Brought new cheese cave home today

[Susan38]

This might be boring to read for you experienced cheesemakers out there...*fair warning* 
Thus far my cheese cave has been a picnic cooler (only able to handle about 4 2-lb cheeses) with replenished ice once per day during fall/winter...but now that we're into spring/summer it's getting to be twice a day.  Time to get a new cheese cave.

So after searching the internet and this forum I made the 80 mile trip into "town" to get either a wine frig or a small freezer...I decided a small frig would not meet my needs.  I went to several stores and saw what they had available.... of course there were pluses and minuses with each.  Several hours later (and long story short) had to make a trip to Costco and lo and behold they had a 4.4 cubic feet frig with no freezer on sale.  Not exactly what I wanted, glass shelves and such, but the price was 30% off so it got my attention.  After stocking up with other supplies, I went back to the frig and noticed there were no boxed ones, just the floor model.  I inquired with a sales manager and he confimed with the sale they were out of stock and even the *nearby stores* had none either.  He said the only option was the floor model, which had some scratching on the surface so he knocked it down to about 60% cost.  Couldn't resist.

So now I have a huge space for 16-20 cheeses?  Just need to get the temperature controller and will be still many $$ ahead compared to getting a wine frig.  Yes there are other issues but for the cost I am very happy and did not know I would have a space for that many cheeses so soon.  Paying attention closely now to awakephd's cheese make schedule to keep those cheeses coming out on a regular basis.

Thanks for listening.     Susan38

[awakephd]

Sounds like you got a great deal! Any pictures?

[TravisNTexas]

Yes, post pictures!  Sounds like you got a great deal!  I have a similar little fridge in my office that will eventually become a second cheese cave.  I currently have a thermoelectric wine fridge that I bought scratch and dent that matches the fridge that I use for cigars   A second cave would be great, since I could separate cheeses.

[Susan38]

Well I will photo document what I come up with when it is done!  First challenge was to find a space in my smallish house with lots of wool processing equipment.  With that under my belt, am now trying to get a temperature controller (there sure are a lot of models out there!)

[ArnaudForestier]

Consider this boy jealous.  I would die for a freezerless fridge.  Way to go, Susan, can't wait to see it in action!

[rukiddingme]

Awesome news. Let us know how it turns out.

[Susan38]

Today I put my cheeses in the new cave!  It's up and running now.  I still have to fiddle around with the final setup, but have attached pics below to share, as promised.

Ended up with Inkbird ITC-608T temp/rh controller.  So far I'm very happy with it.  Right now I'm using it to monitor and control temp, and monitor rh.  For now I'm either waxing cheeses or putting them in small containers, so rh in the whole unit is not a huge concern.  It's actually going up to 75% on its own, then will back down to just under 50% after I open the door.

The frig itself has been on for about a week, and the only condensation thus far is minor, and is showing up on the upper back (vertical) wall...not on the ceiling, so I hope to not have water dripping down on cheeses.  I imagine when I add a humidifier I will have to revisit this potential issue.  Temp controller is working very well, and staying in the range I have selected for it.

Until I can get other shelving, I'm using the existing glass ones with stainless steel cookie racks and an enameled top of a broiler pan, topped with the plastic cheese mats, to keep air circulating under cheeses.  With 4.4 cubic feet of space and only 2 cheeses aging, I'm storing a lot of milk/cheese processing equipment in the door and bottom shelf.

The glass unit on the top shelf is one of my finest acquisitions...a cheese preserver (from Maytag Dairies, but there are used ones for sale on eBay and similar sites).  It holds a 2 lb. cheese, and has a molded trivet in it so you can add water if needed for higher humidity.  It keeps cheeses nicely in the frig as well as the aging cave.  Right now I'm using it to store a Colby in waxed paper in a regular frig as we whittle away at eating it, but it works really well for aging a natural rind cheese in a cave.

So I think I've explained everything in the pics...and now I just need to get this cave filled with more cheeses! 

[TravisNTexas]

Awesome Susan! 

[Susan38]

Well a brief update to say, yes adding thermal mass to an otherwise "empty" cave does indeed keep the desired temperature at bay without un-necessary on-off cycling of the frig.  Had to add a lot of water/wine bottles to the shelves to accomplish this.  Thanks to a lot of previous posts for this good tidbit of info.  (Now the pressure is on to replace water/wine bottles with cheeses to provide the desired thermal mass).