Rennet, curds, whey, cheddaring. As you may have noticed throughout this series, cheesemaking has its special vocabulary. Before I can explain the next steps in our process, there are two more essential terms to define: hoops and followers.
What are Hoops?
Hoops are cylindrical containers that transform loose curds into solid wheels of cheese. Our eight-inch diameter hoops are carefully designed with small drain holes spaced evenly across the sides and bottom. These tiny perforations allow whey to escape while keeping the curds contained.
Followers are the specially fitted lids that slide perfectly inside each hoop, creating a stackable system in our cheese press.
Why Wheels?
You might wonder why artisan cheesemakers like us choose wheels over square blocks. The answer lies in both science and tradition.
Round shapes distribute pressure more evenly during pressing, preventing stress points that could create cracks or inconsistent texture.
The curved surface also promotes better air circulation during aging, allowing natural molds and bacteria to develop uniformly across the rind. This even aging creates the complex flavors that distinguish artisan cheese from mass-produced blocks.
Plus, there’s something deeply satisfying about the ancient, time-honored shape that connects us to centuries of cheesemaking tradition.
The Pressing Process
The transformation from curds to wheels begins by lining each hoop with cheesecloth before piling in our freshly cheddared and milled curds (covered in our previous post).
The cheesecloth acts as a fine filter, preventing any precious curds from escaping through those drain holes. We weigh out ten pounds of curds for each hoop. Consistency is key to ensuring uniform aging.
Our impressive cheese press accommodates 60 hoops in six neat columns of ten. The engineering is beautifully simple: metal lever arms use buckets filled with water as counterweights. We start with just three gallons on arm, applying gentle pressure that gradually increases as we add more weight.
The Dance of Redressing
Once all the wheels are in the press and pressing, we perform what’s called “redressing.”
This involves removing each wheel, flipping it over, and reassembling everything in the hoop.
This careful choreography ensures even pressing and maximum whey expulsion.
Because of the extra processing in the vat, cheddar wheels only get two redressings on make day, the first one an hour after hooping, and then the second an hour after that. After the last redressing, we add another gallon of water, building up to four gallons of pressure per arm.
After pressing overnight and a final morning redressing, our wheels emerge from their 24-hour transformation.
We remove the cheesecloths and weigh each wheel to calculate our yield. Typically, that is 9-11% for our cheddar, meaning roughly one pound of cheese from every gallon of milk.
These pressed wheels then move to our aging cooler, where the real magic of affinage begins.
But that’s a story for a future post.
NEXT: Four Leaf Clover: How we make our clothbound truckles
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