Hi,
I'm Jay from Tasmania, I'm a newbie that want to make some cheese this Easter break, i have collected all my gear and built what i could to assist in making cheese (a cheese press) I've got two culture's and want to make sure there the right ones to use, here a couple of photo's of my home built press and the cultures.
Hi Jay, welcome to the forum. The cultures you have there M235 is typically called Flora Danica and the LH is Aromatic Thermophile called Lactobacillus Helveticus. While I've never made one with these you could make cheddar with a mixture of both. The issue you might face though is that the Flora Danica (FD) is not a particularly high producer of acid and it is not as fast as the others. The LH also being a thermophile will not produce alot of acid (will help in the maturing of the cheese however) either due to the lower cooking Temperature that Cheddars go to - usually only to 39 Deg C. If you go any higher you will kill off the FD. So, yes, theoretically you can make Cheddar with these. Instead of 1/8tsp of culture as I have on the make sheets I would go for a heaped 1/4 tsp of FD and half that amount of the LH and see how you go.
I have made a few cheddars here are a few links
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,14889.0.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,14889.0.html)
this one is probably the more complete with Pics and the make sheet.
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,15210.0.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,15210.0.html)
Do you have a ph Meter ?..
Best of luck... and don't be afraid to ask if you get into trouble - it is only cheese after all.
Mal
Thank you for the Welcome and reply, I think i may just purchase the right culture first, as it is my first attempt and do not want to wait 6-12 mths not to be happy with my result. heres a couple of photo's of my aging cave (temp controlled fridge) it goes between 9.6c to 11.3c I try to keep it closer to aging temp but the seems to drop to far below the correct temp so its seems to be a trade off as goes just below to just above, yes i do have a pH meter I use for making beer.
Cool, another Tassie cheesemaker!
If you are close to the North West, might be able to help with cultures etc.
I'm in the central north, up from Beaconsfield.
I say make a feta with 1 gallon of milk and the flora Danica ( m235) while you are waiting for the other cultures to come in .
Feta is easy and hard to go too acid which kills most cheeses , and it will be your first cheese , so expect that you do things wrong or forget things and you can taste all those mistakes and or successes in the first few days to a week after making .
The first few cheeses there is so much going on and timing of so many things , that it is best to not have much time invested in a cheese before you can taste it or toss it.
Happy cheese making
As you will have gathered from the other replies, these would probably not be the cultures of choice for Cheddar, but they should work, particularly if you follow Mal's advice.
I get my cultures from the same source as you and I would go for the MTR4 for Cheddar. If you go to their website, you will find a chart showing which cultures to use for which cheeses. You will find the cultures you have will be useful for a range of other cheeses.
For something quick and easy with these cultures, you could try a Tomme or Caciotta.
With the fridge, do you have an external thermostat or are you relying on the fridge's internal thermostat
One cheese I make with Flora Danica is a Caerphilly - this one uses another culture but FD works just as well just use a heaped 1/8th teaspoon
although this make uses a different culture, its the same method
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,13806.0.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,13806.0.html)
This cheese matures in about 4-5 weeks. Have fun
I use Green Living Australia as my supplier - postage is a bit stiff but I'm thinking that being in Tassie high postage cost is probably something you can't escape from no matter who you use.
http://greenlivingaustralia.com.au/ (http://greenlivingaustralia.com.au/)
Mal