Hello from Sunnyvale Calif

[scasnerkay]

My name is Susan. I started making cheese this past summer after receiving the Basic Cheese Kit from New England Cheesemaking. After using up the cultures provided in the kit, I ordered more from the same source. I would guess I have made about 15 pressed cheeses so far with farmhouse cheddar, gouda, caerphilly, jack, feta, and romano, some a few times.  I have used a combination of recipes from this forum, cheesemaking.com, and from "Little Green Cheese" blog. Mostly I have been pleased with the flavor outcomes, though the cheeses are often more dry and crumbly than I want.  I have not managed to wait longer than 9 weeks before trying a cheese, because I just can't stand to wait more than that. (I have resisted opening the romano still.)
I have been using a particular brand of past/hom milk, adding calcium chloride (1/2 tsp for 2 gallons). I have learned to better manage the cutting and stirring of curd, and am more familiar with what curds look like as they express the whey and shrink up. I am happy with getting a nice smooth appearance on the cheese in the press with well knitted curd, and I have converted my son's dorm frig for aging. I so far have not had many problems.
But I would really like to figure out how to get a creamier, more melting cheese!

[smilingcalico]

Gouda makes a great melter.  It sounds like you might want to look up the flocculation method to learn about making your cheese more moist.  Welcome to the forum.

[Cheese Head]

Welcome!

I have same problem of eating my cheeses and drinking my beers too early!

If you search the forum on crumbly you'll find several threads that should help.

Also, some info here on floc method of determining when to cut rennet coagulated milk.

Happy New Year!