I have now made two batches of Parmesan cheese using the instructions in Ricki Carroll’s Home Cheese Making pages 140-141.  The photo is of one of the cheeses after 6 months of aging in the cheese cave. It looked and tasted like Parmesan – a success.

To assist myself in planning the day and keeping track of where I was, I summarized the steps and elapsed time in the following chart.  The key point is that there is a lot of work until step 8b, so it has to be convenient to be up and near the kitchen up to that point.

Step	Description	Time	Cum Time
1a	Heat milk to 90 degrees F	0:15	0:15
1b	Mix in starter and lipase and let ripen	0:30	0:45
2a	Add rennet and mix	0:01	0:46
2b	Wait for curds to set	0:30	1:16
3	Cut the curds into 1/4 inch cubes	0:15	1:31
4	Heat the curds to 100 degrees while stirring	0:25	1:56
5a	Heat the curds to 124 degrees while stiring	0:40	2:36
5b	Settle curds	0:05	2:41
6a	Drain whey	0:05	2:46
6b	Pack curds into mold	0:05	2:51
6c	Apply 5 lbs. of pressure	0:15	3:06
7a	Redress curds and turn over cheese	0:05	3:11
7b	Apply 10 lbs. of pressure	0:30	3:41
8a	Redress curds and turn over cheese	0:05	3:46
8b	Apply 15 lbs. of pressure	2:00	5:46
9a	Redress curds and turn over cheese	0:05	5:51
9b	Apply 20 lbs. of pressure	12:00	17:51
10a	Unwrap cheese	0:05	17:56
10b	Make brine	0:05	18:01
10c	Soak cheese in brine	24:00	42:01
11a	Remove cheese from brine and pat dry
11b	Place in cave at 55 degrees and 85% humidity
15	After 2 months rub surface with olive oil
16	Age the cheese (2-6 months at 50 degrees)

For the first batch, I cut the curd with a curd knife, and continued to cut any largish curds.  For the second batch, I cut the curd with a whisk, which worked better at breaking the curd into small pieces.  In fact, I was so successful at separating the curds and the whey on the second batch, that I was concerned after the first 5 lb. pressing, that the curds were not going to adhere together fully.  It turned out that they did.

I did not make as much brine as suggested in the recipe, since it seemed to be overkill to have a gallon of brine for a cheese which was about 1.5 lbs..  I made half as much, and it turned out fine.

The photo is of one of the cheeses after the pressing and before brining.