Hello fellow Cheeselovers!
Mike here. I am new to cheesemaking and new to this forum. I have been a homebrewer (beer) for the past 17 years. I am educated and currently a microbiologist in my career. This past Dec my interest in cheese hit me to try and make it myself. I bought and have been reading and following the recipes in Home Cheesemaking by Rikki Carrol to build my understanding of this craft. I bought my cheesemaking ingredients from the New England Cheesemaking Company. I only have access to store bought whole milk thus far but it has worked great in my first two cheesemaking attempts.
I have made two cheeses thus far: First cheese was a Colby on 1/11/16 and a Gouda on 1/15/16. Today I waxed my Colby for aging and am currently brining my Gouda after pressing overnight. I am no cheese expert but am so excited to try my hand at making different cheeses. I am happy to find this forum and learn from the posts that are up so far. I look forward to making friends with you all and learning so much more about cheese and cheesemaking. I hope you all have a great day and weekend!!
Mike
Welcome to the Forum, Mike.
I'm located in Washington State not far from Seattle. There are several of us from this area: Boofer, Al Lewis, Soseattle, etc. Since you are a microbiologist (I have a degree in Chemical Engineering) you might want to get a copy of Caldwell's Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking (http://mastering%20artisan%20cheesemaking). Find it on Amazon. It goes into the science and technology of cheese making and brings in the importance of controls like pH meters. There is a lot of information there on cultures, yeasts, bacteria and the like that you'll "eat up" like most do on the Sunday morning sports page. ;)
Rikki Carrol has made great contributions to our craft but pitches her appeal mostly to people somewhat less serious than those who hang around here.
Welcome Mike!
Welcome, Mike, from a little ways south of you.