At some point in your cheesemaking journey, youll need a cheese press.
(Hint: I couldnt find one on Amazon that met the grade.)
What is a Cheese press?
What we do with those curds is determined by the kind of cheese youre making.
Then we use the press to exert some force.
If it was as simple as throwing as much weight as possible onto the cheese, itd be easy.
But the recipes you encounter will have you start out light and gradually increase the weight.
Thats why cheese molds have holes in them.
A press needs to be able to add weight, while measuring the amount of weight added.
That alone knocked out about 90% of Amazon cheese presses.
(That kicked out thelast cheese pressleft on Amazon; it only accommodates small molds.)
There are three kinds of presses Ive seen in the wild.
The second style relies on springs to exert the needed pressure.
Strong springs are nestled between two pieces of wood, then secured down by wing nuts.
These presses are made out of plastic, steel, or wood.
Its similar to the spring-loaded press, but in this case, there are no springs.
You place an actual weight on top of the press and continually crank down the wing nuts.
They are, however, cheap, so might be worth a try.
Cant I just put something heavy on top of the cheese?
Lord knows Ive tried, particularly when Ive got a few different cheeses going that all need a press.
Ive been woken up by a falling stack of books or weights more times than I can count.
Use a decent hardwood if you’re able to, since you wont need much of it.
Youll have three matching plates of wood, the base, the weight plate, and the top plate.
Theyll be held in place with nuts and washers underneath the bottom plate.
Now its just about assembling.
you could make your press as fancy as youd like, but fanciness is not necessary.
The diameter will be determined below.)
Rubber feet (optional)
Start by determining the size youll need.
You should use a food safe wood oil on the wood.
Now youre going to drill holes in all three plates.
You only need a hand drill for this.
The hole size is determined by the diameter of the threaded rod you chose.
Your hardware store can cut the rods for you to 18 inches.
Use washers and nuts to secure the rods to the baseplate.
Youre almost there, we just need to create a gauge for measuring the weight on the springs.
Make a mark on the paper exactly where it meets the bottom of the weight plate.
Next to it, write 0.
Right now, there is 0 pounds of weight.
Place a five pound weight on top of the top plate.
The top plate should move closer to the weight plate.
That is five pounds of pressure.
You now have a working cheese press!
Laminate the paper with the weights on it.
If you cant laminate it, fake it with clear packing tape.
This will allow you to clean it, and check that it doesnt run if it gets wet.
ensure your cheese mold has a follower, and its in the mold.
Center the mold in your cheese press, between the base plate and weight plate.
Take the weight plate and push it so its resting on top of the follower.
