Greetings from another Aussie

[shaneb]

Hi all,

I've been reading through the forum postings for quite a while now and have learnt a great deal from your many postings. I'm from Melbourne, Australia and have only recently taken up cheesemaking.

Recently I injured my hands, so have limited use but a lot of spare time being unable to work full-time. I'm able to get some good distraction therapy by making cheese and it is keeping me going at the moment. So far I've made a couple of batches of triple cream brie, a Caerphilly (I have another week to wait until I can try it out) and recently a blue cheese. I've been making my cheeses with the Mad Millie ingredients, but hope to build up on what I have. The second brie turned out excellent and I enjoy watching the cheese mature daily. I will make another soon.

Equipment wise I've setup a cheese cave with a huge old fridge/freezer that I was about to throw out. I've set it up with external temperature control, plus humidity control is half there. I've also set myself up for temperature controlled hot plate. My background is computer programming with the bulk of it in machine control, so I enjoy that aspect. I'm trying to optimise my processes at the moment. I've also made a cheese press which I'm not quite happy with yet. It still needs some work.

Does anyone have suggestions on cheeses that don't require a lot of hand work (mixing/stretching/kneading)?

Nice to meet you all.

Shane

[Andrew Marshallsay]

Hi Shane

It's godd to be able to welcome another antipodean. The numbers are growing rapidly.
Today the cheese forum, tomorrow the world...mwaaahahahahahaha!

[Danbo]

Greetings from Denmark... :-)

[shaneb]

Thanks Guys. Nice to meet you too. Yep, world domination time approaches. 

Shane

[TimT]

G'day, cobber!

How about some simple cream cheeses (you could do it with the same mesophilic culture you do for caerphilly).

I'm from Lalor in Melbourne's north

[shaneb]

Hi Tim,

Nice to meet you.  I'm from down in Hampton park (Originally from Gippsland though),  but I used to know Lalor well from my uni days. Haven't been there for a while though.  Thanks for the suggestion on cream cheese.  Sounds interesting.  I forgot to say that I've also been making quark for a while.  My wife is German and it is difficult to get quark in a decent quantity,  texture or  price.

All the best.

Shane

[TimT]

Quark! A couple of organic stores sell tubs of the stuff now. Not much, little 300 ml pots.  You can get them at CERES organic park, I think.

Just thought cream cheese would be an easy on your hands type, and the results are very satisfying - spreadable and sweet, great with toast in the morning or with sweets. If you're making caerphilly it sounds like stirring the curds/cutting the curds etc isn't too much of a bother, so stuff like cheddar - slightly more complicated, and takes a few months to mature - could be worthwhile. Mind you I make my cheddars in autumn and winter so I can give them ages to, well, age.

Haloumi is also relatively easy and satisfying, though a certain amount of stirring and cutting is obviously involved.

We need a cheesemaking club here in Melbourne, I reckon! Where do you get your supplies from? I go to organic stores in Northcote and Thornbury, and some of the stores like Home Make It/Cellar Plus around here that specialise in stuff like home-made beer, cider, cheese, salami, etc.

[shaneb]

Yeah,  there are a few different brands of quark around,  but there is only one brand that was really of the style that my wife is after.  She likes it a little thicker than the consistency of Greek yoghurt.  There is one brand we have found locally but it is very expensive and not always available.  It is very cheap and easy to make.  I usually get around 800g from 2L of cheap milk,  plus cultured buttermilk as the starter.

Cream cheese does sound like a good choice for now.  One thing I never mentioned in my intro is that I'm actually lactose intolerant.  It sucks when you love dairy so much.  Some of my cheese I will give away to friends and family,  but I will still try as much as I can tolerate.

On my hands, they are not totally unusable.  My right hand has nerve damage that caused CRPS from botched surgery and my left hand has carpal tunnel syndrome (what I had in my right hand before surgery).  I am able to do a lot of things,  but gripping is difficult and repetitive tasks such as mixing for extended periods of time are a problem.  I was okay with the Caerphilly recipe as I was only stirring every five minutes or so to prevent matting of the curds.  I was able to break up the curds with my hands and those  kinds of activities are actually good for me.  I am trying to desensitise my right hand from all of the symptoms that are going on in my hand. I have seen recipes which call for stirring for 30+ minutes and that is just not possible for me.

Cheddar is certainly what I plan on making and I hope to get there soon. Cutting the curds is not a problem for me at this stage.  I need to get some more cultures first though as I'm about to run out.  I have been buying the Mad Millie ingredients from a local baking supply store,  but also online.  I'm not able to drive at the moment,  so I can't get anything on the spur of the moment right now.  I have been practicing with the cheap  supermarket milk until I get some experience. I hope to order some bits and pieces from the  cheeselinks online store soon. 

I'll have to read up on halloumi.  It is yum.  I hadn't really thought of trying.  Thanks for the suggestion.

Tomorrow I hope to make another double cream brie which will hopefully be ready by Christmas.  After that I'll be out of starter culture I think.

Yeah, a club sounds like a good idea.  I don't have a feel for how many home cheesemakers there are around Melbourne.

All the best and keep the suggestions coming.   

Shane

[Andrew Marshallsay]

I've used products from a couple of online suppliers. Cheesemaking.com have been very good:
http://www.cheesemaking.com.au/
I have also purchased from Country Brewer and been very satisfied:
http://www.countrybrewer.com.au/categories/Cheese-Making/

[shaneb]

Thanks for that. I'll check them out. There are a truck load of things I want to buy, but I'll need to be patient.

Shane

[TimT]

We have a long life culture - haven't had to buy any new culture for up to two years! It's just sold as a yoghurt from Cultures for Health so maybe it's not an ideal one for cheeses, but it's basically the same bacteria at work. And I just took a whiff off my six month old cheddar....pungent and powerful. So it seems to be doing the job

I think the aged cheeses will be good for lactose intolerance actually. The bacteria over time converts most of the lactose into lactic acid. Most cheese would be good I'm sure, but obviously you'll know more about the condition than me 

Try a few of the goat milk cheeses. Fetta is very quick - 4 or so days from ageing to when you can eat it. Chevre is easy and delicious - goat milk in a bowl at room temperature (25 degrees) for a day, then when the curds have shrunk from the sides of the bowl the whole is poured into a bag and left to drain.

[shaneb]

Thanks. That sounds good about the culture. I'll have to check out the health food store when I'm next able to get to one. I was just reading the wiki about making cultured buttermilk mesophillic starter. I'm going to walk to the supermarketshortly, so I'll grab some buttermilk and give it a try. That will give me a chance to experiment with the next cheese.

Yeah, I think you are spot on with the aged cheeses and lactose intolerance. I certainly hope to make some aged cheddar and parmesan. I actually wonder how I'd go making cheese out of lactose free non UP milk. It seems to work fine with quark. Would it not work for hard cheese or does it need the lactose to help things grow?

Yep, feta is on the list. I do have some lipase too, so maybe it is worth a try. Yep, goats cheese sounds good. Are the 1L cartons from the supermarket any good, or do I need to look elsewhere for it?

I'm in the process of making another batch of brie at the moment and the steps are starting to become a bit more natural, so we'll see how I go.

All the best for the rest of your weekend.

Shane

[TimT]

Don't think you'll find long-life cultures at the health food store (though if you do, let me know!) I wouldn't think lactose free milk would be very good (how on earth do they remove it?) - not so much because the bacteria wouldn't have anything to work with (it's by its nature pretty adaptable - it's got to be), but just because of the general rule of thumb: "the more removed a milk is from its natural state the worse it will be for culturing".

Yes to 1 L goat milk cartons from the shops. I've made cheese successfully from the Paul's brand (by far the most common). About 2 L will make you a nice batch of chevre....

Send us an email anyway, at timhtrain - at - yahoo.com.au. I'd be happy to share the joy with our long life culture - it's a mesophilic one that I've made cheddar, caerphilly, chevre, Wensleydale, Jack, cream cheese, and a whole bunch of other cheeses with  Could hand some over next time I'm in your part of town.

[OzzieCheese]

Hi Shane,

Welcome to forum -- I get my supplies from here. Mad Millies stuff is Ok - but a bit expensive.

http://www.greenlivingaustralia.com.au/cheesemaking_ingredients_cultures.html

There is a product called Lactaid you can get from the chemist - it adds the enzymes back into the milk that your body has forgotten to make so it can help you digest Lactose.  Add it to you milk about 24 hours before you make cheese.  And then make hard cheese that you age out 6-12 months.  There should be almost no lactose left in the cheese by then.  Cheddars, Manchego,  Parmesan and Gruyere  , quite few others.  I'm sorry if I'm going over things you have already researched.

-- Mal

[shaneb]

Thanks Tim and Mal.

The lactose free non UP milk is pretty much as Mal described. It is normal milk that has had the lactase enzyme added to it in order to convert the lactose into glucose and galactose. I have up on the lactase tablets. They are just too expensive for the amount of them you'd need to take to get the desired result. While in Germany a couple of times we've bought them there. They are a fraction of the price we pay here. I guess my concern with removing the lactase is that maybe the cultures can't do their thing, but it sounds like this may not be the case by what you are saying. I'll have to give it a go and see.

Tim - thanks for the offer on the culture. I'll leave it for the moment. I need to have some surgery shortly to try and improve my situation and may be out of action from cheese making for a little while. I'll let you know when I'm ready to go though. So is the culture you talk about a liquid or powder? If it's a liquid do you have to feed it at all? I make no knead rye sourdough also which I need to feed to keep the sourdough alive and happy.

I'll have to give the goats cheese a try next time. Sounds dead easy on my hands.

How do you guys go making cheese in summer?

All the best.

Shane