Need a faith renewal

[BauerHaus]

Well we opened our first hard cheese today. Under impressed!
Recipe used was Ricki's Farmhouse Cheddar.
Mesophillic was brand new from N.E.C.
Aged for one month, minimum time.
Color: Good, white
Texture: Creamy, very slice-able.
Flavor: lacking, hint of cheddar, underwelling, not bad but really no need to eat it unless you where very very hunger.

We going to rewax and age another month!?

[riha]

Damn, sorry to hear that.

I am very afraid I'll be facing the same fate with my first hard cheeses. My first ones are just hitting the one month mark and I don't think I can keep my fingers out of them for very long.

Do you have other batches aging simultaneously?

[MrsKK]

when I first started making cheese, I cut each wheel into quarters and waxed them individually so that I could taste the cheese at one-month intervals.  Cheddar really didn't taste like much at all until two months, but by three and four months was fantastic.

Don't give up!

[zenith1]

I have to agree with mrskk- The longer you can resist cutting the wheel, the more flavor you are going to end up with. Ricki's farmhouse cheddar probably needs to be aged for a longer time also. Patience grasshopper 

[BauerHaus]

We have a two week old Monterrey (Don't Know) Jack and a one day old Havarti. We are on pace for one cheese every two weeks.
BUT, one month I waited for the Farmhaus and now I have to wait again maybe a month, this waiting thing really will kill me, I know it.

[DeejayDebi]

One month will not be very much for a cheddar. I think you just need to wait a bit and it will be fine. If waiting is hard try making a few quick cheeses in between then you won't be as antcy to try the ones that need more time.

[FRANCOIS]

Why don't you try some fresh cheeses so you can enjoy them right away?

[MrsKK]

The waiting is hard.  I want to KNOW NOW whether I did it "right" or not.  Two or three months from now, will I really remember what I did?  Even with taking extensive notes?

You'll get past this phase, though.  I was just really getting into cheesemaking when it was time to dry off my cow and I was disappointed, but the two months passed quickly.  I started making cheeses again, but then summer got really hectic and busy and I needed more milk to be feeding up our pigs and chickens, so it all worked out fine.  A bit low on cheese for right now, but I'm looking forward to the harvest and preserving of veggies to be done and the pigs and chickens to be in the freezer so I can have milk and the leisure to make good cheese again.

In the meantime, mozzerella, Neufchatel, cottage cheese and ricotta are all good fresh cheeses to make while you wait.

[shoelessone]

I think the key is to make a bunch of cheeses at once.  I try to "go strong" for 3 or 4 weekends in a row, making one or two 2-4 pound weeks a weekend. 

This basically burns me out to be honest, but at this point I'm happy to do/think about something else for a few weeks at least.  Soon enough, I have 5 or 6 cheeses and I can get the opening a cheese early out of my system with just one cheese, then the rest of them are generally safe from my curiosity for at least a few months. 

Then again, so far I've mainly made Parmesan and about 60% of them are gone around the 5 month mark.

I might start trying what Frankois mentioned and start making some softer/shorter aging cheeses when I'm feeling impatient or just want to eat some homemade cheese .

[zenith1]

keep in mind that you are making cheese because you enjoy doing it, not because it is something that you have to do.

[wharris]

I have also cut up wheels in to quarters for periodic testing. 
I just tasted some cheddar I made  back in Feb and it is just now starting to have that real cheddar flavor.