Author Topic: Who Do You Buy Your Cheese Making Supplies From...?  (Read 4514 times)

stuartjc

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Who Do You Buy Your Cheese Making Supplies From...?
« on: February 11, 2009, 02:52:06 AM »
Thinking of supplies like calcium chloride, rennet, cultures, that kind of thing... I would be interested in people's personal experiences with suppliers in terms of cost and effectiveness.

Thanks  :)

wharris

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Re: Who Do You Buy Your Cheese Making Supplies From...?
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2009, 03:18:00 AM »
I buy cultures and supplies from dairyconnection.com

I buy the high-shipping-cost things from leeners as they are 15 miles from me.

I would recommend a really lame company for various high quality curd knives and cheese presses. 


:)

stuartjc

  • Guest
Re: Who Do You Buy Your Cheese Making Supplies From...?
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2009, 03:23:53 AM »
*poker face*

Wayne, I would *never* buy supplies from a lame company....

 ;D

Likesspace

  • Guest
Re: Who Do You Buy Your Cheese Making Supplies From...?
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2009, 03:43:31 AM »
Wayne,
That cracked me up! LOL
Okay, it looks as if Wayne and I are on the same page.
I buy nearly everything from Dairy Connection. Not only are the prices great, the service is unsurpassed.
I have also purchased from New England Cheese Making Supply for certain things like hard cheese molds. They do have good prices and the service is also very good.
One thing that I like about Leeners is that their cultures are packaged in screw top plastic containers that are very handy. The only problem is that their price is pretty high as compared to the packages you can buy from The Dairy Connection.
I do buy pretty much all of my blue mold from Leeners since I like the flavor it imparts upon the cheese and it comes in smaller amounts for less money up front.
I've come to realize that I've been using WAY too much blue culture which will cut down on the costs even further. This is not an inexpensive mold.
As for presses: thecheesewhey.com is the only place to buy from.
I appreciate the remark that Wayne made (in the manner it was intended) but there is simply not a better home cheese press on the market than the one that Carter has designed.
Once the pressure is set you can simply walk away and know that the cheese is getting the right amount of pressing weight for hours on end.
You don't have to worry about stacking and un-stacking weights, nor do you have to worry about your press tilting in the middle of the night. It's really as simple as flipping a switch...turning a knob (on the regulator) and walking away.
The press might seem expensive at first but when you consider that it should last a lifetime it's not much of an expense, relatively speaking. Especially if you compare it to presses that are of an inferior design.
There are many different online suppliers that all offer pretty much the same products.
I look first for quality, secondly for service and lastly for value.
The sites I've listed are, in my opinion, the best according to the previously listed criteria.
Hope this helps..

Dave

Offline Cartierusm

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Re: Who Do You Buy Your Cheese Making Supplies From...?
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2009, 07:30:23 AM »
Thanks you _____________. Fill in your own profanity.

The presses are expensive but the parts are not cheap, it you don't mind used I can sell one cheaper if I can find a cheaper cylinder on ebay, but it may take a few weeks.

I've used thecheesemaker.com before. He ships super quick and gives his cell number on his home page so you can call and get answers ASAP. The problem is he's not super articulate. The packages you get from him have different measurement than his website and when you call him he's not sure what's correct. Nice guy I just don't like the inconsistency. I now have a commercial account at Dairy Connection and have just bought a hundred or so worth of stuff. We'll see how their service is. When I called with a question the guy looked up the answer and said he was new and wasn't positive and had the owner give me a call when he was off the phone. He called back shortly and had answer from his notes and went over the calculations, very nice, knowledgeable and helpful. I also like their shipping policies, they make you get 2nd Day Air from Fedex, which is expensive, but they also say they don't ship past Wednesday or so, so the cultures are not sitting in a hot container over the weekend. It's expensive but it shows they care and they understand.

I love getting my order of Margaux, Margaux wondering if it's been in a hot container for a month..warms the coc{[k]lesof my heart. Had to abreviate the 'K' cause it changed it when I posted even though it wasn't a swear word.