Ghetto Cheese Press

As promised, here is a picture of my homemade ghetto cheese press. It's just two boards, with 4 dowels. The dowels are glued into the holes on the bottom board, and the top board just "floats".

I made a colby cheese today, so this is 50# of weight on the press. You can see it's mostly grain, but a couple of 8# kitty litters work, too.

YooperBrew said:

You can see it's mostly grain, but a couple of 8# kitty litters work, too.

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Love it! Just don't get the bags mixed up, next time you brew.

BlindLemonLars said:

Love it! Just don't get the bags mixed up, next time you brew.

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What? You don't like kitty litter wheat?

Sometimes I have a little trouble balancing the weights, and once in a while I'll hear a loud "crash" in the kitchen. That's why there is nothing else on the island anymore. I learn things the hard way.

YooperBrew said:

What? You don't like kitty litter wheat?

Sometimes I have a little trouble balancing the weights, and once in a while I'll hear a loud "crash" in the kitchen. That's why there is nothing else on the island anymore. I learn things the hard way.

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Sounds like a great name for a beer!

Very nice. I've only made soft cheeses so far but have all the ingredients to get into hard cheese already. This is so simple I wouldn't have to buy any new tools for this.

This would even be a good use for the weights that are sitting in the basement next to the weight bench that hasn't gotten used in who knows how long

A good future upgrade would be to mount a thick dowel right in the center, then pick up some barbell weights you can slide onto the dowel.

ChshreCat said:

A good future upgrade would be to mount a thick dowel right in the center, then pick up some barbell weights you can slide onto the dowel.

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Yeah, I'm in the market for barbell weights. They would fit nicely in the center between the four dowels.

There's also a beat up aluminum can between the top board and the follower of the press. The reason is because the mold doesn't stick up high enough above my draining bowl. So, the can gives the "room", if that makes sense.

What you can't see is that is a colander/bowl set up. So that the whey goes into the bottom bowl. I've done it in the bowl without the colander, with an upside down saucer, but this works better. The red bowl you see is actually just a colander that fits the bowl. There are a couple of inches below that colander where the whey can collect so the mold isn't sitting in the whey.

It looks like a corny keg would fit nicely on there. A full one weighs right around 50 pounds.

Bokonon said:

It looks like a corny keg would fit nicely on there. A full one weighs right around 50 pounds.

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For crying out loud, man! It took about 4 trips to bring the grain and kitty litter up from the basement. Now you'd have me stacking full corny kegs up on my island on top of that ghetto cheese press. I carry full cornies around all the time, but never lift them that high.

I could hurt something important- like my BEER!

hehehe I was gonna say... I'd rather have 10 lbs of 2-row hit the floor than a full corny.

Biermuncher & his ugly junk would be proud!

zac said:

Biermuncher & his ugly junk would be proud!

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I will take that as a compliment!

It's not every girl who can fashion something so ugly and yet so practical.

You actually made me laugh out loud... and loudly!

Be careful around that thing or you'll end up with the Broken Arm Dairy.

I agree, dont drink Ed Worts Apple Goody while pressing cheese,....maybe Revvy could fashin us a sign to go with your press.

This is neat. I haven't got into cheese making yet, but i am interested. Are you supposed to use different weights for different consistencies of cheese, or is 'the more the merrier'?

shlegminitism said:

This is neat. I haven't got into cheese making yet, but i am interested. Are you supposed to use different weights for different consistencies of cheese, or is 'the more the merrier'?

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You use different weights for different cheeses. I'm still learning, so I don't know all the "whys", I just follow the recipes!

You could put the press on the floor and use the corny. I mean, each gallon would be about 8.5 pounds and it wouldn't be so precariously balanced.

Bobby_M said:

You could put the press on the floor and use the corny. I mean, each gallon would be about 8.5 pounds and it wouldn't be so precariously balanced.

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Wow- that's a great idea! I could weigh the corny empty first, and then add water! But keep the press on the floor so no heavy lifting.

YooperBrew said:

What? You don't like kitty litter wheat?

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Wait! You mean wheat beers aren't made with kitty litter? You could have fooled me...

Using beer to make cheese. I like it!

YooperBrew said:

Wow- that's a great idea! I could weigh the corny empty first, and then add water! But keep the press on the floor so no heavy lifting.

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Normally I'd agree wholeheartedly. However, the presence of kitty litter leads me to infer the presence of cats in the house (Good Heavens, Holmes, however do you do it??).

Curious cat + tasty dairy products + precariously balanced weights = squished cat ± spilled beer + cracked tile

Do you have any pics of the ghetto press itself?

No, just that one in the first post. It's just two boards, with four dowels in the corner. The dowels are permanently glued to the bottom board, and there are four holes cut in the top board. So, the top board "floats" above. I use a plastic container (old water bottle or a Briess LME container) as a spacer on the follower. It works great!

I'm just about to order a hard cheese kit from AHS, but I'm trying to figure out how to construct this beast...
I'm just taking the dive into cheesemaking, so I know next to nothing

Good to see a fellow Yooper. I grew up in Houghton, but moved to New Mexico for college. I miss it way too much. (pasties especially)

There are several different basic types of presses. I recommend hitting google and see which one you think would be buildable and suit your needs the best. I thought of making one without weights. Just a nut to tighten or something. Then I think the weights will help ensure you get the right pressure.

I was given a tofu press, it might work for cheese, it may not be strong enough. Then again, it might be more worthwhile to make more than 1lb at a time if I'm going to do all the work for hard cheese.
http://www.tofuxpress.com/

Over the weekend I saw one guy recommended a large PVC pipe for a press mold...

homebrewer_99 said:

Over the weekend I saw one guy recommended a large PVC pipe for a press mold...

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I'm thinking about doing that for mine as well. Then again, supposedly a friend of mine has a cheese press in his basement that is willing to loan/give me. I have been sort of waiting on that.

Maybe I should offer to brave his subterranean labyrinth on a quest to rediscover this mythical object.

Here is my homemade cheese press, with two baby goudas in it. Same idea as yours, it's just two cutting boards with holes drilled at the corners and a cut up dowel. I like the idea of gluing the dowels into the bottom. I didn't do that, so it disassembles easily. But something that keeps the dowels straight would be nice. I use the level to balance the weights. I haven't had it crash yet, and I've balanced 50 pounds on top a few times.