Dave,
The most bizarre thing just happened. I had just finished posting to your pepper swiss thread and went back to the forum menu. I saw this thread and as soon as I opened it the air compressor attached to the press came on and cycled. BZZZZZZ!
I had made a few force vs. pressure measurements earlier, and then set the press up with a dummy load at about 300 lbs force to see how long the system would hold static before the compressor had to cycle. It has only been a couple of hours, but it started at a pressure only a few psi above the cycling pressure. I expect that now it will hold until morning.
My impressions…
First, Carter is a real craftsman. The finishing on the press is just as good as it looks in the pics. I am especially fond of the simplicity of the design. I had concluded before Carter came up with this that the best press would be either hydraulic or pneumatic, but I don’t know that I would have come up with such an elegant frame design.
I fully expect this press will meet (or exceed) my cheesemaking requirements for my lifetime. Unfortunately, it will be a week to 10 days before I will have time to actually put it through its paces with real cheese. It is capable of pressing a 12” cheddar (though I don’t have a mold for it yet), and I am looking forward to making a lot of hard cheeses. There are visions of Swiss, Cheddar and Parmesan dancing in my head.
The other aspect of this press that I feel is really cool is that the force is continuosly variable. The recipes we typically see tell us to press at “x pounds for a minutes” then “y pounds for b minutes”, etc. With this press, one can tweak the pressure on a continuous basis and flip at different transition points in the process. I think that this can really help with whey expulsion.
I like the footprint. It will press at 500 lbs, but has a 16” square footprint. It also saves sleep. The last hard cheese I made, a 5 lb Manchego, I used the “stacking and balancing weights method.” In the middle of the night I was awakened by crashing sounds. That will not happen with this press.
Are there less expensive alternatives? Of course. I expect to be making cheese the rest of my life, because along with golf and making wine, I know I will continue to improve but never perfect it. It is a more expensive alternative, but it is precise and it will save me time and sleep.
This is a shameless plug from a raving fan of this design. Take from it what you will.
pic added 3/24/2009
Click thumbnail to see full-size image
