I’m having some confusion on which moulds and how many of each are needed per recipe. For talking purposes, I’ll reference Ricki’s book, which basically gives a starting point of using 2 gallons of milk for most recipes.
Under her Equipment heading, moulds (website), she does give some good information in the sense that for Camembert cheese it requires a mould for each 2 1/2 -3 quarts of milk. So it sounds as though one should have at least 4 of her 4 1/4 diameter x 4 1/4 high moulds on hand for a 2 gallon recipe.  As for her small hard cheese mould (4 1/2 diameter x 5 high) this would be for a 2 gallon recipe.

Does this sound like accurate advice for a beginner?

Now another website, cheese supply, gives size based on wheel weight.  A 7 3/4 diameter x 8 high for a 5-10# wheel, but fails to mention what size recipe in gallons this applies to.

Then there are the moulds like St. Marcellin (3 1/2 x 3 1/4) with bottom and the Crottin mould (2 1/2 x 4 3/4 high) also with a bottom found on the same site.
I guess my question here would be what determines when to use a mould with or without a bottom, and what cheese types are these two moulds used for? They also make no mention as to the recipe size.

In the case of hard cheese requiring a press, it would seem ideal to me to own one press and have one full mould with no excess curd left over. Since it probably doesn’t always work out this way, is it ultimately better to go to a mould that results in a larger diameter, but shorter cheese than a smaller diameter and taller cheese?

Would one Camembert mould fit the bill for a 2 gallon blue cheese recipe?

i will post to you my own hand made press.
and try to get get two molds size for fresh and hard cheeses

Nabil, that would be great. I’m currently in the process of having my press made which is patterned after the one found on the Cheese Hole site. I’m using 2-inch hard maple, which I intend on finishing with Tung Oil.
I’ve also picked-up some hard ash to cut various followers from once I determine the correct mould size needed. Which of coarse is determined by the mould size suitable for the 2-gallon recipes.
I’ve also been able to pick-up some round barbell weights in the 10# & 2 1/2# size for the press.

So everything is starting to come together. I have to add also that if it wasn’t for the kindness and patience from all you veteran cheese makers to my many questions, I probably would have wasted a lot of time, effort and $ on things not needed. So my thanks to all of you!

Generally its a pound of cheese /gal. The official molds I find are expensive so finding a food grade plastic for use as a mold is not difficult. In some stores (london drugs) they have multi cake pan kits were u can have a 3 7-10” pans or a “rubermaid” type container and drill holes in the bottom, their only a few bucks.
I would stick to the one culture cheeses till u have some experience and then experiment. My best blue i made was when I blended 3 types of commercial blues. Also I have some rinds from some parmasan cheese and their all totally coated with a pure white mold like PC, been thinking so use that in a batch and see what develops, haven’t decided.