Consequences of pressing too hard

[Spoons]

Hi John,

I follow Caldwell's suggestion of doing the first few presses just enough to see a trickle of whey expelling and gradually increasing weight. I've had very good success on the final press weights the following way:

3.2 PSI for washed curd cheeses such as Gouda and Jack
4 PSI for hard cheeses such as Cheddar and parm.

On a 7'' mould, that's as much as 150 LBS of direct weight at an average ambiant temp of 72-75F (22-24C).

Good luck with your compact press!

[John@PC]

Thanks Eric.  150 lbs isn't so much a problem but because I'm using a very expensive, high-tech elastic mechanism (i.e. rubber bands  ) I want to have multiples that add up rather than putting 20 bands onto the press to get max. pressure.  I'm making a few changes like making the arms longer to allow taller molds.  I know some of you have seen the M-Press but I'll post a pic of the design I used for a year or more after I retired my dutch-style press that was 20x bigger.  Picture is of a tandem pressing of two 2 lb. Caerphilly with chives (my favorite cheese thanks to Tiarella's inspiration).