on this site or anywhere on vacuuming while pressing? I just can't understand the logistics of how it would work in conjunction with the press. I do think it is the answer to curd knitting. I have always had a problem with this on my large cheeses.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Its a chamber, not a bag.

But the point of the Vacuum is not really for whey removal, its for a curd knitting.

The vacuum pulls out trapped gas and makes the cheese much less open.

But the excess whey still has to go somewhere.

[wharris]

I have not seen anyone besides myself thinking seriously about this. 
More than likely this is due to the heavier than normal investment in home cheesemaking infrastructure.

The only reason I am looking into this is because, I like to tinker.

To be clear, your cheddar will turn out fine with the aid of vacuum pressing, but vacuum pressing will definately help close your curd.

http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/76/4/909.pdf

[wharris]

But the excess whey still has to go somewhere.

Good point,  I would imagine that whey would continue to weep and pool under the press.

[Sailor Con Queso]

That study link says that the cheeses were actually put in a vacuum chamber AFTER initial pressing for 2 hours. That would get rid of the bulk of the excess whey.

Vacuum was then applied for a 1 hour and then the bagged hoop was pressed again.

Interesting. Hmmm... 

_____________________________________

For each vat (eight hoops per vat, one test hoop per vat), curd either was pressed at 7.9 Wa of surface
pressure for 2 h or remained unpressed for 2 h. The hoops were then transferred to a vacuum chamber.


Curd in hoops was vacuum treated at 8.0 kPa of absolute pressure for 1 h without mechanical pressure.
While the curd was still under vacuum, mechanical pressure was applied, curd was pressed at 12.4 kPa of surface pressure for 1 h, and then vacuum was released.

[wharris]

That sounds about right. 

Again, I think that illustrates that the point of the vacuum is to get closer a perfect knit.

Its primary purpose is not to assist in whey removal.

I'm not an expert, but that is my understanding.

[FarmerJd]

Thanks for the article. Really good stuff. Does anyone on this site vacuum seal their cheeses instead of wax or other methods?

[Sailor Con Queso]

Many of us vacuum bag. Some bag immediately after air drying. Others age for awhile and then bag. Lots of options.