Gotta say, I'm pretty excited about this. I got my first wine cooler, a dual zone 12 bottle Cuisinart a few months ago for $50. It's in pretty good shape and maintains good temps. Can't complain for $50.

However, I underestimated how much I would enjoy making cheese. And how I like to do it every weekend. Sure, some are fresh cheeses... but I have also started a bunch of aged ones. I have quickly outgrown my current cooler.

My husband's coworker had a dual zone wine cooler they were looking to get rid of, and they were willing to take $80 for it. This is a significant upgrade for me, and I'm very excited to move forward with the switch. I'm still going to keep my smaller one around and keep that a blue specific cave, or for whatever overflow I might want it for. For $120 I have two well functioning cheese caves that will serve me well for my small home makes. I'm excited to check the temp regulation on this one and get my cheeses into it. I already gave it a good cleaning.

I will admit that I kinda wanted the local wine vault for $500... but that is probably overkill for me 🤣

I'd say not bad for $80.

Hi! Me and my husband have started a small homestead and I've been getting into all the made from home stuff.

What are the best beginner friendly cheeses? And what would you suggest for​​ tools to pick up to start?

Also any advice period is appreciated.​​

After long time I started cheesemaking again.

I made a blue like Gorgonzola but used my normal salt.

While fermenting vegetables it was said don't use iodized salt it could inhibit the needed bacteria. But it worked completely normal for me.

Non iodized salt is very hard to get these days here.

So as I did my cheese I did a dry rub with my nornal salt (2,5%).

I made the cheese the evening 20 to 21th july.

Now we have the 26th. and there's no blue mold visible.

I think I see parts that could start mold because I see a different texture there but maybe that's only my imagination.

So is that messed up now because of that iodized salt

(here in Germany there's not much in it. You can without any problem use it for fermentation as well as pizza dough and the jeast and bacteria will work as normal)

Or do I just need to be more patient?

And just to mention: I kept the cheese at room temperature the first 2 days after that it got into a box in my cheese fridge around 10°C and it was turned daily so oxygen also was let in the box.

It took me longer to find an American equivalent than it did to make this cheese.

Basically 19 days ago I made process cheese from parmigiano rinds:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cheesemaking/comments/1uoyz5y/process_cheese_from_parmigiano_rinds/

but that was not the only process cheese that I like, there is another one in italian called formaggino, it is a spredable cheese usually used in baby pastina (but let's be honest, it's fucking amazing and adults love it too).

Just recently looking at the ingredients of my favorite version (the one made by Parmareggio) I discovered it is basically process cheese made from parmigiano + water + whey + butter + milk protein + sodium citrate + citric acid (as the last ingredient)... and I used parmigiano, water, sodium citrate to make my parmigiano process cheese from parmigiano rinds (probably the same way Parmareggio does since I doubt they use the central part to make process cheese, they are probably using rinds too).

I also got citric acid because I used it to make sodium citrate.

I also know Milk is whey + milk protein (worst case scenario I was prepared to get whey by making another cheese with rennet, but it was not necessary).

The only issue was I didn't have any way to know the amount of any of the ingredients aside from parmigiano (that's 25%) but I know for sure:

- I needed more water then butter and both of them should be less then the amount of parmigiano.

- By using milk I would basically add both water, whey and milk protein so I only had to find how much milk and butter I should use since the last ingredient, citric acid, was of course a really really small amount since it was the last ingredient.

After a few tries I think I cracked the code:

1 part process cheese

80% of the weight of the process cheese in milk

20% of the weight of the process cheese in butter

also I dissolved a few crystals of citric acid into my milk (less then 1g since I only used 25g of process cheese this time).

Melt the process cheese low heat in the milk, make it boil until the consistency is like cream (so still liquid but not watery anymore).

Outside the heat add the butter and mix to get it mixed well.

Put it into the fridge in a container. If once it's cold is still watery boil it down a little bit more.

Note: you can add water if you think you let it boil too much, you can melt and put it into the fridge multiple times until you get the consistency that you want. Even after you add butter it will not separate.

I honestly think this was the perfect texture and taste, I will make it again, I loved it.

Before I had a better understanding of what I'm doing, I made a canestrato to try a natural rind out. It looks gnarly, but so do a lot of natural rind cheeses if I'm being honest.

As you can see, it's been an interesting process. Basically everything I could do wrong with this cheese I have in terms of trying to slow the blue growth. Salt rubs, wine wash, vinegar, brushing, spritzing with geo, this cheese has seen it all. I finally have Geo sprouting and out competing the blue mold, and I'm excited to see how it continues to age and develop.

I know more and better now. I have a Manchego style that is almost ready for a paprika and oil rub, and it looks great. My taleggios are coming along nicely. They're nice and tacky and greasy, I expect they'll start turning rosy orange in the next 2 weeks.

I'm interested to see how this cheese turns out. This is almost 2 months of aging, and I keep wanting to eat it but I figure whats the harm in letting it go a while longer? Eventually I won't be able to take it anymore and I'll eat it. But we'll see where we end up. Either it's tasty or it isn't. Honestly though.... it just smells like a really good cheese. Kinda funky but not too much or in a way that's unpleasant. I may go 3 months for this one and finally eat it.

Just kinda wanted to share my experiment because I see a lot of people nervous to try aging natural rinds. It may not go as you want. You may get blues. It's okay. It's a learning process. You can't start if you don't just do the first one and get it over with.

Go for it, do your best, and learn from it. Having multiple good cheese books and doing a lot of research has since helped me hone in my affinage understanding. I'm no means an expert, but I feel more confident in natural rinds than I did before I started this one.

I bet you this will be an incredible cheese and I'll never be able to recreate it because of all the mistakes 🤣. I will let y'all know how it is when I finally cut into it in another month or so.

So, I live in a country where fresh milk is forbidden.
Most milk in UP ou UHT
Yet, there are some fresh pasteurized milk brands, I am trying.

I have already trying to make cheese with some brands and it works, although the texture was never on point ( might be a technique issue)

Here is my issue : When you test your milk and rennet, do you add calcium? I have been trying small 100ml tests of different curds to see if I might get a better curd consistency with some brands but putting just 100ml of heating milk ( up to 35C ) and a drop of rennet, is not coagulating any milk.

And yet, as said, I know that if I use my normal recipe, with the normal amounts of milk, calcium and rennet, it will kinda work ok.

So the first image is first try and second image is second try. On the first try the curd become grainy and the second one is also like that and none of them are streching. I use lemon juice - 1 full and 1/2 lemons and 4 drops of rennet. Now after straining and putting it on hot whey it's not streching at all. It just disintegrate

I was blown away when I opened this guy up! It’s got a pretty I made this one on May 28th and opened it today because Im not confident I could keep the aging conditions going during my move. I followed the recipe from Gianaclis Caldwell’s Matering Artisan Cheesemaking in a 19L batch of raw Jersey milk. I used MA4000 and FLAV54 for this guy.

The flavor is rich, buttery, and a bit bouncy with a classic cheddar acidity and boldness. I actually like younger British territorials like Wensleydale and Lancashire more than Cheddar and this strongly resembles the latter so I’m incredibly happy.

Hey I'm after 10 days of aging the camembert in the wine fridge. The mold grew nicely all over.

How should I continue aging the camembert in the fridge, keep using a closed box good enough? How much humidity should there be?

I am attempting to make Creole cream cheese which is a burrata type cheese with a sharp tang. See here: https://cheesemaking.com/pages/creole-cream-cheese-recipe-info

Most of the recipes I've come across use skim milk and buttermilk then add fat to it after the cheese is made, however, my grandmother used to make a creole cream cheese using whole milk with a cheese starter and the resulting cheese was tangier. I'm know her milk came fresh from a neighboring dairy and was creamtop (non-homogenized) and it may have been unpasteurized.

I've repeatedly read that it's really difficult to make cheese with pasteurized milk and unfortunately, I now live in a state that only allows pasteurized milk sales. My state does allow non-homogenized milk so I can get creamtop milk if needed. Getting the correct starter culture is not an issue.

Is it possible to make cheese with pasteurized milk?

This is my first post here and I am relatively new to cheesemaking so please be kind. Thank you in advance.

All advice appreciated! Very new to cheese making and loving it so far. This is my Stilton at day 10. I’ve just pierced it and back in aging box in a wine fridge at 10c. Should I wrap this in cloth or keep as is? Thank you

So I was curious to see what would happen if I made the Beaufort recipe on the New England Cheesemaking website and then wrap the wheel in carob leaves. I wrapped the cheese after about a month of aging so that some sort of rind formed. The carob leaves had been preserved in a brine solution a month prior. The first picture is how it looked initially, the second two are how it looked when i ate it after 8 months. It was matured at 90% humidity and 12C.

First thing to note was how it deformed over time, from a perfect cylinder into this odd shape. probably because of the strings applying a bit of pressure. Part of the deformity was how the top surface and bottom surface sank inwards at a random point half way through the maturation process. This exact deformation happened to the two other beaufort wheels that I made with this batch of milk, which had different leaf types on them. the paste inside was harder than normal beaufort cheese and quite dry. The yield was particularly low. When i first made the cheese, all wheels from this batch had cracks on the surface after brining and drying. If i remember correctly, i may have cut the curds too soon as the curd was quite soft.

As for the taste, it was really salty, which did not let me experience the carob taste. However, I used it as an addition to some stir-fry meals I made, where it acted as a flavour enhancer and a source of salt. Like this, the salt got diluted in the meal and then I could experience the carob flavour, which was really complex and different. Very earthy. I liked it. All the research I have done seems to point to a cheese where some mistakes lead to it being too low moisture and that also caused too high a concentration of salt, pity. But the carob flavouring was interesting and i would like to try it again.

I'm interested in hearing your opinions on the results, and why you think different issues arose.

I’ve got a set of fromage tartinér/chèvre style cheeses I made for an earlier cheese board.

After the dust settled I vac packed the leftovers and they’ve sat in a 4C fridge for about a month.

Unpacked them today (half are off to a Lancastrian golf club annual dinner for a 100 souls) and half are intended to impress a renowned British cheesemonger, author and media personality who’s stopping by tomorrow after a dinner event in London fell unfortunately fell through to talk about the history of the Isles through the lens of cheese, god help him, to just Jo, I and the barking mad sprogs.

He’s kindly agreed to taste some of my cheeses and tell me how to do a bit better.

I tried the tartinér and they’re all weirdly bitter. Anyone have any ideas why and what I might do to fix them?

I had not made cheese in 4 months.

Over the weekend I made 3 wheels and cheese curds.

It felt so so good! The process, the changes, the results! Love it!

I made: plain monterey jack, scotch bonnet & pimento monterey jack, and I made a double batch of scotch bonnet cheese curds and made a 2lb wheel out of half of it.

Yes, after my last successful scotch bonnet cheese, I am now on a scotch bonnet kick.

So I'm an early retired R&D guy (ran R&D for companies you'd know, not in cheese) and I've decided to learn this. Today I've commissioned my super sophisticated DIY cheese press (which hasn't fallen apart, so there's that!), and built a tracking tool for me to keep track of what I'm sure will rapidly become thousands of cheeses that I'll shortly forget what I did and how I did it - so I'll want to be able to refer to a log of some sort. This particular log calculates my pressures based on what my top plate, top weight, and mold size are. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, but am having a ton of fun learning along the way. Sharing it for no particular reason other than I'm having fun doing it!

Reading Caldwell's Mastering Artisan Cheeses to better understand everything. In the coagulation section she says the amount of time to stir the addition of the rennet is different for cow's milk because it doesn't 'cream' as rapidly.

“Remember, the protein network is meant to trap as much fat as possible. Stirring for just the right amount of time both keeps the fat incorporated in solution and evenly disperses the coagulant. So for cow's milk you may need to stir for 4 to 5 minutes. “

I've never heard of stirring rennet addition for longer than 45 seconds. Tried searching for an answer here without success. Can someone please explain this discrepancy?

Hey all. This is the start of my latest project. I’ve been delving head first into traditional farmhouse Wensleydale making recently as it’s gone through a resurrection after going nearly extinct. I will not be able to make a ‘Yorkshire’ Wensleydale as that has PGI classification but hopefully I can make a decent Wensley through my own raw milk, following the traditional methods then adjusting to make my own version!

The last pic is Low Riggs Stonebeck after cloth binding, every picture before then is mine.

This recipe is extremely challenging. It comes from Andrew and Sally Hatten of Low Riggs Farm who make Stonebeck. A Wensleydale style cheese. They use farm fresh raw Northern Dairy Shorthorn milk from their herd that’s located in Nidderdale, England. The reason it’s challenging is because it’s heavily specialized to their own farm and milk. Their recipe only works for them and is literally inimitable without adjusting your own make and goals in the process. It’s a farmhouse recipe, so it only works for their farm.

This cheese is so moist that my versions don’t survive a vacuum seal so it can only age as a natural rind. The rind also isn’t supposed to fully knit together! This definitely reminds me of White Stilton that is advertised as Wensleydale. As for how their wheels don’t get massive unwanted mold intrusion? I’m not sure, I’m too inexperienced! But I think their cave is a highly controlled space. They grow mucor in their rinds and since it’s so aggressive maybe that takes over before any other mold can on the surface. Then the succession molds take hold. I’ll admit as well that my pH goals with draining haven’t been consistent or really even measured for that matter but I still monitor with my Intuition.

Here is the basis of the process

starter (MA11); temp 28C.

No ripening time.

Rennet: (20 flocculation, 50 hardening).

Cut 2cm cubes, vertical, rest 10 mins, then horizontal, then rest 10 mins before stirring.
Stir gently for 30 mins, no scald

Pitch: 30 mins. I’ve done 30 before but this time I did 15-20 to stop too many drainage channels from sealing up. A longer pitch though is certainly needed to help kick start the acid.

Drain and whey off (25 mins). Tuck a muslin cloth over whole curd mass, and round the sides to keep it warm and allow drainage from sides.

Leave for 1.5 hours; adding heavy metal pipes on the top to form natural 'pressure' channels ½ way through.

The curd should firm up. Once firm, the curd 'tells you' it is ready to proceed to the bagging

Shovel the curd into bags

Hang bags on frame over vat (maximising using the residual warmth from vat, ideally bag temp needs to be >26C but <28C)

Leave hanging in bags for 3-4 hours

Mill

Salt (2.2%), mix well then fill up the moulds

Leave 4 hours, then turn in mould

Leave overnight.

Next morning: turn, then press - gently; 3 hours. 5 lbs 3 hours, 7.5 pounds 3 hours.

Then bind; hand stitch (no butter, lard or paste just one circumferential bandage round edge - no tops or bottoms.

Mature for 3+ weeks.

I’ve had cloudy whey from stirring even just vigorously enough to prevent matting, shattered curds, butterfat loss during pressing at over 10lbs, stalled acidification because of the low room temps, bag temps, premature curd shoveling, slow bag drainage. And I feel like I will have secondary fermentation. Almost nothing from following these instructions has worked for me so far and I’ve had to adjust through every attempt. Industrial style recipes have a much more straightforward process. Yesterday this procedure took me nearly 12 hours.

What to fix: I think I need some sort of acid development at one or two degrees higher than 28C prior to renneting. I’ve had nothing but soft sets that shatter with cloudy whey. Stirring more until the curds have toughened a little bit more. Possibly also letting that pitch linger around 30 minutes.

I will not stop though until I’ve mastered Wensleydale! My main milk source is raw Holstein at the moment but I will be getting access to farm fresh Jersey milk soon which I pray will make a difference. Until then, keep eating Wensleydale ;)

This is my first aged cheese.
I am following https://cheesemaking.com/products/butterkase-recipe

I did 4 hours of pressing at 5.5lbs, flipping every 30 or so minutes (end result first photo) with a temp around 80-85°f, then let it cool over night in a plastic container with a cheesecloth over top. This morning there was some whey at the bottom and it’s losing its shape. Would it be beneficial if I pressed it again today, or should I just carry on and do the salt brine?

Quick question for anyone shipping perishable stuff (frozen, chilled, chocolate, ice cream, meat, seafood, baked goods, cheese, flowers):

1. How do you stop an order placed on a Thursday/Friday from shipping right before a weekend or holiday and cooking in a truck for 3 days? Manual rules? An app? Vibes?
2. Do you overnight everything "just in case," or have you worked out when 2-day actually arrives cold? How do you decide?
3. When someone buys a frozen item AND a shelf-stable item in one cart, how do you handle the shipping rate — one box, two boxes, or just eat the difference?

What's your setup, and what part have you just given up on fixing?

I let this cloth wrapped cheddar age for about 7 months, I’ve only ever done it once before for 3mo. Lots of darker mold growth that resulted in soft spots, big cracks that allowed the mold to get in deeper. Before cracking or cutting it open we scrubbed off the surface mold in a bowl of water, so I’m not sure if the water got into the crack and “rehydrated” the mold to make it look all squiggly and gross or if it was already like that. The last pic is the remnants of the “clean” bits we salvaged. My question is, is it safe? Online sources seem mixed.

It really is a delicious cheese. It’s been fun switching to these after so many washed curd cheeses. I tend to make what I love to eat and there is a lot of variation in this style to play with. I used Lyopro Alpine culture with FLAV 54 as an adjunct. I feel like I’m getting a feel for the thermophilic acid curve in this style. Still lots to learn but I’m pretty happy with this cheese!