Making First Cheese Cave

[Melkvine]

Greetings All!,
     So i am a novice cheese maker in Portland, Oregon.  After building a dutch press and refining my technique with yogurt inoculated 'brick' cheese I finally sprung for some cultures and got a local goat's milk connection.  I made my first two wheels of 'White Goat's Milk Cheddar' this past week and tried aging them in my cellar on cheese-mat lined plates covered with bowls.  I know the humidity isn't right, but they both spoiled after about 48 hours because the temperature turned out to be close to 63F on the regular (i took initial temps. during a cold front).  Milk is expensive and I need to find an aging solution before proceeding with any more hard cheeses.
     I have a hygrometer and combing the forums a forced-air fridge with perforated plastic storage containers and damp cheese/terry cloth over the fans seems the best solution.  However, we are frugal folk and were hoping for a passive solution.  As it is currently the rainy season and 50F average outside, one of my housemates suggested making a box of 2x3's with screen on either end for good cross-flow.  Humidity would of course fluctuate and while it doesn't get over 55F these days it does get down to low 40's at night.  Would the lower temperature's/fluctuation cause a problem? And does anyone have suggestions on passive/outdoor solutions?  Else i can spring for a used fridge for $20-30 on Craig's List and build a cave like so many on the forums.
     Appreciate it, this is my first post, but ive been a member for a couple weeks now, mostly learning from what has already been asked/said and it seems like a good community.

Cheers!

[DeejayDebi]

Unless you have very cold area for a good long time you really need a cave. I used to only make cheese here late fall through earily spring for that reason.

[FarmerJd]

Welcome to the forum. I am far from a pro at this stuff but I also have a cellar that I had built under my house (12 years ago) with the dream that one day I would fill it with cheeses and canned goods and potatoes and cabbages. It has gone great except for the cheese part. In the deep south, USA (alabama) it is just too hot and the temp fluctuates from 45 in winter to 75 in summer which is just too wide of a range. My humidity is pretty constant but not high enough for cheese and now that I understand how high it needs to be, that was really never a possibility. I just purchased a thermostat and attached it to a stand up freezer unit and it is working wonderfully. I am still tinkering with the humidity but I am feel so much better about my cheesemaking now. I am just not convinced that an adequate enviroment can be produced with out some manipulation. I am a "frugal folk" myself and I hate to spend money on anything that I can create.

[Cheese Head]

Also welcome.

If you can find an old non-forced air radient style fridge I think those have higher hummidity but thy are less energy efficient. Also, most fridge's thermostats don't go warm so you'll have to spring for an external controller.

On your friends idea of box with chicken wire, you may attract animals and bugs, plus range in temp and humidity I would expect be tough on long term aging. But for quick aging that's I believe how they age small Ġbejna (Gozo) Cheeses in Malta, Island in Mediteranean Sea. Difference is they have very dry air.

There's some info here, see 3 pictures link for a similar "Cheese Coop", also in that same Board there are Tea and my records of making this cheese.

Good luck and have fun!

[traviscarter]

Hello, I came up with a pretty good solution. I pickup up a free forced air fridge that someone had sat out on the street in our area.  I disassembled the temperature control box inside the fridge area and found the temperature control probe, its a copper wire with a larger copper end soldered to it. I rerouted the probe up into the freezer section and put everything back together. Basically this lets the fridge get warmer than most newer models will let it get. With a few adjustments of how far the probe was up into the freezer section I was able to get it to maintain 50 degrees. I'm pretty sure this will work for most fridges. Be careful with the probe, excessive bending will break it and then your screwed.   

[KosherBaker]

Hey Travis.

Welcome to the board. If you took any pictures of your mod that would really be helpful. In fact the more the better.

[MrsKK]

Welcome to the forum!

When you said that you covered your cheeses with bowls, a warning light went off.  I think the humidity was too high for the initial drying of your cheese, which is probably why they went bad.  While too dry is not good (it can cause cracks), too moist isn't good in the first few days with a cheese, as it needs to expell more whey yet.

I don't have a dedicated cheese cave yet, either, so from October to April, my cheeses reside in a cabinet in my basement, which is about 50-55 degrees for most of that time.  When the weather starts warming up, my cheeses go into the spare fridge.  I vacuum seal my cheese after about 4-6 weeks of drying.