Hello! I just started making cheese a few months ago and I was excited to find this forum and all the knowledge here. I've already made a few fresh cheeses that turned out great, ~4 attempts at mozzarella that were all edible (still some bugs to figure out), and 2 batches of cheese curds. I don't really have anywhere to age cheese right now, so I'm planning to stick with young cheeses while I build up my skills.
And now for some bragging. I'm lucky to have access to both unhomogenized milk (~$8/gal), and raw milk (~$15/gal) from a nearby supermarket. Although I've only splurged for the unhomogenized milk once.
Hello! I'm already impressed by your ~4 successes of mozzarella :-) Cheese curds are great too! A couple of people here (myself included) use a picnic cooler as a "cheese cave". I put frozen plastic drink bottles in a couple of times a day. At the moment we're getting highs of about 35 C (95 F) with lows of about 28 C (82.4), so I'm swapping out 2 bottles in the morning and evening, but I'm using a very cheap picnic cooler (it cost me $15 new ;-) ). I also have it wrapped in essentially a space blanket (to keep condensation in) and then in a normal blanket. It's a bit of a pain in the summer, but it works surprisingly well. In the winter I barely have to do anything.
But young cheeses sound like an awesome plan anyway :-D Looking forward to hearing about the cheeses you make!
I'll add my welcome - definitely a great place to learn and to share. We like pictures of cheese, hint, hint ... :)
Greetings, Fellow Californian! This is a great time of year to make some of the fresh cheeses...like paneer, ricotta, queso blanco, and mozz...I am currently working on some of the "bugs" of my mozz makes, too! (And eating a lot of homemade pizza!) So welcome and I'm sure that you will find a lot of helpful guidance, as I have, within this forum.
I didn't think of posting pictures, thanks for the hint. This was part of my first batch of cheese curds. The second batch were a bit more "organic" in shape as I started to better understand the cheddaring process.
Also, don't get too jealous of my mozzarella. I said I had 4 edible attempts, not (complete) successes. Only one of those was really recognizable as mozzarella. One of them that I shredded/crumbled onto a pizza didn't even melt. Another one melted in the refrigerator. :p So I'm all over the place. Now that I'm a bit more consistent and I understand what I'm doing a little better, I'm going to start taking notes.
I can pick up a small wine refrigerator around here for not too much money. But I'm just taking things slowly for now. I like to see what I can do with a minimum of tools.
Those look yummy! A Cheese For You! (Sometimes abbreviated AC4U and it means someone gives you a thumbs up, which in turn adds a "cheese" to your user).
Welcome from another bay area resident! I live in Sunnyvale.
It seems to me that you are off to a great start!!
Greetings and congrats on your journey into the wonderful world of cheese!