After being a beer homebrewer for years, I threw my hand to cheese.
A few days ago I made my first Gouda wheel...
At present, 2 Gouda are drying after brine, one is brining presently, and a fourth is waiting for a clean break.
Yeh.
Tomorrow I switch to 3 gallons of milk going to Camembert.
Can't wait to find out how they taste... in months. Living in a small town (38 people) in North Dakota farmland, you would imagine it easy to find good, fresh, local farm milk, but all the small milk farms have packed up in the surrounding 60 miles due to the wealth of land when used for crop production. All the dairy in the area is in Minnesota or farther west where the hillier land is used for huge grazing herds. Pity. So, I use regular whole milk from Sam's Club. -_-; Ach.
It's an exciting hobby: making food with more complex chemical preparation than normal cooking.
I'll be asking some questions about propagating bacteria. I have a full brewing set up with pressure cooker, agar glass dishes, etc. B. Linens is high on my list to propagate, since it is so expensive to buy.
Future cheeses I want to make in the next months: Cheddar, Havarti, Brie, Neufchatel.
It's great to find a forum with lots of information and enthusiastic craftsman!