Post by mazurzoo on Feb 8, 2008 9:13:00 GMT -5
I love all the puns one can use when talking about cheese. So I have a very pressing problem here!
About 6 mo ago I bought the all stainless steel cheese press from Hoegger Goat Supply. When it arrived the bar with the threaded hole, that the pressure screw goes into, was stripped. They happily sent me a new one. When it came I inspected it, it was threaded fine. It sat on a shelf all this time, brand new, never used. Now that I finally have time to make cheese, I pulled it out. Made my first ever farmhouse cheddar yesterday. When it came to the pressing stage, I went thru all the steps and started to screw down the pressure scale screw...as I was screwing it, it was stripping! Metal shavings were coming out the hole! And then it full stripped, and the screw just pops back up! Urgh! All that trouble and I cant use this press. My bigger worry is that Hoegger will think I broke it, I have $150 invested in this thing! Whoa is me.
But my smaller worry, is the cheese. It didnt get pressed properly. So since I couldnt use the press, I still used the cylinder part, and tried "rigging" up a weight sytem...it kept falling over! It would be level for long enough for me to think it would be ok, so I left it to press, and when I came back a couple hrs later it would all be toppled over.
My farmhouse cheddar recipe from Ricky Carrols book, says to press at 50 lbs for 12 hrs. Because the weights kept falling over I went long than 12 hrs. Eventually I just took the cheese out of the mold, and tried putting the weights right on the cheese. Which totally flattened it!! So now I have this flattish, lop sided leaning tower of "cheesa" It actually most comical, but sad as well. I have no assurance that this cheese was pressed with the right amt of pressure. Should I give it the chickens or have faith and continue with it?
One more "pressing" question, not about pressing really but its "presssing"! AFter peeling off the cheese cloth, the skin of the cheese is revealing all kinds of little fuzzes and hairs! Yuck! I am so careful when I wash my cheese cloth. I do hang dry it, so its obviously just picking up dust and hairs from the air, so small that you cant see them on the cloth, but they sure do imbed in the cheese. No ones gonig to want to eat my dusty fuzzy cheese!
Any suggestions?
About 6 mo ago I bought the all stainless steel cheese press from Hoegger Goat Supply. When it arrived the bar with the threaded hole, that the pressure screw goes into, was stripped. They happily sent me a new one. When it came I inspected it, it was threaded fine. It sat on a shelf all this time, brand new, never used. Now that I finally have time to make cheese, I pulled it out. Made my first ever farmhouse cheddar yesterday. When it came to the pressing stage, I went thru all the steps and started to screw down the pressure scale screw...as I was screwing it, it was stripping! Metal shavings were coming out the hole! And then it full stripped, and the screw just pops back up! Urgh! All that trouble and I cant use this press. My bigger worry is that Hoegger will think I broke it, I have $150 invested in this thing! Whoa is me.
But my smaller worry, is the cheese. It didnt get pressed properly. So since I couldnt use the press, I still used the cylinder part, and tried "rigging" up a weight sytem...it kept falling over! It would be level for long enough for me to think it would be ok, so I left it to press, and when I came back a couple hrs later it would all be toppled over.
My farmhouse cheddar recipe from Ricky Carrols book, says to press at 50 lbs for 12 hrs. Because the weights kept falling over I went long than 12 hrs. Eventually I just took the cheese out of the mold, and tried putting the weights right on the cheese. Which totally flattened it!! So now I have this flattish, lop sided leaning tower of "cheesa" It actually most comical, but sad as well. I have no assurance that this cheese was pressed with the right amt of pressure. Should I give it the chickens or have faith and continue with it?
One more "pressing" question, not about pressing really but its "presssing"! AFter peeling off the cheese cloth, the skin of the cheese is revealing all kinds of little fuzzes and hairs! Yuck! I am so careful when I wash my cheese cloth. I do hang dry it, so its obviously just picking up dust and hairs from the air, so small that you cant see them on the cloth, but they sure do imbed in the cheese. No ones gonig to want to eat my dusty fuzzy cheese!
Any suggestions?
