Mold, Saucepan - Number & Size Of Holes To Drill

[Bowl]

Im new to the cheese making world and I've recently constructed a cheese press!

The cheese itself will sit in a 25 inch saucepan. But i'm wondering how many holes to put in the pan and how large?

Please help 

[Gina]

Welcome to the board. You'll find lots of good information here.

Do you have a photo of your press?

[DeejayDebi]

Welcome Bowl.
You have a 25 inch sauce pan? I take it that is not diameter. I like holes about 1/8 inch and ever 3/4 inch when posible. Is the sauce pan the mold? If so is needs to be stainless steel not aluminum.

[Bowl]

Yep, the saucepan's the mold, Im pretty sure its stainless steel. 

Thanks for the help

[coffee joe]

A 25"diameter saucepan will make a very large cheese! 10"deep would be about 100 gallons of milk.

[Bowl]

Ahh, my maths has escaped me...

Is diameter the distance around the pan? Or is that circumference?

If its any help it is filled to the brim with 10 cups of water.

[woodsman]

Drilling many holes, even small diameter, through heavy gauge SS pan will be the hardest task. Do you have access to a drill press?

[Bowl]

Im not sure...

Though the pan itself was reasonably cheap, so I don't think the metal will be very thick. Will it still be almost impossible to drill through it?

[Alice in TX/MO]

It's certainly not going to be easy.  You are trying to drill a straight hole, through metal, which is slick.  Over and over.  How are you going to secure the pan so it doesn't slip?   And, what are you going to burnish/polish the holes with to remove burrs?

[Gina]

Ahh, my maths has escaped me...

Is diameter the distance around the pan? Or is that circumference?

If its any help it is filled to the brim with 10 cups of water.

Diameter is the distance straight across the widest part of a round pan. Circumference is the distance around the entire perimeter of the pan.

[Bowl]

Thanks Gina

The circumference is 25 inches.

[DeejayDebi]

For smaller cheese that don't require huge amounts of pressure like cheddar I have been using plastic soft drink pitchers. They are often fairly inexpensive and come in all sorts of shapes too, round, rectangular, oval, square and are easy to drill. Just cut a followers fron a cheap nylon cutting board from the dollar store.