Watson Dairy Consulting
Cheese Yield Calculator
Modified Van Slyke equation. Predicts theoretical cheese yield (kg per 100 kg milk) from milk composition and target cheese moisture.
Inputs
Cheese preset:
Typical: 3.5–4.5%
Typical casein: 2.5–2.8%. If only protein known, switch input mode above.
Cheddar: 36–39%. Mozzarella: 48–52%. Hard cheese: 28–34%.
Cheddar: 0.92–0.93. Mozzarella: 0.85–0.90.
Cheddar: 0.95–0.96.
If entered, calculates actual cheese output.
Yield (kg cheese per 100 kg milk)—
Cheese produced (kg)—
Whey produced (kg, approx)—
Enter milk composition to calculate yield.
Formula & Method
Modified Van Slyke equation:
Y = ((F × RF) + (C × RC)) × 1.09 / (1 − M)
| Y | Theoretical cheese yield, kg cheese per 100 kg milk |
| F | Milk fat, % |
| C | Milk casein, % (≈ 0.78 × crude protein) |
| RF | Fat recovery factor (0.85–0.93) |
| RC | Casein recovery factor (0.90–0.98) |
| 1.09 | Whey solids retention factor |
| M | Cheese moisture as decimal (0.37 for 37%) |
This implementation uses the modern Modified Van Slyke form with explicit fat (RF) and casein (RC) recovery factors. The classical Van Slyke form replaced RC with an explicit casein-loss constant (−0.1 per 100 kg milk) — equivalent at typical RC ≈ 0.96.
Source: Van Slyke & Price (1949); modified factors per Patrick Polowsky / Cheese Science Toolkit; USDA AMS modified Van Slyke implementation.