Inexpensive, homemade PVC cheese press
There are a wide variety of tasty soft cheese that can be made without a cheese press, but, truth be told, those just aren’t as exciting (or delicious) as hard, aged cheeses. The only problem for the amateur cheesemaker is that retail cheese presses are, simply, expensive. New England Cheesemaking Supply’s top-of-the-line cheese press, while impressive, is $239. If you’ve never made a pressed cheese before, and you’re not sure if it’s your thing, the purchase of a good press can be quite a hinderance.
If you have $20 (maybe less) burning a hole in your pocket (and a few tools) you can put together a nifty, nice-looking press made out of PVC piping. My design (note: not yet field tested) is a bit different from most cheese presses out there, in that I use actual weights to press down the curds, rather than a spring-loaded setup with a pressure gauge. The basic premise: the base sits on a counter, supports a cheese mold (and drip pan if desired) and has vertical rods affixed to its four corners. A sliding platform runs along the vertical rods and, when loaded with weights (you know, the big round ones you see at the gym), it presses down on a follower into the curd-filled mold below.
You will need the following equipment:
• Hacksaw for cutting PVC piping
• PVC pipe primer and cement
• Coarse sandpaper
• Ruler/tape measure
You will need the following Schedule 40 PVC supplies (cost me all of $11.64 at Home Depot):
• 1 1-inch Cross
• 1 3/4-inch Cross
• 4 1-inch Tees
• 4 3/4-inch Tees
• 4 3/4-inch Caps
• 27″ 1-inch PVC pipe (minimum)
• 100″ 3/4-inch PVC pipe (minimum)
To use the press, you should also buy:
• Mold with follower
• Drip pan
• Something to sit between follower and bottom of sliding platform
With your hacksaw, cut the 1-inch pipe into four equal pieces (6 3/4″ each). Cut the 3/4-inch pipe into four 6 13/16″ pieces and four 18″ pieces, leaving a bit of pipe left over. Measure and cut carefully, but you needn’t be meticulous.
With your sandpaper, sand all pipe ends a bit to remove the prickly bits.
Insert the four 1-inch pipes snugly into the 1-inch cross, so you end up with a big X. Insert each of the four exposed ends into the perpendicular hole of a 1-inch tee so that you end up with the four open tubes which will slide up and down the base’s vertical poles.
With one “arm” connected
Fully assembled sliding platform
If you wish, prime and cement the pieces together for permanence.
Now, do the same with the 3/4-inch PVC pipes and fittings, but put the longer, 18″ pipes into the top of the tees, and put the caps on the bottom of the tees.
Fully assembled base, showing vertical pipes and bottom caps
Slide the platform onto the vertical rods, and there you have it.
Since I designed the press to be 1-foot square, I’ll probably cut notches into the corners of a heavy ceramic tile and lay it onto the base as a stable surface to hold a cheese mold. I’d also like to cut a hole into the sliding platform’s cross so I can insert a small piece of 1″ piping, which will anchor the round weights I intend to load on.
BS”D
Yours is very elaborate. A couple of wood boards, with a couple of dowels held tightly in one and followed loosely in the other, was my cheese press 10 years ago. Using dictionaries and other weight sources.
Craig Winchell
GAN EDEN Wines
I can hear it now: In my day, we just sat on our curds until they were hard!
I prefer to use the term “elegant” :) Sure, I found “designs” out there that are just a bucket of curds with a jug of water on top. I wanted to kick it up a notch but keep it well within reason. Consider my design features:
• durable
• impervious to liquid (no wood)
• pleasing to the eye
• even and accurate application of weight
• easy to assemble
• easy to clean
• cheap!
After I did the measuring, it took me maybe 15 minutes to put the whole thing together; not very elaborate at all.
BS”D
jabbet…kudos for the cheese press. I might make one for myself. However, I need to get a reliable supplier of kosher rennet. Do you know of any? Please let me know. Also, I want to try to make mozzarella with lipase…do you know if anybody makes kosher lipase? my email is josefomory@yahoo.com
ahava sells kosher rennet to The PAsta Factory restaurant in Teaneck; you can pick up freshly made mozzarella there.
Joseph–
See my earlier post about getting consumer quantities of rennet from Kelley Supply.
Great idea. Simple but works good.
I plan to scale it down to use a 4″ mold only.
I may make several of them.
No one has mentioned if ALL materials used are food grade, pvc, etc. Diaden Enterprises
diaden@ihug.co.nz , has developed a food grade plastic, and stainless steel press that will press cheese, soft fruit, and herbal tinctures.
Cheers,
Dennis
Dennis– None of the parts in the press come into contact with food, so any PVC should do.
were can I buy plastic moulds with followers with out a cost of both arms and legs I found one on the web , but lost address
This looks like an improvement over the wooden press i use. I think sizeing it to friction fit an 8 inch tile top and bottom might fit my molds better, and the whole of it might fit into a 10 inch square cake pan to catch the whey. Let me know if you have figured a pole set-up for stacking the weights.
for cheep molds, check the plastic ware in your local thrift store for the cast-off innards of salad spinners, or other food grade square sided colanders.
thanks
A comment was made about food grade: your local health inspector will probably not let you use this in your commercial cheese manufacturing operation, but it is completely safe for home use. A study done at the university of Wisconsin studied PVC for use in home cheesemaking, and it passed HOME USE saftey with flying colors. Commercially, it does not work.
Glengarry Cheesemaking in canada has a hard-cheese mold that is based on the Kodova type molds, but instead of 100 – 250 bucks, it is 20, and includes a cloth liner. best deal I have found for a hard cheese type mold.
For soft molds, I bought cups that had a shape I liked, and a 7 dollar soldering iron, and burned the holes, less mess than drilling. and I know the cups are food grade.
A good plastic colander with LARGE holes works great to line with muslin and use as a mold, can even hold up to a light press, 20 – 30 pounds, I use a wood papertowel holder to line up Garage sale free weights.
Nice design! I especially like the fact that I can use a 5 gal bucket in the weight holder, adding as much as 40lb of water. I am not in an area where garage sale weights are available (Costa Rica). Might possibly be able to put another gallon pail on top of the bucket lid for a bit more pressing power. I like the waterproof, easy to clean aspect – it can be put into a dishwashter, disassembled a bit.
I liked this design so much I made one myself. I have a number of barbell plates of varying weights from small 2 1/2 lb plates up to 25lb plates that fit inside the frame. I drilled a series of holes in the top cross bars where I can insert wooden “pins” to keep the plates, which come in various diameters, from being able to slide from the center balanced position. Works great!!
Cool design but when making hard cheese in a press using weights, how much weight is used for ‘maximum weight load’ when pressing cheese in its final stages?
Thanks
Mark