I decided to make three custom whisks for cutting different size curds.... I started with 12" balloon whisks, removed some of the wires on two of them, and then opened up the diameter by bending the wires, carefully making them as parallel as possible, and making one side of the whisk larger, so that the cut curds could fall out....
The wires are 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" apart, and the back is opened up to keep the curds from collecting inside the whisk while stirring....
The 1/4" whisk has all the wire hoops (12 hoops - 24 wires around the circumference).... For the 3/8" spacing I removed every 4th wire (9 hoops - 18 wires), and for the 1/2" spacing I removed every other wire (6 hoops - 12 wires).... I have been using a reshaped whisk for a while, and found that lifting the curds up to the top while stirring and then slicing the oversize curds against the side of the pot works great.... The problem is that the curds collect inside and you have to shake it pretty hard to dislodge them.... The last time we made a cheese, I got the idea of making three whisks with different wire spacing, and an open back so the curds fall out, so I'm looking forward to trying these....
Bob
