Grueyere - Milk volume in 5" mold?

[rgreenberg2000]

Hey, CF!  I'm getting ready to try my hand at my first pressed cheese, and it will be a Gruyere.  The largest molds I have currently are 5".  Using store-bought pasteurized and homogenized milk, how much milk should I expect to use to fill one mold?  I know that this won't be the ideal size for this type of cheese, but I'm going to run with the gear I have right now, and if nothing else, will get some practice with the process of cooking curds, pressing, and caring for a longer aging cheese.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Rich

[Dorchestercheese]

The spec is usually on the website where you bought it. Assume about 1pd of cheese per gallon milk.

[River Bottom Farm]

It really varies depending on milk quality, use of calcium chloride, and the recepie (how much whey the curd retains). How tall is your mold? I would guess around 2 to 3 gal would do it and yes average yield is 1lb per gallon

[Andrew Marshallsay]

I have a mould slightly under 5 inches diameter, The largest hard cheeses which I do in it use 8 litres of milk (about 2 gallons).

[rgreenberg2000]

Thanks, everyone!  It's interesting to do the math, since the recipe I'm going to use is for 2 gallons and calls for an 8 inch mold.

I'm going to give it a run, and will have an extra sanitized mold standing by in case I've got more curds than volume!

Rich

[rgreenberg2000]

....I'll post details elsewhere (since I changed gears and made a Gouda), but let's just say that 2 gallons of milk filled that poor little 5" mold to the brim!

Got 'er done, though, and it's pressing now.  Fun stuff!

R