I just found this site and though it might be of interest to those that make swiss style cheese.
If you look about halfway down the page there is some good information concerning eye formation.
Photos 10 and 11 look exactly like what I got in my last (and best) attempt at a swiss. It seems that if one is to form large eyes in their wheels then they need to “press under whey”, which is something I have never done.
Anyway, here’s the link. I found the material to be very interesting.

http://www.bioscience-explained.org/EN1.2/pdf/cheeseEN.pdf

Dave

Thanks! this will help

i have made 2 swiss cheeses and they were both pressed under whey and i find it may also depend on the amount of propionic bacteria you use.with the 1st one the recipe said a tiny quantity and i put in about 1/4 teaspoon to 10 liters of milk and it swelled a little and i had heaps of small eyes. the second i put in about 1 teaspoon and it swelled heaps three times as much as the first at least i havn’t cut it yet it still has a couple of months to go hopefully it will see extremely well and have big eyes fingers crossed

Good luck Narelle…
Could you possibly post the procedure you used for pressing under the whey.
For instance I’d like to know if you put the curd into a bag….how much pressure you used…..for how long and if you then transferred it to a regular press to finish it out.
This is a completely new process to me and information seems to be rather scarce on the subject.
Thanks in advance.

Dave