Author Topic: Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)  (Read 1778 times)

UpMyKilt

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Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)
« on: August 22, 2016, 05:45:33 PM »
Hello folks!

I've been making my own wines, bake a variety of breads, have been making my own yogurt, fermenting vegetables - all for years now, and decided I want to learn some cheese making.

I wasn't sure where to start and wanted to try something that I figured would be fairly easy and I love feta.. so I picked up a Feta cheese making kit. I should say that while I like feta, I also like MANY kinds of cheeses :)

This is day 2 of my cheese making learning. I started the feta yesterday.

Today, I have chunks of curd that has been salted. However... some of the curd is quite crumbly... not quite what the instructions I received suggested it would be like.

But with a bit of salt, it tastes good today! But I'll let it age some more.

I'd like to get beyond the "kit" stage and learn more and make more cheeses in the future.

When I was a teenager, I worked on a dairy farm as well as a ranch in Alberta where one of my jobs was to milk the single dairy cow.. by hand.. twice a day.

Oh to be able to do that now and have access to lots of raw milk!

Looking forward to learning more!

Kern

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Re: Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)
« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2016, 07:17:42 PM »
Welcome to the Forum.  I started with a "60-minute Cheesemaking Kit" but very quickly learned the limitations.  Within two weeks I had purchased this book.  It was well worth the investment.  The primary difference between Caldwell's book and the "recipe" books is that you learn the science behind cheesemaking.  As a result you become a better cheese maker.

UpMyKilt

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Re: Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2016, 10:42:31 PM »
Thanks so much Kern, especially for the book referral. Looks interesting - and I would prefer that type of book over one that just contains recipes.

It's how I started with wine making as well, about 15 years ago. Purchased a kit to understand the process, then purchased more advanced books to understand the science behind it and take winemaking beyond kits. Mind you, I still purchase wine making kits as that is the easiest way to get the different grape juices - but now I make wine from almost anything :)

My biggest difficulty in my first attempt here was trying to keep the gallon of milk at 93F - which the instructions stated was necessary. Even on the lowest heat setting on my stove, the milk was a tad over 100F. Any tips on how to keep the milk at a particular temperature would be awesome! :)

Offline Andrew Marshallsay

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Re: Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2016, 11:14:38 PM »
Greetings and welcome to the Forum.
I can confirm Kern's book recommendation and would add that, as well as learning a lot about the cheese making process from that book, I have had good results with the recipes in there. It is worth looking at some of the other recipes available on the internet also, particularly this one.
To control temperature most of us seem to use some sort of double boiler. That involves immersing your cheese making vessel in a larger vessel filled with warm water. In my case that is a 10 litre stock pot in the kitchen sink. I then add hot or cold water to the sink, or drain water as needed. Some have a larger vessel which fits on their stove. However you do it, this will give you much better temperature control than direct heat.
- Andrew

Offline Fritz

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Re: Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)
« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2016, 08:41:38 AM »
Hi 'Kilt
I'm also from the Orangeville area... Airport rd and 9...  I'll send you a pm with my contact info. I'm sure there many questions about cheesemaking that I can help with ... I'm just getting into fermentation so I'll have some questions there .. Maybe I can lean on you to guide me for that :)

Fritz

UpMyKilt

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Re: Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)
« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2016, 10:56:48 PM »
Hi 'Kilt
I'm also from the Orangeville area... Airport rd and 9...  I'll send you a pm with my contact info. I'm sure there many questions about cheesemaking that I can help with ... I'm just getting into fermentation so I'll have some questions there .. Maybe I can lean on you to guide me for that :)

Fritz

Thanks so much for reaching out! Awesome to find someone so close! And I've only been here on the forum a day or two :)

Reply has been sent to you. Again thank you!

Offline awakephd

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Re: Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2016, 04:37:23 PM »
The "double-boiler" (or rather "double pot") or the sink approach is the classic method for gently applying heat, and it helps with holding the milk at a particular temperature (because of the extra thermal mass of the water in the outer pot/sink). But I confess that I have dispensed with that approach, and for many months now have been making cheese using direct heat - a matter of having the right pot (good thick bottom with aluminum sandwiched between the stainless steel inner and outer layers) and knowing the characteristics of the stove.

BUT, here is an important point regardless of whether you use direct heat or indirect (double pot/sink): generally, while ripening and ESPECIALLY while coagulating, you do not apply any heat; the thermal mass of the milk (and of the water in the outer pot/sink, if using that approach) will hold the temperature within a degree or two for quite a long time. If you are only working with a gallon or so of milk, the smaller thermal mass will lose heat more quickly, so that might make it more important to use the double pot or sink approach. DO NOT apply any heat while coagulating, even if it is a small amount of milk; adding heat at this stage is a good way to mess up the formation of the curd!

If you use the double-pot or sink approach, be sure that the inner pot of milk cannot slip or tip, flooding your carefully cultivated milk with water. Yes, been there, done that!

And by the way - welcome to the forum!
-- Andy

Tobiasrer

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Re: Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2016, 04:08:57 AM »
Welcome!
If you want to learn you are in a great place some very helpful people here, with some great looking cheeses and all kinds of projects!

valley ranch

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Re: Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)
« Reply #8 on: September 29, 2016, 12:52:47 AM »
Welcome!

Offline Gregore

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Re: Greetings From Orangeville, Ontario (Canada)
« Reply #9 on: September 29, 2016, 04:46:05 AM »
I would suggest using a large towel to wrap around the pot  and lid after coming to temperature . You will not loose more than 2 to 3 degrees during the curd forming duration , you can add heat again if nessassary as soon as you cut and stir the curds .  Going too high in temp is far worse than too low , too high can kill things , too low just slows things down .