My name is Dave, and I live in the middle of the city of Meriden, CT. I've been lurking for a while on this forum and haven't posted yet, because every time I had a question I searched the archives and found a wealth of information. I started making pressed cheese this August. I bought an inexpensive cheese press, than made my own with improvements, then made another with more improvements, learning from this group. I have a dozen various cheeses that we are serving this Saturday at a local event, and they all came out great, thanks to following the advice I found on this board.
Thanks to everyone for sharing your experience with us; it has probably cut years off my learning curve!
Dave in CT
Welcome to the board Dave. We love seeing pictures of the cheese around here. :) In fact we love seeing any kind of cheese making pictures. :)
I'll try to get a camera working by Saturday, and photograph the cheese board we're serving.
Dave
Welcome to the forum, Dave.
You've come to the right place. Lots of good info and guidance here. Good to hear you're tuned into the search function. ;)
-Boofer-
Welcome Dave! Another trick for you and others is to browse to the applicable Board then in that board click on Subject Heading and all the posts sort alphabetically, so easier to find posts about Salt or rennet etc.
Have fun!
Thanks, John. I first used the search feature, then went through by topic and read all there was on all the cheese types I made, to find out what I didn't know. I've learned a LOT, and the threads have walked me through a variety of issues and helped me understand the underlying processes, particularly pH and pressing pressure. I've got a 20 to 1 (theoretical) mechanical advantage on my latest press, thanks to using a double pulley system (thanks Boofer and Sailor con Queso), and it's made a world of difference. Soon I'll have a pH meter and can get some consistent repeatability. I started with one pound batches, then moved to two pounds, then to four. I find that the larger batches are easier to do - less vulnerable to temperature fluctuation, but I needed to beef up my pressing. the threads on psi and the accompanying charts were a big help!
Thanks to everyone who posts on this forum; it's the highlight of my day now.
Dave in CT
Welcome
Hi Dave, welcome to the forum! Can't wait to see what you came up with so far!
Hi Dave,
I have just discovered this forum and saw your are from the same area as me (I'm by the Mohegan sun casino in uncasville). I'm Ludivine by the way. I was wondering if you could help me with a cheese press. I'm too lazy to build one (not very good at it also) and I saw you built a few. By any chance would you sell them? Can you recommend a few good thread to read as well?
Thanks
Ludivine
Yes, I'd be happy to make another one. The cost would be $150; or if you are handy, I'll make the plans available in a pdf format. I'll get back to you on the threads that were helpful to me in making the press.
Dave
Here are a couple of pictures of the cheese we served on Saturday. They went over very well.
They look great!
I bought a press for 80 bucks shipped. But you may want to put the details of your press for someone else to use.
Cheers
Oh, very cool! I see grana with Caraway? Cumin? Not too strong? How old are they? Very nice!!!
They caraway is eight weeks old and the cumin is seven weeks old. I don't know if gran is the proper name for this cheese. I wasn't following a specific recipe, but generally following the style of Italian cheeses. They were made with whole milk, with a little lipase, Chobani brand yogurt for thermophilic culture; let the culture set for 45 minutes, added rennet, clean break in 45 minutes, cut the curd into 1 inch cubes, rested for 15 minutes (this method is working best for me with the somewhat over-pasteurized cheap milk I have been using). I cut the curd into rice sized pieces and brought to 110 over 45 minutes, stirring gently. Drained and pressed at moderate pressure, turning and re-dressing at 30 minutes three times, then heavy pressure overnight. Brined for 1-1/2 hours per pound in 18 percent brine, dried at 65 f for three days, turning frequently, then vacuum sealed and aged at 55 f. This cheese develops flavor early - we've eaten it at two weeks and enjoyed it. It tasted much like provolone.
The plain one was the most popular, followed by the caraway. Most people did not like the cumin. I tend to be a bit ham-handed with spices and seasonings, and I used too much cumin seed. But I like cumin, so lunches are covered for quite a while. I re-sealed a half wheel, and we'll see how it tastes later on.
The distinctive lipase taste appears to be mellowing as they age.
Just a note on the milk I've been using: I've been getting Land of Lakes milk form BJ's Wholesale Club for $1.98 a gallon, and am getting a bit more than a pound per gallon yield. The curd is quite fragile at first, so I've learned to cut it large and let it rest 10-15 minutes no matter what else I do, and those 1 inch cubes shrink down to about 1/2" in that time. Then I return to the recipe I'm following for proper milk.
I love making cheese, and look forward to using better milk, but right now it's about price: I can feed my family cheese for $2 a pound, and that that makes us happy. :D
the gouda that we served is very young. I made it Halloween night, but we sampled it last week just to see how young it was, and we couldn't stop eating it. Wow! Gouda grows up fast! I re-sealed the remaining half wheel, and put it back in the cave until Christmas.
There's a world of difference between the gouda I pressed at 32 lbs and the latest I pressed at 160 lbs.
Really, this is a lot of fun!
Dave in CT
I somehow missed this thread. Just adding my welcome to you. Sounds like you are off to a great start. Welcome aboard.
Quote from: dthelmers on November 22, 2010, 01:22:26 AM
There's a world of difference between the gouda I pressed at 32 lbs and the latest I pressed at 160 lbs.
Can you give any details for these two pressing weights. I am assuming the recipe, size of cheese, and everything else was the same...just the pressing pressure changed.
-Boofer-
The recipe was from 200 Artisan Cheeses, and the milk was Land of Lakes whole milk. Used the same equipment (an electric roaster with a double boiler insert, and a battery operated pot stirrer) and the process went the same, at least visually. We didn't check pH at any point.
The first cheese was pressed in the press I bought from eBay, nicely made, with a 4:1 mechanical advantage. At four weeks old, it had a bright, somewhat sour flavor; pleasant, but not like Gouda. It was excellent shaved with a cheese plane and rolled in some home cured smoked pork loin. the texture was firm enough to shave with the plane, but broke easily, just a bit crumbly, very similar texture to Cracker Barrel cheddar. I guessed that it had gone a bit too acid in the make, but now I'm not sure.
the second one was made in my second home made press, with a 20:1 mechanical advantage, and we tried it at two weeks. Too soon, I know, but it seemed like a good idea at the time because of an excess of cider consumption. It tasted like Gouda; not great Gouda, but simple and pleasant. the texture was such that we could slice it with the cheese plane and it was flexible enough to roll up without breaking. Elastic but not rubbery. I resealed it yesterday and it went back into the cave.
If I had had a pH meter I could have documented that they were the same in the make, but I really don't know. I doubt that the acidity levels could have been too far different, so I'm guessing that it is the press weight. I'm using open ended number 10 cans to press in, and the second cheese was hard to push out of the mold because of the reinforcing grooves in the side of the can, which didn't happen the first time.
Speaking of which, is it important to have holes in the sides of the mold? I see that the plastic molds seem to, but the photos I've seen of traditional Dutch wooden molds appear to have solid sides.
Dave in CT
You really have to watch out for acidification times in harder cheese to prevent that brittle texture.
Try using non-homogenized, gently pasteurized milk from your local farmer. The results would be shockingly better. 4 weeks is still too young anyway. The Lipolysis is not there to give you the flavor and break down fats, and the proteolysis is not nearly where it's supposed to be to give you the texture you are looking for. Keep'em aging! they look great and with enough time will likely taste VERY good.
I don't have holes in my hoops and have never had problems related to it. The bottom of each hoop is slightly uneven allowing whey to flow under the edge. The whey that collects above the follower is dumped at each flipping so not much of a problem there either.
Well, so far, so good. I use a plastic mat under the can to let the whey drain out, something from the craft store made for needlepoint or some such; basically plastic mesh. I've thought of carving channels in the board it sits on to help drain off the whey; but it seems it has more to do with pressure applied to the curd than drain ways, but only having used a hoop with holes once, I can't say.
Iratherfly: I have a local source for raw milk, and we made mozzarella with it a couple of times. I will switch over when finances permit. In the mean time, I'm hoping to develop my skill set with the cheap milk. As one of my mentors used to say, "The first thousand are the hardest."
I've now got a source for better quality milk at sell by date, and have arranged for four gallons a week at $5. This should give me time to experiment and learn the craft, and when I have successes I'll repeat them with the raw milk so my failures won't be so costly.
Part of this whole project is just economically keeping the family fed, so eatable $2 a pound Gouda is a real success, though the raw milk is calling me. I keep wondering if I can keep a goat in my small inner city yard?
Dave in CT
Hey Dave, I was wondering if you had ever been able to post your plans to build the 20 to 1 press for cheese? I am part of a raw milk dairy in NM and I have been tasked with starting our cheese production. I have Mozzarella down fairly well, although figuring out what new spice combinations to use is a interesting task. I am looking to get us started on harder cheeses this winter and I would love to build rather than buy a good press. Plus if you could recommend any of the better postings that helped you get going, it would save me a bunch of searching. Hopefully you heed the call of raw milk because there is so much lost through pasteurization and even more through homogenization.
Thomas
Hi Thomas.
Welcome to the board. Until Dave posts his links I thought I'd pass along a few that I found:
1. https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,4026.0.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,4026.0.html)
2. https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2245.msg18642.html#msg18642 (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2245.msg18642.html#msg18642)
3. EQUIPMENT - Forming Cheese Subforum (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/board,155.0.html)
The first link discusses a Dutch style Cheese Press and much of the math behind it.
The second link discusses a pneumatic cheese press
Link number three is to the Subforum on this board that has many discussions about cheese presses, along with other cheese forming equipment
Enjoy.
Thanks so much! I am needing all the help I can get. This is turning into a really exhausting challenge. I have a lot to learn and the more input i get the better my chances are. I'm getting a Commercial kitchen built soon, so I need to start being ready to make a lot of cheese. When I signed up for a farm hand position, I didn't think I would have such an interesting position to fill as part of my job, but what the hell, when in Rome. I can't wait to see how it goes.