Cheese Presses

I got cheese on the brain!  After Saturday's cheese press adventure, I decided to get serious about researching the right way to press cheese.  Or at least a better way.

The first place I looked was the website of the  New England Cheesemaking Company, where I bought my starter cheesmaking kits, here.

They sell this cheese press for over $200.  Even though I'm pretty sure I'll make a lot more cheese, I think I don't need to spend this much money to press it well.

She does sell instructions for how to make a wall-mounted press, similar to what I did - but I think I can figure it out without paying her money for the plans.  I do plan on staying with the wall-mounted, lever setup though.

A sustainability/prepper blogger, mmpaints uses homemade cheese presses that look like this.  She made hers with wood, threaded rod and PVC pipe, and used bricks and weights for the top.  Here's the link to her blog: http://selfsustainedliving.blogspot.com/2010/01/home-cheese-making.html

David Fankhauser uses a cheesepress that looks like this.

Here's the link to his site: http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese_5_gallons/Cheese_press/PRESS_SETUP_00.htm

I did a google search on "wall mounted cheese press" and found a cheesemakers forum!  With a whole section on equipment!  Here is a link to the forum (the equipment part): http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/board,155.0.html

This press is apparently a Dutch-style press...

I found a few people who wrote about using a wall-mounted setup, but they didn't post pictures.  I only found one picture that uses the wall like I did:

And lastly - here's the cheese I made on Saturday.  I don't have wax, so I'll probably eat it in the next week or so rather than let it age and pick up too much of the terroir from my refrigerator.  I couldn't wait and tried some of it last night.  It was good, but when I start using the right starters - the it will be truly yummy!  I ordered some cultures, wax, and other minor stuff last night, so should receive it next week, and by then I should have cheesepress 2.0 ready to go.  Hard cheese here I come!