# Making Colby Cheese



## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I am making Colby Cheese today from the recipe on here. Wish I had a cheese press. Ever gotten rid of something thinking you'd never use it and then have a renewed interest in that activity in later years? I have a heavy plastic bowl with nice straight sides that I took an ice pick and melted holes all in it and have another piece of heavy plastic that I made a "follower" (sort of) out of. Just going to line that bowl with cheese cloth, use the plastic follower and a gallon jar of water as the weight to press it with. Maybe I can stack some heavy books or something on top of the jar if I can make people stay away from it and not knock it over. 

Guess I will wrap it in plastic like the bottom of that recipe says and age it in the fridge. Has anybody else made this Colby cheese? 

Anybody have an old cheese press laying around you might want to sell?


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

Christine, They are very easy to make with a couple pieces of heavy food grade cutting board, a drill and bit, 4 sections of threaded rod, 4 screw on end caps, nuts and washers and then 4 wing nuts for the top of the rods. I found that a rod in each corner worked better than just 2. Cut your cutting boards (one for the bottom and one for the top) to the size you want for a mold; 8" square and a 6" mold from cheesemaking.com with a follower are good to start with. Then I cut some round pieces of oak as additional followers because you are using a flat surface and not a screw to apply pressure. Place the food grade follower against your curd and the use the oak ones as the plastic one drops down. Press your cheese in a tub to collect the whey for other uses.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Thanks Jennifer. I have a question. I do not have a place to age this cheese at 50-60* so I am going to wrap it in plastic and put it in the refrigerator for about 8 weeks. This recipe also says to air dry for a few days. Do I leave the cheese cloth on it to air dry? How many days? Do I leave the cheesecloth on it when I put it in the plastic wrap to age in the fridge? My cheesecloth is from an old bolt of cheese cloth my mother had many years ago. I washed it up and hemmed it and it is thicker than the spider web cheesecloth you buy today. This may be butter muslin?? I don't know what butter muslin is. 

I used 2 gallons of goat milk yesterday and my wheel of cheese this morning weighs 2.58 pounds after being pressed last night. 

Very professional pressing job. I put it in a SS colander inside a SS bowl put a gallon jar of water on top then sat it over by the sofa and chair and propped a foot stool up on top of the jar of water to make up the weight and keep it from tipping over.

Thanks for the instructions. I've got to make me a press. I saw a few on eBay like what you are talking about (I think) for about $20.00 plus shipping.

I have another 2 gallons of milk on coming up to 86* this morning.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Great makeshift cheese press Chris! 
Sounds like butter muslin! Nice to have a stash.

Before chilling I leave the wheel open to the air but lightly draped to form a bit of a rind for about 3 days depending on if we are humid or not- flipping it every 12 hours. I place the wheels on a baking rack so there is air circulation all the way around but flipping helps to even the moisture internally as well. I also flip daily once it has gone into chilling to age for the first couple of weeks. Did you brine at all or rub with salt? I normally do because we have such high fungi counts and other floating airborne fun stuff and it will make it less likely to have something growing on the surface that you object to 

I don't know about leaving the cloth on under the plastic- we normally wax everything but since there are processes that call for 'bandaging' under the wax I would guess it would be the same effect. If you can make a batch and forget you have it for about a year you will love the results! I had never aged colby style cheese but neglected to mark the wheel and it got treated as hard cheese with a group of wheels and wow it was really a fine surprise!
Good luck and keep em coming- one is never enough!
Lee


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I mixed 1 tablespoon of salt in with the curds before pressing. Can I still brine it or will that make it too salty? It is humid here right now. We got a 3/4" rain a few days ago. Is it o.k. to leave it out loosely wrapped or do you think I should go ahead and put it in the fridge?


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