Introduction and Thank You

[Susan38]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post in the forum, and am starting with a huge Thanks to you all for your contributions.  I stumbled onto this site while desperately looking for answers to my many cheesemaking questions...and lurked here for about a month prior to joining.  I must say that for now all of my questions have been answered!  I'm sure I will have many more, but for now I have the information and confidence to proceed at a new level.  The detailed and professional questions, information, and answers provided in this forum are truly impressive. 

As for me and my interest here, I've been dabbling in cheesemaking off and on for the past 3 years with Jersey milk.  I live in an area with widely fluctuating temperatures and humidity ranges between 15 and 30%, so some cheesemaking processes can be challenging at times.  With perseverance, I have finally produced some great cream cheeses, 2 farmhouse Cheddars, 2 Jacks, 1 Gouda and 1 Colby.  These are the cheese types I am going to focus on until I can get the flavors exactly as I want them, so my future posts will likely be under these categories.  I believe I am dealing with excess acidity issues, but with some recipe tweaking I have high hopes for future makes!

Because of the suspected acidity issues (slightly dry and sour results) my interests are delving into the acidity/pH topic so my posts will likely pop up in that category in the near future, although I have learned so much about this from the forum as well as Ms. Caldwell's book "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking".

Looking forward to "talking cheese" with you in the future!  --Susan

[awakephd]

Susan, welcome to the forum! This is definitely the place to come for help.

Do you have a pH meter? It is the single most expensive thing I have bought for this cheesemaking madness hobby - around $100 for an Extech, which is about the cheapest of the ones that seem to have sufficiently good results to recommend. The Hanna meters are supposed to be better, but they are priced accordingly. With my Extech, I have had to learn how to use it to get consistent results, but it has greatly improved my making of any cheeses where the pH is a factor!

[TravisNTexas]

Welcome to the forum Susan!

[Susan38]

Thanks to you both!

As for the pH meter, of course I do not have one (yet), otherwise I probably wouldn't be having acidity issues!  I will be getting one and have you and others to thank for your recommendations and reviews of the various brands and models.

I've actually starting using the (relatively inaccurate) pH test strips, which is fine for now...because for now I am not asking "is the pH 6.35 or is it 6.15?"  Right now I'm at the level of "is it 6.1 or 4.1?" and the strips seem to be able to answer that question.  For example I recently discovered that with the cream cheese recipe I'm using, when the whey reaches pH of what the test strip calls 4.7, draining is done and it turns out the same each time.  However, my hard cheeses are another matter so I am looking forward to using a pH meter for help with that.   

Oh, and is this cheesemaking thing a hobby?  Somehow I was thinking it was a borderline obsession....

Susan

[Lenomnom]

Oh, and is this cheesemaking thing a hobby?  Somehow I was thinking it was a borderline obsession....

Susan

What's borderline about it?

[Susan38]

Ha ha ha.  Borderline refers to my current reluctance to admit that cheesemaking is a full-blown *total* obsession (although my level of interest is certainly trending in that direction)...S.