My cheap cheese press build | Construction and DIY projects | Forums

so last night on chat Rinkus said he wanted to try some of the cheese I made, so I offered to make him some today, I wanted to get some raw milk from his family farm anyways so it was no big deal.

Except for the death defying drive out to the farm over ice covered roads! What I do to make cheese, anywho

the cows were chilling outside when I got there

so I quickly snuck into the barn and opened the refrigerator where they store the milk for the public, they do it on a honor system, they have a cigar box sitting there and prices for their products, stop and get what you need and leave your 2.50 per half gallon, I think Rinkus said they have never had a problem with it, except for today! just kidding

I heard a noise behind me and quickly spun around and realized I was being watched

deciding it was best to retreat before they were able to figure out what was going on and decide to charge me, I retreated to the safety of my vehicle and started on my white knuckle drive down the mountain over glare ice covered roads, which someone who shall rename nameless forgot to tell me *cough*Rinkus*cough*

Anyways I safely made it home and unloaded the product, I looked at it and could see yellow drops of butterfat in it, I knew this was going to make great cheese

but that's not why we are here, we are to here about a cheese press, I will save the cheese making part but I will say the curd size difference between this milk and store bought is huge, store bought the curds are about the size of a nickle, the raw milk curds were about the size of a golf ball,

but I digress

So I went to the feed store and picked up some supplies, a 6 inch pvc connector fitting, two 3/4x12 threaded iron pipe, 2 screw down fittings for the pipe and a 6 inch cast iron damper, I had a scrap piece of 4 inch pvc so I used that as well

I had a scrap piece of wood so I used that as well

I cut 2 pieces of wood about 14 inches long

I did a test layout on the wood

and screwed down the connectors

I hand tightened the pipes into the connectors

the 4 inch pipe had some rough ends so I used my chop saw and smoothed up the ends

it's starting to get there

I laid the base on it's side so I could mark roughly where the pipes would line up

I marked the centers of the boards and used a 1 1/4 wood bit and drilled out the guide holes, since the pipe is only 3/4 there would be some play for the top board to fit

I took the damper and removed the handle

it would serve as the push block for the press

I assembled it and stood back to admire my work, when I realized I had a design flaw, the top board was flush with the tops of the pipes, once I put the curds into it, the board wouldn't fit

so I used the chopsaw and cut of another 3 inches of the 4 inch pipe

I made some cheese with the raw milk, drained it by hand, I then laid down some paper towels on top of the board

I had a old sleeveless under armor shirt I hadn't worn in years and I figured my days of sleevless shirts are over and it is the perfect thickness for pressing with, I cut a section out of the shirt

and dumped the curds into the cloth, look at the size of that curd on top

I folded the material over

and set the damper on top of it

I stood the 4 inch on top of the damper, set the top board on and used my 35 pound weight to start pressing the cheese

I swapped out the paper towels every 1/2 hour, and after 3 hours I pulled everything apart

she's beautiful, look how yellow the cheese is versus the whiteness of the store bought milk cheese

total cost, about 32 dollars