Blessed are the cheesemakers...

[tirawa]

I decided to add home cheese making to my skillset and had a look at the prices of cheese presses... After I picked myself up off the floor, I decided to make my own. Having an engineering background I decided to base my design on a 4 pillar hydraulic press, minus the hydraulics Built of reclaimed timber and sucessfully coated in beeswax, I present my MK1 prototype, complete with stainless steel cutlery holder serving as a mould, and a glass and sugar based weight

[sfcfinchrs]

Well Done......

I salute you.

Dont buy if you dont have to. Make what you need.

[Arzosah]

Brilliant! Well done you!

Can I be cheeky and ask for more detail? No, thinking about it ... the stainless steel isn't the real mould, is it, because the cheese inside it wouldn't compress ... do those squares of wood at the top of the legs come down gradually?

I'm fascinated but a complete beginner at this level of skill

[tirawa]

Hi Arzosah. It's not very clear how it would work in the picture, but the top shelf slides up and down the 4 pillars. The mould would contain the cheese, wrapped in cheesecloth, with a circular board placed on top. The circular board then has a 'pusher' piece, which can be anything really, a plastic mug or a block of wood placed on top, and it's the pusher that takes the weight of the top shelf and compresses the cheese

[tirawa]

Hi Arzosah. It's not very clear how it would work in the picture, but the top shelf slides up and down the 4 pillars. The mould would contain the cheese, wrapped in cheesecloth, with a circular board placed on top. The circular board then has a 'pusher' piece, which can be anything really, a plastic mug or a block of wood placed on top, and it's the pusher that takes the weight of the top shelf and compresses the cheese

Heres a photo of a proper cheese mould, showing the pusher plate.

[Arzosah]

Thanks!

I love cheese - once I've finished my current indoor project, this would be a good one

[tirawa]

I'm planning to get hold of some decent hardwood in the next few weeks and make a batch to sell on Ebay. Some of the wooden ones I've seen for sale on there cost nearly £60 and look like they're made out of old lolly sticks Feel free to use this design though, it's not copyrighted or anything

[tirawa]

A postscript... Having been very pleased with myself and my home made cheese press, I decided to look more closely at the details of the production of fermented curd. Most 'make your own cheese' sites on the internet are very interesting, lots of recipes etc. I decided I wanted to try to make a hard Cheddar type cheese, something that would store well. So, I picked a recipe, which was fairly complicated, and after the blah blah blah, it said the final pressing weight was ten pounds. I thought fair enough, but decided to look at how professional cheesemakers made cheddar, just to see if there were any short cuts. I was mortified to discover that the 'ten pound weight' isn't the weight you pop onto your cheese press, but the weight the cheese needs to be pressed at in pounds per square inch. This can involve, depending on the size of your mould and press, in applying pressure on the press of 80 to several hundred pounds Luckily I prefer a more crumbly textured cheese like Cheshire or Lancashire I suppose, which my home made press should just be capable of producing.

[nickdutch]

Good going. I would have suggested a Tofu mould, but they might not be firm enough to withstand the massive weight of an MG Midget on it . . . . .

[featherstick]

Dad made something similar for fruit - but it was substantial enough to take a car jack which provided the pressure. I remember the pulp that came out was almost dry.