Popped out my cheddar from yesterday.

Are you pleased and satisfied with that?

With some of the near disasters I had with the pressing it came out ok. The taste is whats important to me, hard cheeses is not what i normally make and need to do more to get the feel for them.

I can imagine the “pressing disasters” you’ve had in the past, as I’ve had my share as well.  So, give us the details:  pressure, time, size etc.  Your texture looks a bit open.  You can help that some by warming the mold prior to pressing and keeping it warm during the first three cycles.  But, as you say - the proof is in the eating, and with cheddar its usually quite a long wait for that.

Was this a traditional cheddar, or some shortened variety?

LOL, thanks
This is basically a stirred cheddar (check website). Everything went well till the pressing time (besides forgetting were I put my anetto coloring), dont know if it was the not doing any cheese for a while or brain gremlins got in. First I forgot to put the cheese cloth in (forgot they exist) so flipping did not go well and only did it once (I did preheat the mold). Then I realized my usual 100oz tins were all gone so I didnt have anything to press , so I put my wooden CD tower on top ( at least 40lb). Next morning my memory came back and remembered I had 20lb dumbbells that I used to use on the press, so I put them on ( a bit late). 4:30 I removed from the press after 24 hours.
TaDa LOL

i love the problemsolving process, though—just use what you have at hand!

:)

Wel I am a little relieved to hear that even an exerienced cheese maker like you can have problems.I don’t feel so slly after all- thanks for letting us see that.

Thought you might like to see one of mine straight out of the press.
A couple of points I have found by experimenting.
When cheddaring it is important to keep the curds at the cooking temp the whole time. During milling a small size makes for better moulding in the press. The next one I’ll take down to ‘bread crumb’ size.
This one had a small amount of Lipase to add a bit of bite to the taste.

Looks good, I agree about the curd sizes, I did not reduce the ones i had. I was not organized for some reason, also forgot to add the caraway seeds that i wanted. Next batch will be a check list on the fridge in case the mind goes again

waxed

Neil, sorry man, u still not there !! ur press is very weak !!

why ur cheese is yellow not orange ???

LOL, I couldnt find my anato and put too much turmeric
Theirs a story about the poor pressing that u missed LOL.

turmeric will change the flavor :(

Yup, I was desperate and my mind was not all their LOL.