Lots of questions. Would love some help

[Reggae]

I hope I've put this in the right category as this one seemed to fit the best.

Hi, I'm new here and my family is looking at being more self-sustaining which is why we've turned to making cheese at home. I've purchased the book Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll and while I'm still reading, I do have some questions.

Before I list what I have and what I THINK I need. Here are the cheeses I plan on mainly working on before really working on others. (and needing to buy stuff like wax, etc...) Queso Blanco, Gouda, Mozzarella, Parmesan, Ricotta, Colby, Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Swiss, Provolone.

Here are the items I have (some may or may not be needed for what I'm experimenting with)

I feel the things I do need to buy are:
Butter Muslim
Cheese Cloth (Reusable)
Cheese Coloring
Cheese Cultures
Curd Knife
Molds & Followers
Perforated Ladle
Rennet

Things that I have already are:
Bowls
Colander
Measuring Cups (Glass)
Measuring Spoons (SS)
Pots
Scale
Thermometers

What do YOU think that I'm missing or may/may not need?

Some questions

Do I need a press? This seems like a pretty expensive piece of equipment to start out???

What types of molds do I need for the above cheeses? Most seem to be round and while I'm sure I can use a variety of shapes, guess I always picture stuff like cheddar in a rectangle block. Do you have recommendations of places to purchase them at a reasonable price or should I look at making them myself?

I have stainless steel pots but by far my favorites are "commercial" grade aluminum pots. Would these be ok to use?

Thanks for all the help and look forward to hearing your responses!

[Cheese Head]

Reggae, welcome, whole bunch of questions .

My advice:

• The cheeses you want to make are all over the map except for the simpler draining cheeses like Cream Cheese & Feta. Easier to start with simple cheeses, and easier if you stick to and perfect a couple of cheeses (OK I need to follow my own advice).
• There's a sticky post in the Intro Board for those new to cheese making.
• There's some great info on this website, equipment is down at the bottom.
• Rather than buy everything for all the ranges of your cheeses, I'd start off with some basics: Cheese cloth, food grade mats, and molds/hoops of some sort, I use  a step ladder as weight rather than a press, works fine for lighter pressed cheeses like Gouda & Colby, but not for heavier pressed cheddar. Curd knife you could just use a long thin bread knife.
• On a vat for milk, most people go stainless and use stockpots, size depends on size of your batch. Most people seem to go bigger over time as same time to make small or large batch. Aluminum is not common due to the high acidity in some cheese making.
• On hoops for pressing cheeses, many have made their own out of PVC pipe and cutting boards for followers. If money is no object then go for the Kadova molds. Draining type molds you really need to buy, but looks like you don't want to make feta or Camembert etc.
• Your biggest equipment problem for the some of the cheeses you want to make will be a cheese cave for aging them, lots of info on them in that board.
• On ingredients, you can use start with buttermilk and yogurt for lactic acid starter cultures. You will definitely have to buy rennet somewhere, depends where you are in the world. Annatto is by far the most common colourant, generally only available from cheese supply stores.
• Our listing of supply stores is here.

Hope helps . . .

[Reggae]

Awesome. Thanks for the informative and quick reply!

I'm in St. Louis, MO

I don't really plan on trying to do all of these cheeses in a short span of time but these will be the ones I work towards mastering. I will probably start out with Mozzarella. I also do a lot of smoked foods so I plan on a lot of stuff like Smoked Cheddar, Smoked Mozzarella & Provolone down the line but need to obviously work towards that goal.

If I'm eventually going to want to do cheddar (the family favorite), I'm guessing it would be wise to invest in a press if I come across a good deal since I'll be wanting to do gouda, colby, etc...anyway.

As far as the cheese cloths, I see quite a few differences. I don't ever buy my cheesecloth a grocery store. I always buy it at the fabric store. It's cheap as dirt and I'm wondering if I need to buy reusable.

I didn't see that sticky so I'll go back and look again. Thanks!

[Cheese Head]

Welcome!

• Moz is a tough cheese to start with, I think Mrs KK's recipe is the most popular on that board.
• A few people here have smoked cheeses, Search on Smoke and you will get a bunch of hits.
• Here's a picture of the two Gouda's pressing in the living room right now . Lots of people here build their own press.
• You'll probably want a range of cheesecloths, fairly air and yet strong if you want to try a draining cheese like American style Neufchatel, or thin for lining molds when pressing. As you say it's cheap, but I reuse mine, just goes in the washing machine and dryer with cloths, my only problem is that some shrink in one direction depending on weave and are no longer square.

If you are not in a rush, I suspect other members will reply over the next couple days with their advice. Cheers!

[DeejayDebi]

Molds can be made from PVC pipe and cheap dollar store cutting boards cut for folloers for a few dollars with a few tools.

Pressing can be done with buckets of water. Things around your house. I am always being teased about using #10 cans of tomatoes or beans and balancing them in my sink on a cutting board.

You need a large stainless steel, glass or enamel pot without chips big enough to fit the milk in. Some people have used roasting pans, crock pots, double boilers, kegs, I use a chaffing dish warmer.

I am also a big smoker and sausage maker. I run a website and forum to that effect. There a link in my signature.

What I am trying to say is you don't have to spebd a lot of money unless you want to.

[humble_servant7]

Good thread.

Quick question though.
I just happened to stumble across this Ricki Carroll cheese press and plan on buying it:
http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/p/48-Cheese-Press-with-5-FREE-Cultures-C1-C101-C2-C201-C33-.html

I take it from the description that this thing comes with the molds, correct?
So once I buy  there would be no need to buy molds unless I was looking for a mold with a specific design in mind for a specific cheese--such as Crottins, etc., correct?

And this term "follower" always escapes e. I see no mention of such a thing on Ricki Carroll's website-- so I take it that that comes with the press also?

[DeejayDebi]

Ouch! Pricey! Keep in mind that you will be limited to small cheeses with that press for a big price.

The stainless molds is nice but you can buy those in any size you want here

If you prefer to buy one instead of make one I highly recoomed the dutch press Here

It will grow with you and leave you with lots of money left to by molds and cultures. There are several presses here you can build for very little money that will be better in the long run.

Here is a basic tutorial I did for an eBook I am working on for making a dutch press and a cheese mold from PVC pipe it will make more sense when you look at the pictures.

[Cheese Head]

Humble, just to add to Deby's reply. The press you linked uses a screw that as the whey is expelled and the cheese shrinks, the spring is relaxed, so you have to screw it down again. A better design is constant pressure, Deby's link to one above is fairly simple, depending on hoop area and cheese type you may not need much, this is what I use . If you read through a bunch of posts in this board you will get many ideas. If you are inclined quite a few are easy to make, also, they show up on EBay type places.

On molds & hoops, you can never have enough, plus over time it seems like you want larger ones! Followers are just the disks that you use to push the curd's down through the hoop with.

[SueVT]

Hi there,

I agree with most of what's been said.... but not the part about PVC.  Jim Wallace told me absolutely Not, it will leach pthalates into your cheese....

You can google it, I copied this from blisstree.com:  You can read more about the health and environmental dangers of PVC at www.besafe.net, a website of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ).  When alternatives are readily available, why use something that releases chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects? (Source for PVC dangers info is CHEJ).  Several large companies have already developed PVC phase-out plans, meaning they will sell far fewer products (and packaging) containing PVC. Some of these companies include Wal-Mart, Honda, Microsoft, Mattel and Sony, among others.

So basically I do not have any PVC pipes made into cheese forms...
And, I feel strongly that you should totally avoid aluminum because it will release material into the acidic mixture, and stick with stainless steel.. 

Best regards,
Sue

[MrsKK]

Start out with really inexpensive things first, to make sure that cheesemaking is really what you want to do.  Fankhauser's cheese page has some excellent ideas for going the simplified route.  Here's a link to his page on pressing cheese:  http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese_5_gallons/Cheese_press/PRESS_SETUP_00.htm

Once you make a few cheeses, you'll know if you want to spend more money and where you want to spend it.

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

MrsKK
Dr. Fankhouser is my hero. I think I have read his web site from top to bottom when I was starting. I used his idea of home made cheese press.

Reggae, What you need is already said. Another thing to think about what will happen when you want to increase the capacity. I have an 8 litres bain-marie pot and a press that can take only 1Kg curd. I would like to double my production but too much money to spend and certainly WAF is getting low.

Think about how much litres of milk you are going to process and what is your target diameter for cheese wheels then go and shop based on the advices here.

If I knew what I know now, I would get one of those air pressurised presses (sorry the website not working ATM http://www.thecheesewhey.com ) and various sizes of molds.

You may also need a digital pH meter/strips and/or titratable acidity kit in the future.

Also, the big requirement is a notebook to record what you have done. So invest on a good one 

[humble_servant7]

Humble, just to add to Deby's reply. The press you linked uses a screw that as the whey is expelled and the cheese shrinks, the spring is relaxed, so you have to screw it down again. A better design is constant pressure, Deby's link to one above is fairly simple, depending on hoop area and cheese type you may not need much, this is what I use . If you read through a bunch of posts in this board you will get many ideas. If you are inclined quite a few are easy to make, also, they show up on EBay type places.

On molds & hoops, you can never have enough, plus over time it seems like you want larger ones! Followers are just the disks that you use to push the curd's down through the hoop with.

Beautiful press John.

What type is that?

[humble_servant7]

If you prefer to buy one instead of make one I highly recoomed the dutch press Here

It will grow with you and leave you with lots of money left to by molds and cultures. There are several presses here you can build for very little money that will be better in the long run.

Excellent post, Debi and thank you.

Would you recommend this dutch style press as the one to buy or something better?

I'm not too good with my hands, so I'd rather buy than build.

[DeejayDebi]

In that case you better buy one. It's still cheaper than the screw press. AND you'll have enough leftover to buy a nice stainless mold or kadova mold besides!