New from Colorado

[B e n]

Good morning. I live in Frederick, CO. I attempted cheese a long time ago but ultimately decided not to pursue it. I have been a brewer for years, but have found myself drinking less and less beer. I figure this is a good way to fill the void.

I am really more interested in soft ripened cheeses and hard cheeses, but I will start with some Feta and cottage cheese. Fortunately I can build most of the equipment I need, but still have a lot of questions on equipment. For now I ordered the Gianaclis Caldwell book on artisan cheese making and have been reading what I can find on the net. It seems like this will be a good journey.

[mikekchar]

Hi Ben!  I think you'll enjoy it and it sounds like you are going in exactly the right direction :-)  I was a brewer for years and years, but gave it up when I moved to Japan.  It's illegal in Japan to brew beer without a commercial license.  It doesn't stop most people, but since it could potentially affect my immigration status, I figured it's not a thing I should play with.  I switched to cheese and was rewarded with the most fascinating hobby.  Easily 10x as interesting as beer.  The main problem is that apart from Caldwell's book, there are very few resources that have good technical information.  Quite a lot of the information out there is just dead wrong.  You can kind of liken it to homebrewing in the late 1970's.  Some great pioneers have given us a leg up, but there is a *long* way to go!  The other difficult bit is that while the science of beer making is relatively well understood, the science of cheese making is still quite elusive.  Nobody knows exactly how casein is bound up, for example.  You'll probably find yourself with a lot of questions and a lot of contradictory answers.  Luckily our own home labs are easy to experiment in :-)  And that's without even thinking about the artistry of the craft.  I hope you'll have a lot of fun!