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Okay I have one of those cheap cheese presses I bought off of EBay about 6 years ago and never used. The mold itself is 4" across, 1/8" thick and appears to be PVC.

Vote from the following:

• Use the mold as it is.
• Replace the PVC mold with another 4" Stainless mold but use the rest of the press as it is.
• Replace PVC mold with a more sturdy mold, add a spring and use rest as it is
• Chuck the whole thing and get one of those $150 Dutch Presses on EBay
• None of the above (please explain)

For good results, the ideal and right procedure is by applying constant and known pressure on the cheese. This can be achieved with an expensive press with hydraulic piston or with a traditional and much cheaper Dutch style press.
Using screws and springs will never provide a constant pressure.

It "can" work for some types of cheeses,mainly thos which doesnt need that much pressure anyhow so lack of percision wont effect the end result much, thos who come to mind are semi hard cheeses which use low pressure like gouda and tomme.
Tightning the screws during the first few "critical moments" of curd bonding will ensure that there is no open textures.

ellenspn, you haven't mentioned what pressed cheese type(s) you want to make. That said I vote for #5. None of the above. My explanation:

The problems with your eBay press you have IMO are i) small sized hoop (smaller cheeses while taking the same time to make as larger are generally harder to age than larger), ii) poor ability as Alex & Tomer1 have said to apply constant pressure over time, and iii) poor whey drainage from all sides of the cheese, (no weep holes on bottom sides or top of cheese, only a few around the bottom perimeter). Even lining this hoop with a cheese cloth would still result in poor whey drainage as it tries to escape through the cloth down down the sides to those few holes.

I think the mold or hoop is more important than the press in pressed cheeses except maybe for cheddar where you need very high pressures to fuse the cut and milled curds. In pressed cheeses your hoop or mold provides the support for the soft curds and final shape while extruding whey and fusing the curds but more importantly for enabling an even all over dewheyed dehydrated skin which is the start of your rind.

You can improvise many low-medium pressure presses, there are several pictures in this board of different weight systems (large bottles, tins etc), me I use a ladder and large bucket of paint. With smaller ie 4" diameter cheeses obviously you need less pressure and thus less applied force.

Thus my vote is to up upscale your makes and to spend money on a larger good quality mold or hoop, and improvise on a press or build a cheap levered one off of a wall stud.

PS: In your picture I can't see how the metal screw rod applies force to the top of cheese, presumably the nut just below the knob goes beneath the wooden cross bar.

Alex and Tomer1:  I agree now that I've read a bit here that this press will not provide a constant pressure, and it's quite small for a press. 

John: The reason I didn't mention what type of cheese is because I'm still not sure myself.  I'm leaning toward using the "basic" Fankhauser recipe and experimenting from there.  My weaving mentor used to live in East Frisia and raised dike sheep (essentially East Frisians) and made cheese.  She has recommended rather than copying a type from another area to make something that is "my own" by playing with different techniques.

Right now I'm out to make a feta (which requires no press) to meet my standards.  The only missing thing to make my "perfect to me" feta is sheep's milk    But my poor husband does not like feta. 

I know I'll be messing with mozzarella from time to time because we both like it and I'm too stubborn to let a little over acidification daunt me (that happened yesterday was not amused, pH meter has been ordered).  But I'm looking for a mild, sliceable cheese that melts on burgers and we both like. Colby is close to what I'm thinking.

I have that press, well one very very similar, and my vote would be to burn it. It was a waste of money, and every time I use it I get extremely frustrated. I have finally convinced hubby that if he wants his habenero smoked cheddar that he needs to build me a press that can handle pressing it.

That being said, as long as you are right on top of it while you are pressing you *should* be able to get decent press on a cheese that doesn't require a lot of pressing weight.

The single biggest problem that I had with mine was when I was trying to increase the weight the follower would keep tilting to the point it was coming out from under the metal rod and not pressing.

I wondered about that myself and that there is no metal threading for the screw through the cross beam. Once you put so much pressure on, the threading is going to strip.

I'm in the none of the above camp.   Here's what I suggest:  think of the cheese press as a two phase project.  First, an experimental stage.  Troll through a couple of thrift stores to find a stainless steel steamer insert to use for a mold.  Improvise some sort of follower, and use jars of water for pressing weights.  This will give you control over weights and the ability to experiment with some pressed cheeses with a small expenditure.  By the time you've made, aged, and sampled several pressed cheeses, you'll have some definite opinions about the cheese types and sizes you want to make and can acquire a suitable press and some molds to match.   

Quote from: Cloversmilker on October 11, 2011, 05:03:26 AM
I'm in the none of the above camp.   Here's what I suggest:  think of the cheese press as a two phase project.  First, an experimental stage.  Troll through a couple of thrift stores to find a stainless steel steamer insert to use for a mold.  Improvise some sort of follower, and use jars of water for pressing weights.  This will give you control over weights and the ability to experiment with some pressed cheeses with a small expenditure.  By the time you've made, aged, and sampled several pressed cheeses, you'll have some definite opinions about the cheese types and sizes you want to make and can acquire a suitable press and some molds to match.

I think that Cloversmilker is on the right track here.

You don't say what the problem is.  I would say, the hoop you have is food grade polypropylene and you probably do need one with little holes all around the sides for whey drainage.  The professionals all use polypropylene, you don't need stainless at all.  But don't throw the press out, there is nothing wrong with it.  It looks a bit like mine which is designed for curds from about 8 litres milk (close to 2 gallons) and will give you about a pound and a half cheese.