Hi guys,
I recently made horizontal cheese harp, made 1/8" stainless rod and fishing line. It was just under the diameter of the pot. I thought, finally I will get some decent cuts to my whey! However...... it tends to push the curd around and when I try to be more aggressive, swinging it back and forth, it fractures the curd. Has anyone had any luck with one of these? I am starting to feel like all my diy efficiency methods are failing at the moment! Am still trying to get a curd stirrer to work as well!
Thanks
I had essentially the same problem with mine.... The best technique I found was to twist it quickly about 1/4 turn, using the mass of the curds (their inertia) to help with the cutting.... then when I got lined up with the centerline, to wiggle it as I slowly withdrew it.... However, it still shattered some of the curds.... I replaced it with a new curd cutter detailed in this thread....
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,19308.0.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,19308.0.html)
Having only a single cutting wire, and no outside frame (which tends to twist the curd mass), it works FAR better....
Bob
I made my own harp like the one described inthis thread (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,12157.0.htm). Basically because I heat the milk in a hotel pan, not a round pot, so the shape had to fit.
I have not found any issue like you describe, except when I cut it by hand first to 1" or 2", then let it heal for 10+ minutes (~5 mins is ok). When that happens the curd skin is too tough for the fish wire to cut and it just pushes it around. I use 0.3mm stainless steel 7 strand nylon coated wire.
Thanks for the help, looks like its back to the drawing board!