here are my first two cheeses....I made these in my kitchen.
I never made instructions for these, but now that I have a blog, When I make cheese,
I will be taking notes and photos
If I can do it, you can too !!!!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Is cheese making overwhelming?
Only if you let it be....
I was extremely confused when I first started, I still don't make anything starting off with great confidence, so dont worry, the one thing I have learnt is that I worry about it all too much....just follow instructions and you are fine.....check out making cheese on youtube....that always helps, watching someone else do it....I had plenty of time to watch while I was paying off my temp control thing......
Now, I first used the incubator (esky) and that is what you put the 4 litres of milk in to start your cheese......it is just as it states, an incubator. I now am using 8 litres of milk and the pot I put 8 in does not fit in the incubator anymore......I have a large old fashioned steel pot that I now put my pot of 8 litres in. then put a lid on and wrap it up in blankets to keep warm for the time period requested.....
It all acts like a double saucepan, I started making cheese on the stove, but its just too hot, tooo quick....Using a large 'double boiler method' and pouring boiling water 'around' the 8 litre pot of milk...is much less aggressive.....if the double part gets too full, you simply remove the milk pot and empty some of the hot water, replacing with boiling water. Doing this over the time period stated is much easier than on the stove....
To mature your cheeses, it is recommended that they are on average held at 13 degrees celcius and 85 % humidity....you can't regulate the humidity by the machine, but you can adjust it with the amount of water you put in the cave, keep adjusting according to the humidity reading....oh its called a hygrometer......
and you need the thermostat bypass as well......thats all really, if you buy a starter pack for the cheeses that you like, you will have the cultures needed, you can be imaginative with the rest.....
I was extremely confused when I first started, I still don't make anything starting off with great confidence, so dont worry, the one thing I have learnt is that I worry about it all too much....just follow instructions and you are fine.....check out making cheese on youtube....that always helps, watching someone else do it....I had plenty of time to watch while I was paying off my temp control thing......
Now, I first used the incubator (esky) and that is what you put the 4 litres of milk in to start your cheese......it is just as it states, an incubator. I now am using 8 litres of milk and the pot I put 8 in does not fit in the incubator anymore......I have a large old fashioned steel pot that I now put my pot of 8 litres in. then put a lid on and wrap it up in blankets to keep warm for the time period requested.....
It all acts like a double saucepan, I started making cheese on the stove, but its just too hot, tooo quick....Using a large 'double boiler method' and pouring boiling water 'around' the 8 litre pot of milk...is much less aggressive.....if the double part gets too full, you simply remove the milk pot and empty some of the hot water, replacing with boiling water. Doing this over the time period stated is much easier than on the stove....
To mature your cheeses, it is recommended that they are on average held at 13 degrees celcius and 85 % humidity....you can't regulate the humidity by the machine, but you can adjust it with the amount of water you put in the cave, keep adjusting according to the humidity reading....oh its called a hygrometer......
and you need the thermostat bypass as well......thats all really, if you buy a starter pack for the cheeses that you like, you will have the cultures needed, you can be imaginative with the rest.....
Building a cheese cave at home
I converted an old fridge that did not have very good temperature control....into my cheese cave.......I invested in a thermostat control box from my homebrew shop....it is the cooling one.....it will cool between 0 and I think 40 degrees celcius......(there is also a heating one)
This control box is plugged into the wall and the fridge is plugged into the control box.....the new 'thermostat' bypasses the fridges thermostat.......it is all tested and approved with Australian Standards....so thats why I didn't bother with trying to make one.....much safer this way..
Above you can see the coil coming through the fridge wall, this is the only modification I made to the fridge, no wiring, no electrician needed....I have the probe in a glass of water to eliminate temperature variations when opening the cave door.
You will also need a hygrometer, that's just a fancy name for something to measure the temperature and the humidity....I got mine for $19 from a hydroponic supplier on ebay .
You will notice that I have two devices measuring temperature....you don't need two, I just started with the round one and upgraded to the digital one later.
This control box is plugged into the wall and the fridge is plugged into the control box.....the new 'thermostat' bypasses the fridges thermostat.......it is all tested and approved with Australian Standards....so thats why I didn't bother with trying to make one.....much safer this way..
Above you can see the coil coming through the fridge wall, this is the only modification I made to the fridge, no wiring, no electrician needed....I have the probe in a glass of water to eliminate temperature variations when opening the cave door.
You will also need a hygrometer, that's just a fancy name for something to measure the temperature and the humidity....I got mine for $19 from a hydroponic supplier on ebay .
You will notice that I have two devices measuring temperature....you don't need two, I just started with the round one and upgraded to the digital one later.
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