Starter Cheesemaking - Minimal Equipment Needed

[DeejayDebi]

For the last few weekends have been experimenting making cheeses in my sink using only tap for the heat source and a chaffing dish or a pot for the vat just to prove you don't need fancy equipment to make cheese.

I did crank up my hot water heater to 140 degrees for a few hours as it is normally set for 120 - 125 degrees.  I made 3 different washed curd cheeses for the trial. Last weekend I made a 2 gallon Raclette, last night I made a Leyden and tonight I am making a port salut which made with fairly low temperatures.

For higher temperature cheese making you could always add boiling water from a teapot of sauce pan.

I am just trying to remove the belief that you need to spend a ton of money to make cheese. The spatchula and whisk I use were $4 at the dollar store, the thermometer was around ten, the sanitizer cup was recycled from a trip to KFC I think it was my sons soda pop cup but it the perfect size for my tools and the weights are empty milk jugs filled with water sitting on a cutting board. Oh and the mould was $30 from Dairy Connection.

[MarkShelton]

I think this could be a good post for new members to see, that way it won't be as daunting to start. Get them started on the basics, without worrying them about presses and pH meters and such.

[DeejayDebi]

That was the point of the post. Everyone comes in kind of worried that they will have to spend a lot of money to get started. I know a few people that put it off for years just just that reason. All the books speak tell about the expensive presses and moulds and we tend to speak of things we have collected over time. I t can be very basic and simple.

I plan to construct a simple soft-semihard mould from a $3 jug for cerial I bought today as an example hopefully this weekend.

[justsocat]

Very good of you Debi to start that! I'm sure it is very encouraging for many persons who think of getting started.
For several months before i'd hit this forum i didn't even new than pH must be measured in cheesemaking. But nevertheless most of the cheeses i made were eatable and even tasty sometimes I guess everybody here remember how great it was to eat the very first cheese made by him(her)self. Though that was probably not an exact cheddar, gouda etc., but that definitely was the Cheese! What a joy!

[deb415611]

Great post Debi! 

I wish I could fit a chafing dish in my sink . 

[cmharris6002]

Before got my turkey fryer set up I always made cheese in a sink hot water bath  I use a ss stock pot since I don't have a chafing dish.

[Alex]

You hit the point Debi!
That's the way I make cheese since I started. I'm trying to stay close to the origin as much as I can. I don't use industrial starter cultures, I don't own a pH meter and I'll never buy one. The people who started making cheese didn't have one either, nor a thermometer. The point is that earlier, people who started the cheese making, made only one type of cheese and that was mastered by them. We, smart a...s, want to make every cheese ever made, so, we have not much choice but to imitate industrial procedures. As Pavel said, the time the cheese is a home made one and we eat it (not just for the sake of not tossing it), this is a very pleasing achievement as a hobbyist. IMHO, it's not a must to exactly reproduce the same time of cheese each time we make it. Let's make it for fun, as for me, being threatend all the time by those scary pH readings, is very discouraging. Salting (especially over salting) was the only issue I had to master and today I am on the right track.

So, new cheese makers, start making cheese with the most simple and minimal equipment, it worth it.

[MrsKK]

When I started out, I used a deep fryer basket as my mold, and plastic gallon jars filled with sand and water (sand is heavier!) as weights.  I did buy cultures to start out with, then discovered that buttermilk and yogurt are excellent cultures.  Since I make yogurt regularly anyway, it was basically free!

If I would have HAD to buy everything to get started with making cheese, I never would have.  My budget doesn't allow for money to be spent on a hobby that I might not like.  I have to start simple or I won't get started at all.

Someday, I will have a cheese cave (thermostatic controlled old refrigerator), but for now I age in a cabinet in my basement over the winter and the cheeses go in the regular fridge when it gets too warm in the basement.  It takes even longer to age that way, but I'm learning patience here.

[DeejayDebi]

Well I have to say that for many many (about 28) years I did it ths way. In fact I think that's still the same pot I started with. It's an old Revere Ware Proline copper bottom pot. I don't even know if they still make them.

I use my hands to stir and feel the curds and I find that about 113 degrees it starts to get uncomfortable. I and taste my curds to see if they are firm enough, sour, bitter or whatever. When they feel right and taste right they are done. It always works for me. I've checked my senses against the pH meter and I am generally right on in my instints. I did and do use a themometer for themophilic cheeses but more often than not I use my old tried and true taylor dial thermometers.

Unfortunately as you can see by the photos I have a very small sink and only one. The 4 gallon chaffing dish fits but the 7 gallon doesn't. It just shaped a little different somehow.

I think many of us are on the same page here. It doesn't have to be rocket science and it doesn't have to be expensive but it should be fun. I find that in trying to make this hobby more technical - for me at least it was loosing some of it's charm. I enjoy helping people - that's what I do best but I don't know if I am helping anybody by trying to complicate a very simple process.

[Alex]

That's unfair Debi, you read my thoughts and take words out of my mouth.

Karen, you too.

[DeejayDebi]

Sorry Alex ... 

[Brie]

Geez--I remember my first cheese press--an old dresser (10 pounds), three gallons of water on top (24 pounds), and me holding it all into place for the required 8 hours. There are much better first-time efforts than mine, as I have read on this forum. Ah, hindsight...

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Great post Debi.

Compared to you guys, I am on the lazy side. My first equipments were these bought from the internet. The only thing I added was an 8 litres double boiler from the cheap shop which I am realy happy with.

Anyway, it is a hobie for me and I like to spend money on my hobies.  (As long as I have high WAF  )