Gouda: How to inoculate/what to use?

[Lilschap]

Hello all,

I was wondering if it is possible to use some gouda to inoculate a batch of gouda?
Just wondering because the nearest place to buy mesophilic starter is 1 hour away or online...

Thanks!

[Sailor Con Queso]

You can use active buttermilk as a basic replacement for mesophilic starter.

[Lilschap]

Thank you Sailor! 

[JeffHamm]

Here's what I do with buttermilk starter.  Basically, leave it out at room temperature for 12-24 hours.  It should thicken, like yogurt.  Then, pour it into (clean and sterilized) ice cube trays and freeze them.  You can then use these ice cubes as your starter.  I usually use 2-4 ice cubes for a 10 L make.  Works really well, and I've used ice cubes that were close to a year old but still active.  That's probably not ideal, but the cheese they produced was good.

You can use yogurt for thermophillic starter.

- Jeff

[smilingcalico]

As a side note, inoculating as you first suggested is best for contributing cultures for rind development of particular cheeses. Gouda really isn't one of them. If you search the forum for slurry you'll get some ideas for future makes.

[Tomer1]

You might want to stock up on cultures, ordering online.   Plan for the next 6-12 months on what type of cheeses your going to make.   FD and MM100 will cover most of your messophilic cheeses (from bloomy,to fresh cheeses to semi hard)

[Lilschap]

Thank you all for the helpful information!
I will be working on getting my stuff together and hopefully be making cheese soon!!

[smilingcalico]

I tell you, Lilschap, when I first found the forum, I'd spend hours reading the old posts. Now there are so many more, so you better get started! J/K. Really though, use the search bar heavily, there aren't many questions that haven't been answered. I felt I really absorbed so much knowledge by following the full threads on the topics that interested me. That would lead to more questions in my head, then back to the search bar. I'm not trying to discourage you from asking questions, by all means, do, I just know that that learning style worked really well for me.

[Boofer]

Good advice, Brian.

What I found helpful too was checking what others were perusing. Some stuff came up from a couple years ago that I was interested in now but I wasn't back then. If you have close to 200 folks (179 as I type)  looking at stuff in here daily, chances are they are going to unearth interesting threads.

-Boofer-

[Lilschap]

Thank you for the suggestions. As we type I have been using the search bar heavily this weekend.

I may get some gouda going today!!

[smilingcalico]

Good for you, a cheese to get you started!