Well I made a 2 US gallon cow's milk based blue cheese over the weekend. This morning, took off the cheesecloth, very stinky, signs don't look good for my cheese. I need to increase my cheese making hygiene level, starting with cheese cloth cleaning.
Currently, my wife has washed my muslin cheese cloths in with whites in laundry washing and drying machines. Is this enough or do others do something different?
we do the same as you except when getting ready to reuse we sterilize in boiling water
as of yet no problems. hope that helps
reg
I know this is an old, old post, but I thought it worth adding a note.
The local cheese making guru from whom I took my first class recommended soaking used cheesecloth in hot water with a squirt of dish washing detergent and 1/4 cup of baking soda. She was not specific about how much water, but i would guess a quart of so. After soaking, wash in a clothes washing machine and dryer or by hand.
Using baking soda helps the cheese proteins bound to the cloth to release and come free. This avoids "baking on" the proteins in the dryer, or letting them build up if air drying.
I would also boil or at least re-wash the cloth right before the next use.
That is similar to what I do. I hand wash in a large bowl of very hot soapy water, several clean water rinses,and air dry. Just before I use them I boil them just to make sure there is nothing hiding in the cloth. I was interested in the baking soda use. I had not heard that before.
I use a two-stage approach to address two separate issues: cleaning and sanitation. For cleaning, I try to make sure that the proteins aren't stuck, so I use a commercial percarbonate cleaner (like this one http://www.dwinesupplies.com/dws/productList.asp?sn=&catID=1&child=71 (http://www.dwinesupplies.com/dws/productList.asp?sn=&catID=1&child=71)). It's basically bulk oxyclean. After a soak in that and boiling water, I rinse and store.
To sanitize, I first dunk in boiling water, and then use an iodophor or bleach solution. I hand wash only, but suppose it would be OK to wash in the machine with percarbonate as the detergent.
Its the washing machine and line dry my gauze cloths but then I boil them for 10 minutes and dry them in the sun. I then store them in a sterile gallon glass jar with a lid. That way they are at hand without any further treatment at cheese making time.
I wash mine by hand as soon as I get done with them with a bit of dishsoap then soak them in One Step sanitizer/Cleanser for about 10 minutes. Before using I put them in boiling water.
My cheese maker aka. my wife boils the washed cheese cloth for 10 minutes! That should kill all the germs. Never had any problems!
Cheers
Peter
Hi, I soak mine in washing soda crystals mixed with cold water, I often have about 6 at a time when I do my cheese workshops, then after a few hours I rinse them off thoroughly and air dry. Has worked well so far.
What are "washing soda crystals"?
Mistake- Don't tumble dry several cheese cloths together.
Mine got tangled and ripped. One alone works great.
StarSan soaking is a good way to sanitize. Not sure how many here use Starsan, but as a homebrewere I discovered this stuff and have been kept bacteria free so far after 50+ batches of beer. It's not only reusable and thorough, it is quick as well - 2 minutes of soak will so the job (someone said 30 seconds on a brew forum, but I wait a tad longer).
This may seem like a strange comment but if you know anyone who is alergic to shell fish (like I am) be careful when purchasing sanitizers.
Some sanitizers contain iodine which is apparently the thing that makes us alergic to shell fish. I found out by accident when I first started brewing beer. Iodophor contains iodine and sent me to the emergency room!
While I am at it - also becareful of certain medical tests that make you drink liquid crap first some of them contain iodine also.
Washing soda crystals is what it says on the box, contains 44 per cent sodium carbonate, made here in nz, found in washing powder section of supermarket.
Interesting WF thank you.
StarSan is one of my latest discoveries too. I love the stuff! I fill up my stock pot with water and a tiny bit of StarSan and then add all of my utinsils, cheese cloth, etc. After that, I dump it into the next stock pot and repeat.
~Cindy
YUP! That's the way to do it. You can reuse the stuff for a LONG time, too, if you keep it clean. When it becomes dirty, it smells awful, so clean everything well before sanitizing.
I've used it to sanitize cheese cloth and it works well. I believe.
It's well worth the price. I've got one bottle which is half used, 32 oz bottle I believe, and after 50 5 gallon brewings and some cheese work I've barely scratched off $9 of expense to safely sanitize. Incredible.