Natural rind

[Cartierusm]

The main part is getting a pot you don't mind destroying. Dave goto Good will or a thrift shop, or whatever is near you. Get a pot that's about 10" high and 11" wide, just in case you want to do bigger cheese later on. Then buy about 15 pounds or more of wax. I don't know how much I used but it could have been as much as 30 pounds. I've had this cheese wax for 8 years. I had black, red and clear, I mixed them all together to get that deep purple.

Then get some 1" wide aluminum flat bar, 1/8" thick and bend it. If you go with Waynes' way you can do smaller cheese with my bigger wheels the nubs I originally used to hold up the cheese like Wayne pushed through the cheese. But then again Wayne's cheese always look as though they are way firmer and more solid than mine, so who knows.

As a side note if you've been reading my progress or should I say regress on my 15 gal. farmhouse cheddar. I definately think that not having holes in the side of my mold and not using cheese cloth lead to the excess moisture in my cheddar. I did in that cheese use cheese cloth but there were no holes in the side of the mold, now there are.

[wharris]

As you can see I hand dip the bottoms first:


I let that dry, then place it wax down on my wax dipper.

This time i kept the wax pretty damn hot.  that made the wax flow thinner, and let me coat the cheese with a thinner film of wax.  I like that better than the big heavy, thick coat.

My cheese is not really that much firmer than anyone elses.  My first attempt with the waxing tool, I used the bare bolts (3/16th), and they punched 4 nice neat holes in my cheese.  My next attempt was with the nuts on the ends of those bolts.  Bingo. I still have to wait for it to cool and then flip the cheese over on its back and brush a pea sixed blop of wax into the 4 bare spots.

[wharris]

From a cheddar standpoint, i think that from now on I will wax as soon as the skin has dried. 

I sampled some cheddar from 12/1/08. I vacuum sealed that wheel very soon after the surface dried.  I took it out today and the surface of the cheese was wet with whey, but the interior of the cheese was WONDERFULLY moist and creamy texture. The cheese melted in your mouth. 

[DeejayDebi]

I've had good luck rubbing using a heavily salted brine with a piece of cheese cloth for the first few days and just salt every day for the next week on my Asiagos, Parmesans and Dry Romanos.