As most of you know, I got a new cheese press earlier this week. Well once Friday rolled around I couldn’t wait any longer.
I decided to make a 5 gallon batch of parmesan to test this thing out and so far I am well beyond impressed.
Please a look at my photos and let me know what you think.
Not only what you think of the press (which is beyond cool) but the process itself.
This is the first time I’ve tried a step by step representation of any cheese I’ve made.
First couple of pics are of the break I got and the first cutting of the curd…..
More to follow…......
Continuing on…..
After cutting the curd, I decided to get a little rough.
Quite honestly, this might be the understatement of the century since I really treated this curd as if it was a rented mule.
I not only cut this curd I abused it. I used my whisk like a slavemaster would use a whip…..yeah, I got medeival on this sucker.
The reason I treated the curd so severley was to get the find texture that professional parmesan makers get.
From everything that I’ve read, the final curd should be the size of a grain of wheat. Well from growing up on a farm I know just how small that actually is, so I didn’t cut the curd any slack.
Here’s a couple of pics of the curd, during the cooking phase and of the whey at draining. I’m really pleased at how clear the whey was at, at this point in the process…...
.....Okay, so the whey is partially drained and the sterilized and warmed mold is waiting.
I made sure that I kept the curd under the whey until I was ready to place it in the mold.
I did this becasue all of the parmesan videos show the curd going into the mold, straight out of the whey. I tried to stay as close
as possible to the professional process in the homemaking envirnoment.
Here’s a shot of the curd in the mold and another after the press has been set up.
Have I mentioned that I truly love this cheese press?
......Okay, so everything is set up and ready to go…
Now all I have to do is stack on a bunch of weight and then wait a few minutes so that I can remove all of the weights and then repeat the process…..
But wait!
I now have a pneumatic cheese press that doesn’t require all of that work.
All I have to do now is flip a switch and I’m ready to go.
So, here’s a pic of my “weight stacking” and of the switch that is used to make the whole process work.
One thing that I did have to learn….
The switch MUST be left in the “on” position or the pressure will not stay on the curd.
Once I figured this out, I found that no matter how long the cheese is in the press, the pressure will remain the same.
Also, After nearly two hours in the press the pressure in the air tank has not even dropped a full pound.
The only time that the pressure would not remain the same as set, is if the air pressure in the tank dropped below the pressure needed on the cheese.
Since my tank pressure has not dropped at all in the past two hours, I don’t see this as ever being a problem.
So, here’s the pics:
.....
So, once the cheese was in the press, the waiting game began.
I was still a little leary as to how the press would do over time.
Well I can now say that after nearly four hours in the press, the pressure still has not dropped off on the tank, but the cheese itself is getting rid of a lot of whey.
Also, the press is just as tight, on the cheese, as it was at the beginning.
Not to be repetetive here, but this press is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I simply can’t put into words the high rating it deserves!
So, here’s a shot of the whey draining off of the custom made drain board and the cheese at the first flip (after 30 minutes).
It will be another several hours before I’m able to post the finished product.
Oh, one more thing of great importance….
I really don’t like the fact that these photos make my hands look both hairy and fat.
I’m looking at them right now and they look neither hairy NOR fat.
I think it must be some type of photographic artifact that is not a true representation of the original.
(yeah, I have sexy hands in real life)
Okay, nuf said.
;D
dude that look so cool:) im new but i know something fun when i see it:) im still just trying to fine a normal cheap press. i wish i could get one like that:)
Kodama….
I’ve been making cheese for three years, using a variety of different presses and they do all work.
Some will turn out a better final product than others and some are easier to use than others. Basically I used what I could afford at the time and made cheese.
This is a fun press and it seems to give really great results but like I said, pretty much any press will make cheese.
Thanks for your post. I really had a blast making this cheese. Both a new variety to me (only one other attempt) and I got to play with my new toy.
It was a good Friday night.
Neil, LOL…
Not sure that I’m turning into a Werewolf just yet, but I really was not happy with the way that my hands looked in the photos.
Might be time to stop eating so much cheese and start playing more racquetball (not that this will help the hair situation but it might help with the “fat” look).
Hi guys…..
I forgot about posting some final pics of this wheel after taking it out of the brine.
Also, on Saturday I made a Romano so this wheel is also included in the attached pics.
The Romano was actually a mistake since I started out making a Cheddar. After I realized that I had added Thermophilic culture instead of Mesophilic I decided I needed to find something, in the Thermophilic line, that would work with the 90 degree starting temp.
The Romano is on the left and the Parmesan on the right.
I’m really pleased with how both wheels turned out since these are both relatively new cheeses to me.
Those cheeses look terrific! I am hoping to get my press in about a month. I’m going to be travelling most of Feb, and so won’t be doing any cheesemaking for awhile.
Tom, thanks.
I think you’ll fall in love with this style of press once you use it. It really does make things much easier and seems to give fantastic results.
Rich…
I still refuse to see my hands as they look in the photos. I think it’s my lack of photography skill that has caused the “defect”.
