First attempt at Cheese

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So the retard known as Steve AKA me was not paying attention and grabbed a half table spoon instead of a half teaspoon and used a tablespoon and a half instead of a teaspoon and a half of citric acid the milk imminently curdled and I could do nothing with it. oh well I will make another batch today and my jack cheese also so when I put all the way into one container it will dilute the citric acid enough then I will make some ricotta for a three cheese shells with meat sauce.
 
It happens ;) Just like in homebrewing gotta make a mistake once in awhile to keep us on our toes.

I read through chapter 3 the last few days. Going print it out at work and go over a few times and then order some culture and cheese wax. Still have to get this press calibrated somehow.
 
Well I have the Jack in the press and the mozzarella in the fridge. the Ricotta is draining . Finally just some cleanup and 5 gallons of milk processed. I was a good day even if the kids have been sick.
 
Hi folks

Great to see some folks getting in to cheese making, it's a great side hobby along with brewing.

WRT presses, the lever type is a better design overall as the pressure exerted onto the cheese stays constant as the head of the press drops. As the cheese is pressed in a sprung press, the pressure drops as the cheese presses so you need to adjust constantly otherwise the cheese dries unevenly.

The other thing to note is that you should calculate the pressure applied to the whole surface of the cheese being pressed. A rough rule of thumb is to press at about 50 psi, so if you have a 10square inch press head, you need to apply a total of 500lbs pressure to the cheese.
 
Except most instructions I see don't specify a pressure, but a weight. Not only that but using a slightly different size of mold would change the pressure delivered by the same weight. So should we be aiming for a weight that's scaled by recipes or a pressure that's constant for a certain type of cheese?
 
Indeed. But by just specifying a weight, you aren't really controlling the process as different sized cheeses will end up with different pressing forces, so will come out drier or wetter than intended. By specifying pressure you can maintain a parameter which ultimately will lead to better cheese as you experiment.

My general approximation of 50psi tends to work pretty well for harder cheese styles. Think a real farmhouse cheddar consistency more than brie. Its a good compromise between getting plenty of water out and not running it off so fast that the cheese goes chalky from being dried too fast.

If you want a harder cheese, press longer rather than harder. If you want to press a softer cheese, press shorter first, then experiment with less pressure. If you don't press hard enough you won't expel enough water and it won't set up properly (OTOH you might find you quite like a cheese which is hard on the outside and softer in the middle.

Also worth noting that you should turn the cheese in the press every day for the first few days, this stops it drying more at the top than the bottom.
 
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