Cheddar, Farhouse - Surface Cracks After Pressing

[Mersunwea]

Hi,
I have a kind of basic method of pressing the cheeses. After the pressing time, there are cracks on the outside of the cheese, and you can still see the shape of the curds (somewhat). How many things I am doing wrong here?
Thanks much!!!!

[zenith1]

Hi Merssunwea-please post more information about the type of cheese that you were trying to make and the actual procedure that you used so we can help you narrow down the problems.

[Mersunwea]

I was trying to make a farmhouse Cheddar. My pressing system is putting some weights right on top of the follower. Maybe the problem could be that I did not re-dress well the cheese cloth inside the mold?? Thanks!!

[smilingcalico]

You could also post how much weight you are using and for what size cheese.  Most would want to look at what your actual psi (pounds per square inch) is.  Also, are you doing your initial pressing while curds are still quite warm?  Here we don't do any lolly gagging when it comes to curds going to mold and pressing. 

[Mersunwea]

Hi!!!
I was applying 10 lbs (30 min, 30 min, 12 h.) and then 20 lbs x 12 hours. No, my curds were just a bit warm. What do you think?
Thanks a LOT

[smilingcalico]

Pressing weight is pretty important.  How many gallons of milk were you working with? How big is your mold?  You should search psi on the forum to get a better idea of what amount of weight you'll need. Simple Dutch presses give great, stable pressure from low amounts of weight and are great for the home cheesemaker. You should search those on the forum too.  For instance, I can put a 25 pound weight on mine, and it will act like it's 100 pounds. Now I can look at the size of my mold, determine the number of square inches,  and see how many psi I'm getting by dividing that number into 100 (or whatever pound weight I'm using).

[Mersunwea]

Thank you very much for your tips. I am pretty new in this but I am REALLY addicted!!!!
I will follow your advice and search for the info about psi and weight. Thanks again Smilingcalico!!!