The cheesecloth is sticking every time I make Gouda. Sticks on the bottom (base) of the wheel during final pressing - 50 pounds overnight. It stick so bad I can’t reuse the cheesecloth and pulls some small chucks out of the wheel. I do a dozen different types of hard cheese but this only happens on the Gouda. I do Colby which is also a washed curd cheese with no problems. Any ideas?
There have been several opinions voiced on this issue, but I don’t think there has been a definitive answer given. I’ve had the problem as well, and usually only with Muenster. In any case, since its only on the final press that you are experiencing the problem; I’d suggest you do your final press with no cloth. I have been using this technique for over 6 months and it works well.
I would one source on another site that suggested spraying the cheesecloth with a non-stick cooking spray like PAM. Anybody here doing that? I found another site where they use a plastic disposable cheesecloth, but I haven’t seen that available anywhere.
I am using a 2 pound Cheesy Press. The instructions that came with the press says to do the initial pressings WITHOUT cheesecloth. They say to dress with cheesecloth only for the final pressing. This seems backwards to me. I assumed that the purpose of the cheesecloth was to allow a space for the whey to drain. Otherwise, why use it at all???
Cloth sticking to the cheese is caused by using a poor quality starter culture. Change the starter and your problem will disappear.
Bala - I notice that you are in India and are doing organic farming. Are you using dried cultures or are you using natural starters like buttermilk and yoghurt?
You may be right about my starter. I am using a generic Thermophilic from New England Cheese Supply. However, I use that culture for several different cheeses. The sticking only happens with my Goudas - and it happens EVERY time.
Dont spray anything chemical on the cheese making materials, defeats the purpose of making a healthy cheese. Ive had this problem as I mentioned the last little while, might be the temp of the cheese, haven’t figured it out.
This discussion may have jinxed me. I have never had sticking on a cheddar, but last night I did. It was a stirred curd cheddar, and it was after the 2 hour press that the cloth stuck around the perimeter of the bottom surface - nowhere else. The weight may be a factor, but this was not on the heaviest press. One would think that if it were a factor of weight, it would be most noticeable on the first two presses when the curd is most open and most subject to being squeezed into the cloth fibers. I hope we can get this problem solved once and for all.
My cotswold I made yesterday stuck to the cheese cloth as well.
It seemed that the cheese had driped thru and then solidified and started forming a crust.
I took a sharp perring knife and scraped the drip thru off of the cheese cloth until it turned loose.
Kinda like shaving in the morning.
Suffered very little damage.
Here’s a very interesting comment from Ricki Carrol’s website. Makes sence.
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This can be a problem with this type of cheese due to serious acid production in the mold causing the curd to shrink and thus incorporating the cloth .. Best solution is to wet the cloth in weak brine .. This added salt should slow acid production a bit near the rind and solve this problem.. also .. too much pressure to start with and not turning soon enough could cause this.
An interesting solution, and easy to try - wetting the cloth that is. But since we are experiencing the sticking in the last pressing cycle, it seems unlikely that too much pressure at the start could be causing it.
I always wet the cloth, put it in the mould and then the curds. There are recipes calling for a light pressure for 15 minutes and then a much heavier one for 6-12 hours. I never do that. I start with about 15 lb for 15-20 minutes, re-wrap and flip, same pressure. From here on I increase the pressure gradually for 1-3 hours and so on as required. Every phase of pressing I apply equally on both sides. I experinced a very slight sticking lately, may be due to exeeded pressure.
P.S. Most of my semi and hard cheeses are made from 10 liters of milk.
“The cheesecloth removes with great difficulty from the cheese after pressing. Pieces of the cheese may actually rip off when the cheesecloth is removed.”
I would one source on another site that suggested spraying the cheesecloth with a non-stick cooking spray like PAM. Anybody here doing that? I found another site where they use a plastic disposable cheesecloth, but I haven’t seen that available anywhere.
Hi Sailor,
Don’t know whether you already have found a supplier of disposable cheese cloth, but if not then please check our web shop http://www.thecheesemouldshop.com.
Next to the plastic cloth that is listed in the shop we also have cotton cheese cloth (the very original!) that is not listed yet.
The cotton execution is more easy to form in the mould causing less wrinkles than the plastic one.
However the plastic one is more durable.
