CHEDDAR CHEESE MAKING 283 
when the cheese is kept at 55° F., is 1.6 pounds per hun- 
dred pounds of cheese. At 80° F. the shrinkage is 2.4 
pounds per hundred, an increase of 50 per cent. 
With small cheese weighing 9g pounds, the shrinkage 
is about 40 per cent greater than with cheese weighing 65 
pounds. Since the temperature in the majority of curing 
rooms averages about 80° F. during July and August, a 
factory making cheese weighing 9 pounds and averaging 
600 pounds per day will effect a saving of 6.72 pounds by 
curing the cheese the first week at 55° F. instead of 
80° F. At 14 cents per pound the saving amounts to 
94 cents a day. 
What is of still greater significance than the saving 
in shrinkage, is the general improvement in the quality 
of cheese cured at low temperature. Temperatures be- 
tween 50° and 60° F. will produce very satisfactory re- 
sults. 
Paraffining Cheese. To prevent molding and ex- 
cessive loss of moisture in curing cheese in the average 
curing room, cheese should be paraffined about three 
days after it leaves the press or as soon as the rind has 
become thoroughly dry. The paraffining is done by im- 
mersing the cheese for about five seconds in paraffin hav- 
ing a temperature of at least 220° F., and 240° F. is 
better. 
GASSY MILK. 
Gassy milk causes cheesemakers a great deal of trou- 
ble, especially during the hot summer months. Gassy 
curds and floating curds have always been among the 
cheesemaker’s greatest troubles. During hot weather the 
gas producing bacteria predominate over the other unde- 
sirable kinds and under certain conditions they predom- 
