Expensive and Inexpensive large cheese molds...

[Baby Chee]

Y'know, I just got an e-mail from Ulmers about the cost of the 10" x 11" ss mold. 

$75

And with shipping it comes close to $100.  Then I realized something very important: why can't I buy a cheap aluminum stock pot and just drill holes in it?

Anyone have any advice for me?  I would assume a metal stock pot can take 300+ lbs. pressure.

[linuxboy]

Aluminum is no good, the lactic acid will eat away at it. You want 304 stainless steel or better.

[Baby Chee]

Good to know.  I see extremely cheap SS stock pots on Amazon. 

The problem is that they are 11" diameter.  If I could find a cheap 10" diameter stock pot I would be happy.

[hplace]

I purchased two cheap stainless steel stockpots from Amazon (4 gallon and 5 gallon) and both were cracked when they arrived. I had to send them back. The sides are so thin that any little dent causes a crack.

[Baby Chee]

I could just go to a store and get a mold-stock pot for half that price.  Just gotta drill holes and file off shavings.

Has anyone tried this?

[DeejayDebi]

That mould from Ulmers is pretty heavy don't drop it on your toe.

[wharris]

I have that same mould from Ullmers.  It is sturdy and will not crack.

I would argue that SS, thick SS is the way to go.


or thick, sturdy HDPE plastic.

[DeejayDebi]

I don't think a pot would last very long before splitting.

[linuxboy]

Plus, the time drilling all those holes. Is it worth the effort? Not trying to discourage you, but you can get good HDPE molds for not very much. Like a traditional tomme mold with follower is around $15-$20. You can also get microperf molds, but they are a bit more expensive.

[DeejayDebi]

the 8 inch x 6 inch tomme mold I bought last week was only $29 That would be a good mold for just about anything.

[Baby Chee]

Aluminum is no good, the lactic acid will eat away at it. You want 304 stainless steel or better.

I was thinking on this today and then researched it on the net.

While lactic acid does destroy aluminum, I saw only one real negative from someone doing the curd work in the pots.  I think that for mold work it might not be too bad.  Using one 6 times a year, 6 days a year, might not be enough to rot the aluminum far.  I could be wrong though.

[DeejayDebi]

I have read it also leaches into the cheese. I think Linixboy posted something on this at one time. Do you brew in aluminum?

[Baby Chee]

No, but I wouldn't do the curd work in the aluminum.  But where the cheese is pressed, the aluminum isn't likely to swim up stream.

[hplace]

A welding engineer explained to me that aluminum is so highly reactive that it immediately bonds with elements in the atmosphere to produce a non-reactive coating on the surface. The only time a reaction would occur is when this non-reactive coating was removed (scraped or scratched for example). So if you are stirring an aluminum pot with a stainless steel ladle and scraped the side, you would remove that protective coating and aluminum could disolve into the cheese milk until the scratch re-bonds.

[Michelle]

While lactic acid does destroy aluminum, I saw only one real negative from someone doing the curd work in the pots.  I think that for mold work it might not be too bad.

Perhaps the reason that there were no negative posts around using aluminium for a cheese mold (hoop) is that no one ever uses aluminium in the first place?! 

I really wouldn't use it for a hoop.  You don't want to spend all you time making curd, only to have it taint in the press...