Making cheese for the first time?  Tying your hanging bag to drain the whey (the watery part of milk that remains after the formation of curds) from your cheese curds can be tricky.

We’ve reprinted the tips from Morgan McGlynn’s recently released book The Modern Cheesemaker: Making and Cooking with Cheeses at Home to help you.

Remember if you want a drier cheese, you'll want to let your cheese bag hang longer. Humidity and climate can affect drying time.

Steps to Tie Your Cheese Bag for Cheesemaking

from The Modern Cheesemaker (Book Excerpt)

Prepare Curds and Place in Cheesecloth to Begin Draining out Whey 

Place your cheesecloth or muslin over a container and use a strainer ladle to gently scoop up the curds from the recipe, and place them into the cloth.

Gather Up the Cloth 

After placing in the cheese mixture, gather the four corners of the cheese cloth and bring them together. Try to do this quickly because you want to keep the heat in the curds, encouraging them to mash back together to form a nice smooth wheel. If you wait too long, the curds get cold and the cheese falls apart.

Squeeze Out the Whey 

Once you have created the bag, all you need to do is gently squeeze the top to allow the whey to drain away from the curds. You don’t need to use a lot of pressure, just enough so you see liquid leaving the bag.

Tie the Cloth in a Knot

Next, close the bag. Tie up the corners of the cloth if you can do a simple secure knot, or just use a short length of kitchen string.

Hang the Curds Out to Dry 

Now grab a wooden spoon or use the kitchen tap (faucet). Suspend the bag from the spoon or tap (faucet) and leave it to drip above a bowl or sink for a couple of hours, or however long the recipe specifies. This will allow the whey to drain off slowly and completely.

Reprinted with permission from The Modern Cheesemaker © 2019 Jacqui Small/Quarto Publishing Group. Text and recipe copyright © Morgan McGlynn.