# Cheese Press



## goto10 (Oct 5, 2009)

Can anyone recomend an inexpensive cheese press. I've looked at the cheesypress online which is pressure calibrated and someone on ebay sells an inexpensive one which is not pressure calibrated. I could build one of the ones you put weights on but then I'd have to buy a separate mold which, in total, would end up costing almost the same as one of these all-in-one presses. My main thing about these all-in-one presses is they see mto max out at 6". That's a really small wheel of cheese. I would probably see 10" as being a more normal size.


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

Mine is two boards connected on all four corners by dowels. The top piece moves up and down as needed and I use weights on the top of it. I'm sure you've seen the type. For cheese molds, I use 5 lb sour cream containers with holes drilled in the bottom/sides or a 1 gal ice cream container, ditto on the holes. For a follower, I bought a large plastic cutting board at Walmart and cut appropriately sized circles out of it. It's definitely not professional, but it works.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I don't think there is any such thing as a GOOD and INEXPENSIVE cheese press.

I made one:









It's ok, but getting all the weight on the top without creating the Tower of Pisa is a challange.

I got a used press like the Lehman's press:
http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitche...se___Lehman_s_Best_Cheese_Press___23316?Args=

It's fantastic!!!


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

Mine's like that one, but I use weights from my mom's old weight bars. Avoids the whole Tower of Pisa thing.


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

Wow..those presses are crazy expensive...I have one and really don't remember spending that much on it..it's the one from New England cheese making but looks exactly the same.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

For a mold I use the stainless steel basket from a pasta cooker. Has lots of lovely holes. I have a round birch cutting board for a follower. I put it in a gallon zip lock to keep it from absorbing water and swelling. I got some weights from the Good Will store.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

before you panic at the small diameter of the mold - consider your cheesemaking capacity. I can only realistically handle 4 gallons of milk at a time. 4 gallons requires a 5 gallon pot - inside a larger pot for the thermal water bath. 4 gallons x 8.7lbs = the max I can lift out of the larger thermal pot from the stove (heavy, high lifting required). Larger pots would not fit underneath our stove hood. 

So while I, too, would like to make lovely larger cheeses my kitchen and my own physical limitations keep me perfectly satisfied with presses that can accomodate 4 gallons of milk - and those molds tend to have 6" diameters.

I never would have thought about all that if I hadn't bumped up against those limitations so often....


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

I discovered the same problem as Cathleen. I'm short and not strong enough to lift huge pots of hot milk. I can carry a 50 pound sack of feed, but hot milk is just too dangerous.

I use two 2 gallon pots for cheesemaking. When I'm cooling the milk I can put one pot in each of the sides of the kitchen sink, surrounded by water and ice. At two gallons, plus the weight of the pots themselves, I'm comfortable working with those amounts. As the curds consolidate, I move them to one pot and use the other for whey removal.


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## steff bugielski (Nov 10, 2003)

I use this.
Works great. I will even build a few out of stainless for my cheese processing facility.
http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/p/50-Off-the-Wall-Press-Plans.html


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## goto10 (Oct 5, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions and considerations everyone. I think I am going to try to build one of those ones with the 2 boards. The only problem is me getting all those materials and making the press all in one day. If I don't do it all at once then it will never get done. I have a question about those types of presses though. ANy plans I see, never seem to address it. I assume you have to put something under the lower board, making contacting with the whey/cheese to actually press it? Because all I even see is the bottom board resting on topd of the mold. 

Right now i am only getting about 3 gallons a week from my goats. This may go to 4 gallons a week when I start milking my other doe both am and pm. Then next year I will have sheep milk so I don't want the press to limit how much I can potentially throw in there. I know the 4" molds say a max of 2 gallons which I am already over and 6" inch say 3 to 5 gallons. Which I guess fits my needs but the a 6" wheel still seems small but also I have no idea how tall a 6" wheel of cheese made with 5 gallons worth of whey would be.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I finally bought the flat weights to use for my cheeses. My press is slightly similar to the pictures that were posted. When I tried the small barbell type weights we had a couple rude awakenings in the middle of the night.


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## bluefish (Jan 27, 2006)

To make the press is EASY. I couldn't get dowels for the uprights, so I actually used allthread (I think that's what it's called). Drilled the appropriate holes, put the allthread through the holes and put a washer and nut on the bottom. Then I put another washer and nut on top. This is on the bottom board, think of the bottom board as being sandwiched between washers and nuts.

If you look at the posted pic of Alice's press, she has a pie tin between the cheese/whey and the board. I had something similar, but it got destroyed a few days ago, so now I'm using a piece of foil with a cheese mat on top until I can get to town for a new pie tin.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

a 6" wheel made with 4 gallons of milk is about 2 - 3" high.


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