Why Tickbriar?

A South Carolina farm name, a better cheese press, and a small shop built for home cheesemakers

The name goes back to the farm

Yeah, I know. Tickbriar is an unusual name. I thought so too when I was a kid and my dad picked that name for our dairy farm in rural South Carolina. I grew up tending farm animals, especially goats and sheep. Life revolved around milking and feeding times.

The original Tickbriar was a family dairy farm in rural South Carolina, where life revolved around goats, sheep, and milking time.

Honestly, I could not wait to grow up and get away from the farm. All these years later, I look back on those days with more fondness. When it came time to choose a name for my cheesemaking equipment store, I could not pass up the chance to honor my dad. Besides, it is a name people remember.

The problem that started the Precision Cheese Press

I began making cheese as a hobby and immediately fell in love with the challenge. Over the years, I tried as many varieties as I could using ingredients from local farms. I still remember sampling my first cheddar after the minimum three months of aging. I could not wait to taste it.

It was not good. It was more like an orange hockey puck than an artisan cheese.

Early cheese pressing setup: simple, functional, but easy to overdo when pressure is not measured accurately.

That is when I discovered my mistake: I had over-pressed the curds. I was using one of those four-post presses with weights on top. What I did not understand at the time was that every time I tightened the wingnuts on the corners, I was increasing pressure on the curds. The cloudy whey coming from the mold was not just whey. It was precious butterfat leaving the cheese, the fat that helps keep a finished wheel from drying out too much.

Why I wanted a better gauge

I started looking for a cheese press with a gauge. Dutch presses required weights or water bags. I wanted something I could read in real time with no guessing. I found a few spring presses with small stepped gauges, but each step represented a large jump in pressure. Finally, I found one press with a mounted gauge, but with shipping it cost more than $250.

A stepped gauge can show board spacing, but large pressure increments still leave a lot of room for guessing.

That search shaped the Precision Cheese Press. I wanted a mounted gauge, strong springs, a whey-resistant base, stainless steel hardware, and enough height to fit the molds I actually used. From there, I kept adding practical upgrades: a mounted level to help keep curds even during pressing, thrust bearing washers to make the knobs easier to turn at heavier pressures, and 16-inch threaded rods for medium and larger molds.

The Precision Cheese Press was designed around readable pressure, smooth adjustment, whey-resistant materials, and practical upgrades for home cheesemakers.

The newest presses include cherry beams, POM bushings that help the beams move smoothly along the threaded rods, and a white silicone draining mat so customers need only a mold and homemade curds to begin pressing.

Why Tickbriar carries more than one tool

I learned a lot about home cheesemaking from experienced cheesemakers online. I wanted to make cheese the way they did, and that meant paying close attention to the equipment they used. When I started searching for those tools, I found that some were difficult to locate and others were more expensive than they needed to be.

 

Tickbriar started adding practical supplies like butter muslin, bamboo mats, thermometers, curd knives, and other everyday cheesemaking tools.

 

That is when the Tickbriar online store began. I started with brining buckets, curd knives, slotted spoons, colanders, whisks, and pots. Then I added products like butter muslin, digital thermometers, and bamboo mats, along with useful extras such as handmade cheese slicers and vacuum sealers. My goal has always been simple: make home cheesemaking equipment easier to find and reasonably priced.

Solving the humidity problem

One of the biggest problems I ran into while making Parmesan-style cheese was humidity. My beverage cooler worked well as a cheese cave, but I could not control the humidity as precisely as I wanted. I looked for ways to modify the cooler, then found a simpler solution: control the humidity around one cheese at a time.

The Humidity Controlled Aging System helps manage airflow and moisture around a single cheese while it ages.

That idea became the Humidity Controlled Aging System. The container includes an interior basket with a hygrometer, adjustable vents for airflow, and a small water container to add moisture when needed. It helps maintain the 85% to 95% humidity range many aging cheeses need, with minimal effort.

A small company for people who love making cheese

One year into offering cheesemaking equipment for sale, I still find happiness when a customer finds exactly what they were searching for and feels excited to use it for a new creation.

Tickbriar is a tiny company. I make many things by hand and source the rest from wherever I can find the right fit. I do not sell cheese. I prefer to give it away. I sell equipment for people who want to make quality cheese at home and share it with others.

The reward: homemade cheeses made to be shared, improved, and enjoyed one batch at a time.