Pressing without a press

[cheesehead94]

Hello, I'm just starting to get into aged cheeses and many recipes seem to require cheese presses. For now I am hoping to avoid spending the money on a press, and I also don't have tons of room in my small apartment. Is it possible to make pressed cheeses without an official cheese press? For example, I know cheddar needs a lot of pressure for the curds to knit. Would simply piling a lot of weight on top of a follower get the job done?

Apologies if this topic has already been discussed. I used the search function but didn't find a thread about this.

[River Bottom Farm]

Yes it works with just weights set on top of the follower but can take some balancing to make it work

[cheesehead94]

Cool, thanks for the response!

[Bernardsmith]

Here's what I do. I took two bamboo cutting boards and drilled quarter inch holes 1 inch from each corner. I then inserted a long (about 12 inches) threaded bolt into each hole in one of the boards (sorry no picture) and fixed each bolt in place with washers and nuts. I can then place the hoop or mold on top of the lower board with follower and on top of the follower I can place a can or thick dowel. I then lower the top board and can place a bucket filled with water or a gallon of water or bricks atop the top board. The four threaded rods ensure that this board cannot slip off and helps to keep the top fairly horizontal as the weights apply pressure through the can or dowel onto the follower.