Homemade equipment for making cheese at home.

The list of necessary equipment is quite large, but this is not a cause for concern. Looking at it, you might at first think that all this is some kind of special purchased equipment for producing cheese at home or in a small commercial enterprise. However, after reading the detailed characteristics of these items and their purpose, you will understand that almost all of this can be found in our kitchen. Well, if you don’t find them, then replacing them with something suitable will not be difficult at all. Now let’s begin listing the elements of the list and giving a more detailed description of its components:

1. a) cheese mold;
2. b) piston;
3. c) press;
4. d) large container (pot) 2 pcs.
5. e) thermometer for liquids;
6. e) colander;
7. g) spoon for stirring;
8. h) long knife;
9. i) gauze (1 sq.m. 2 pieces);
10. j) bricks;
11. l) paraffin;

Now let's take a closer look at the most complex components of our equipment list...

1. Cheese form.
2. Piston.
3. Press.
4. Large container (pot).

Cheese form.

An excellent form for cheese at home can be an ordinary tin can, for example, for coffee, tea or some other product, with a capacity of about one kilogram. But she also needs to be prepared, so to speak. The bottom of the jar must be pierced, for example with a nail. 10-15 holes will be enough. In this case, the torn edges of the holes should face outward so as not to spoil the cheese mass. Before placing the cheese there, place a piece of gauze and lay it out along the walls. The top of the cheese is also covered with a piece of cloth. All. The mass is ready for spinning. To drain excess liquid, holes are provided in the bottom of the mold.

Piston.

The piston is a necessary component of the press. It can be made from scrap materials such as plywood or a piece of board. The size of the piston directly depends on the cheese mold you choose. Basically, you cut out a circle from a board or plywood with a diameter suitable for insertion into the mold. The thickness of the selected material should be 1-1.5 cm. The cut circle should rotate easily inside the jar. The task of the piston is to press the cheese mass. He presses the curd to the bottom of the mold, while excess liquid flows into the holes made. A dense cheese mass is formed.

The press is not difficult to buy, but you can make it yourself. To do this, you need a couple of planks and something like a mop handle or handle. We will need two pieces of board or plywood of the following size 25cm/5cm/2cm, where width/length/thickness are respectively. Make a 2.5 cm hole in the center of one of them. Make similar sized holes in the other on both sides at a distance of 5 cm from the edge. The mop handle must be the same diameter in order to fit into these holes. The handle itself must be cut into three parts: 45 cm, 45 cm and 38 cm.   The above holes must be such as to allow the broom handle to move freely through them. In this case, the handle should be cut into 3 parts: 2 of 45 cm, and one of 38 cm. Mount a piece of the handle to the bottom board, while stepping back 5 cm from the edge, aiming at the holes (for them) in the top board. the remaining piece of the handle is joined to the top board - right in the center of it. Well, a piston is mounted to the lower end of the handle. Connect 2 wooden blocks to the bottom of the structure, or install a press on 2 bricks. At the same time, its height should allow you to easily place a special container underneath for storing the squeezed whey.

The prepared curd mass is loaded onto the top board into a container (mold) previously laid with a cloth, which is subsequently placed under a press. The edges of the fabric cover the entire mass from above. The pressure piston is inserted inside the container, and 1-2 bricks are installed on the top board. As a result: the weight-loaded piston weakly compresses our curd mass, squeezing out the whey. It is quite possible to increase the load, if necessary, to 4 bricks in order to obtain the most dense cheese.

Two saucepans or two ceramic pots work well as containers. One of them is for hot water. The capacity of the first container is 25 liters, and the second – around 35 liters. One container is placed inside another (boiler principle). It is most convenient to use enamel pans; they are relatively light and the wall coating is better than aluminum, which can interact with the acid contained in the curd mass. You can easily pour about 20 liters of milk into a container with a capacity of 25 liters. It is also easy to use, spacious enough to mix the mass or cut it with a knife. These containers will not sit idle in your kitchen. In summer and autumn, they can be used to make jam from apples, currants or peaches, to prepare adjika or lecho.

Well, that's probably all. We have laid out all the necessary equipment for home cheese production, and read about how to use it all in our next article.