hello from Shawnigan Lake, BC, canada :P

[Oolybooly]

hello to all!

ive been browsing and reading a lot this past week so i figured it was time to introduce and say hi my name is nieves and im 36 and aside from making yogurt and fake riccotta, ive never made a cheese it is however, something ive always wanted to learn so here i am.

i ordered a few starter items but i think i jumped in too fast and wish i had waited cuz now i wish i had ordered more! i dont have milk animals so store bought for me but who knows what the future might hold.... 


ps i clearly have a minuscule knowledge of the variety of cheeses :S


cheers!

nieves

[awakephd]

Nieves, welcome to the forum! This is a great place to learn -- it has certainly helped me tremendously.

What type of cheese are you thinking about making first? A word of warning: often newbies start out with mozzarella ... but as you will read frequently on this forum, mozz is NOT an easy cheese to get right.

Instead, you might want to start with a simple fresh cheese -- basically, ripen the milk with a mesophilic starter culture at about 31-32°C for an hour or so; add rennet and let coagulate for another hour or so; cut into 3/4" cubes and rest for a few minutes; stir for a few minutes; then drain. Put the curds in a basket mold, or just drain in a cheesecloth. When the whey stops dripping, put it in the fridge for a couple of days. And then enjoy! (Even simpler, if you want, is an added-acid cheese such as paneer -- which may not be much different from making the "fake ricotta" that you mention.)

Do you have a way to press your cheese? Having some sort of press will greatly expand the options, including some great starter cheeses like Lancashire or Caerphilly. Do a search on this forum for recipes. There are also lots of threads about making your own press, anything and everything from ultra-simple to ultra-complex.

Last bit of newbie advice: some great cheese can be made with store-bought milk -- but not just any store-bought milk. Don't attempt to make cheese with ultra-pasteurized milk; it will be an exercise in frustration. (Note: in the US, just about any milk sold as "organic" is ultra-pasteurized -- don't know if the same is true in Canada.) Even if the milk is simply pasteurized, some brands are pasteurized hotter than others, so you may need to experiment. If by chance you can get your hands on LTP -- low temperature pasteurized -- milk, and/or non-homogenized (aka "cream top") milk, your results will be dramatically better.

Don't hesitate to ask lots of questions -- and as you start making cheeses, we love to see pictures! (Especially if they are sized to 1024x768 or so, so that they don't take too long to load.)

[Oolybooly]

Thanks for the welcome!!

As a matter of fact, up to about 2 weeks ago mozzarella WAS on the trying out list! Hahaha! I blame it on the "30 minute, fast and easy" recipe that's all over the web :/. Anyways, after I stumbled on to this page and found an actual real recipe for it, I knew I couldn't do a short cut one and still claim to have "made" it. Back of the list! In any case these are some that I would like to learn how to do:

Totally random order!! I'm still not fully set up to do some even if I had more experience

Cottage cheese
Mozzarella
Gouda
Colby
Caerphilly
Cheddar
Brie
Something that I can add stuff to (spices/herbs/funky stuff)


It's probably a basic list but tbh I don't know what other cheeses taste like!

As for a press, I'll be making 2 this weekend! I'm diy kinda girl (made a cider press last year, hall tree, daughters bed, chicken coop, etc ), so that's the route I'm most comfortable with. I'm modifying the plans I found and using cutting board material instead of wood for ease of cleaning. I'm on the fence with moulds (molds?? Geez my spelling :/ ), I prefer to "make" them myself but still haven't found a comprehensive list of proper dimensions. I'd reeeeeeeeeally rather not order them if I can make them!

I read on another site that the Dairyland brand of milk is what most ppl recommend here when buying store bought milk, so I'm taking that to assume it's not the ultra pasteurized kind. Not sure what the organic milk is like cuz I don't buy it lol

Thanks again for your reply!! It was very helpful!!

Trust me... There will be plenty of questions 

[Andrew Marshallsay]

Hi Nieves, welcome on board. I'm sure you'll find the forum really helpful and also have a lot of fun making all the different cheese you mention and probably some that you haven't heard of yet.
Please post some pictures of your presses when they are finished.
If you want some inspiration about the range of cheeses that are out there, you might like to have a browse through this site: http://www.cheese.com/

[awakephd]

Nieves,

As a rough guide on size for molds, here is what I find about right for most of my cheeses:

For hard / aged cheeses (cheddar, gouda, etc.), a 4.5" diameter mold is good for up to 2-gallon makes; 5.5" or so for 3-gallon makes; 6.5-7" or so for 4-gallon makes. When you get up to an 8" diameter mold, you really need 6 gallons or more to get the right proportions.

For camembert/bries, you want a thinner cheese so that it will ripen all the way to the center before the outside is too ripe. So, for example, I spread a 2.25 gallon make into three 5" molds, and that seems to work well.

I have a combination of bought and home-made molds. For the cam/brie, I've used plastic Cool Whip containers with holes drilled. This is not the ideal shape, but it worked reasonably well. I have a 7" diameter mold made from an HDPE plastic bucket that formerly carried ... wait for it ... drywall joint compound. Yes, the thought is a little off-putting, but the type of plastic was perfect, it was sturdy, and it was easy to clean thoroughly. It has worked quite well for my 4-gallon makes. Again, drilled holes for drainage.

Some people drill holes in PVC drainage pipe and use that. I have seen mixed opinions on this -- some people seem perfectly happy with it, but others feel that there could be some unpleasant chemicals that can leach from the PVC over time.

I look forward to pictures on your presses, and on your cheeses!

[Oolybooly]

Hi Nieves, welcome on board. I'm sure you'll find the forum really helpful and also have a lot of fun making all the different cheese you mention and probably some that you haven't heard of yet.
Please post some pictures of your presses when they are finished.
If you want some inspiration about the range of cheeses that are out there, you might like to have a browse through this site: http://www.cheese.com/

Thanks!  I will have a look! Though I'm thinking I'm just gonna "have" to buy new types of cheese to taste.. For research of course!
I've collected most of what I needed for the press except for the springs which I have to order in

[Oolybooly]

Nieves,

As a rough guide on size for molds, here is what I find about right for most of my cheeses:

For hard / aged cheeses (cheddar, gouda, etc.), a 4.5" diameter mold is good for up to 2-gallon makes; 5.5" or so for 3-gallon makes; 6.5-7" or so for 4-gallon makes. When you get up to an 8" diameter mold, you really need 6 gallons or more to get the right proportions.

For camembert/bries, you want a thinner cheese so that it will ripen all the way to the center before the outside is too ripe. So, for example, I spread a 2.25 gallon make into three 5" molds, and that seems to work well.

I have a combination of bought and home-made molds. For the cam/brie, I've used plastic Cool Whip containers with holes drilled. This is not the ideal shape, but it worked reasonably well. I have a 7" diameter mold made from an HDPE plastic bucket that formerly carried ... wait for it ... drywall joint compound. Yes, the thought is a little off-putting, but the type of plastic was perfect, it was sturdy, and it was easy to clean thoroughly. It has worked quite well for my 4-gallon makes. Again, drilled holes for drainage.

Some people drill holes in PVC drainage pipe and use that. I have seen mixed opinions on this -- some people seem perfectly happy with it, but others feel that there could be some unpleasant chemicals that can leach from the PVC over time.

I look forward to pictures on your presses, and on your cheeses!

thanks again andy! its nice to have a clear idea of what im looking for 

what about the height?

honestly the thought of using pvc doesnt bother me too much, i was actually gonna ask about using it since ii have some here. then i read that it might affect taste n such so i just left it.

[awakephd]

Good question on the height. My largest molds (7" and 8" diameter) are about 6" tall. My smaller molds (4.5" diameter) are mostly around 4 inches tall, but I do have some reblochon molds that are only around 2.5" tall.

If you look up molds available on cheesemaking supply web sites (e.g., artisangeek.com, culturesforhealth.com, etc.), they usually give the dimensions -- very helpful for us DIY folks.

[OzzieCheese]

Welcome Nieves,  Welcome to the forum.. it's a Hoot of a place to learn.  I like your learn list and if I might while your are finding your cheese legs might suggest an order
1. Caerphilly - It is a simple but tasty cheese that you can enjoy in 3-4 week, it leads naturally to Cheddar
2. Cheddar - this is a good 'laying down' (6-8-12Months) cheese - I make one a month now to keep up stocks.
3. Colby as it is a cool washed curd which leads to Gouda which is a hot washed Curd.
4. Gouda.  Colby and Gouda you can enjoy early 2-3 months but an aged Gouda is a thing of beauty.
5. Brie. - These are very different from those above and can be frustrating toget right but when you do - you will never buy it from a store ever again !!
6. Mozzarella - nope haven't done one past the 30 minute one- it was Ok but I'm not beating myself up over not doing it - Bit like Parmesan - I let the experts do those.
7. Cottage Cheese.  Haven't found a recipe I would like to try and we don't eat it - sorry

There are people here experts at all over these cheeses - I'm sure you will have a lot of fun..  Just remember its Cheese !! not rocket science and to have fun and don't be afraid to experiment

-- Mal

[awakephd]

Mal,

I like your list, but I would quibble about the difficulty of a Parma-style cheese -- it takes patience, both for all the stirring and for all the time to ripen, but really not a hard cheese. (Okay, correction: it is, by definition, a hard cheese -- but not really a difficult cheese. ) The main thing to master is temperature control -- if you have a reasonably good handle on hitting temps and times, then you are ready to make a parma.

My $0.02 ...

[Stinky]

Agreed.

[Oolybooly]

Please help me! So I'm wanting to make queso fresco but I can't find the amount of culture to use :/ the wiki recipe on this site calls for 2 litres of cultured buttermilk - which I don't have so I was going with the recipe on cheesemaking.com. But theirs says
3/4 packet of our C101 culture for 2 gallons of milk - but there's no info on how much is in a packet. Any ideas?

[Stinky]

Please help me! So I'm wanting to make queso fresco but I can't find the amount of culture to use :/ the wiki recipe on this site calls for 2 litres of cultured buttermilk - which I don't have so I was going with the recipe on cheesemaking.com. But theirs says
3/4 packet of our C101 culture for 2 gallons of milk - but there's no info on how much is in a packet. Any ideas?

Try 1/4 tsp. of a mesophilic culture.

[Oolybooly]

THANK YOU SO FRICKEN MUCH!!!

i was losing my mind trying to find something 

[Stinky]

Ees nothing.