Hi, I have 10 milk goats and want to build a "cheese making room" into my barn and am curious as to what kind of equipment I will need. I'm basically starting from scratch and I don't even have the room plumbed yet, so I'm totally open to all ideas.
I'd like to make hard goat cheeses (cheddar, gouda etc), which I can age in a basement/cheese cave. I'd like to be able to do this with decent quality and consistency.
I'll be milking anywhere from 3-10 milk goats at a time.
I can have plumbing for a sink if need be.
So what kind of equipment should I be looking for? A pasturizer? Cheese vat? Press? Countertop space? A heat source if I want to wax them? I'd like to spend under around $2,000 or so for the project, but that's flexible. I'll be doing a ton of research on actually making quality cheeses, but I'd like to get equipment soon (and would like to know how big of a sink to get, or what other equipment to get now), so that I don't make any mistakes early on that are hard to un-do.
Thank you so much for your time and I appreciate all answers!