Hi Pavel! There are probably a long list of things to discuss about using raw milk that should be on a different post (the raw milk post), but I need to reference it here to answer your question. I think it has a lot to do with why my cheeses seem to make themselves so beautifully, without a lot of interfering from me.
I buy raw cream directly from a grade A dairy farmer, who also sells me raw milk at $5/gallon. I trust the source, as he has been in business for 20 years, no one has ever been sick from his milk, and he has a lot to lose if he doesn't keep up with cleanliness, testing, etc. If you use raw milk, do your homework and know your source. I put the cream in the blender, put it on low, and let it go for about 8-10 minutes, until I see that the butter is forming. Then I just rinse it under cold water until there is no white liquid left, and squeeze the water out from the butter, put it in a glass tupperware container and store it in the fridge. It seems to last forever. I don't culture the butter, because I don't want the flavor interfering with the flavor of the cheese, but I do believe that the cheese and butter meld together in some strange way, sort of a symbiosis thing, and the natural beneficial bacteria that is in good raw milk and butter ends up protecting it. Probably the butter takes up some of the culture in the cheese and thus ends up protecting itself from bad bacteria. ( This is only my opinion.)
I can't say whether or not it would be the same with pasteurized milk or butter, but I would love to hear if anyone else is doing this. I myself am not interested in making cheese with pasteurized milk. To me, the quality of cheese from raw milk is just so superior, but that is another issue.
You can certainly make your own butter in the same way with pasteurized cream, if that is all you have access to,or if you prefer to use it, so you could experiment.
I use cheesecloth that I buy from the cheese supply stores online to wrap it, and just cut it to size. I don't reuse the cloth, and from the photos you might understand why (yuck!)
My ripening temperatures for most cheeses are between 50 and 55 degrees F. If I need to slow the ripening of a cheese for a certain event, say, a white mold cheese, it will ripen slower at lower temperatures (38-40), so I might just wrap it and put it in a normal fridge to save it for the time I want to use it. Then it won't ripen as quickly and I will still have some in two months time.
As far as the ripening cultures, I will save that for another time, as I need to go to town. Oh, and one last thing. I normally wax cheese that is intended as a gift, because it looks so clean and nice. Most people are afraid of moldy cheese, and don't understand it's purpose. Better to make them happy!
Have a great weekend!