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Can I sanitize my equipment prior to cheesemaking using the dishwasher, and not opening the dishwasher til ready to make cheese? What do you think?

I do that sometimes when I am canning, with the jars, is why I am asking...

Thanks for your considered responses!

Should be plenty hot enough for cheese making

I use my dishwasher for my sanitizing and have never had a problem.


Susan

thank you thank you one less issue!

You definitely can. 
Babies bottles are of acceptable quality once put through the dishwasher.

I do mine in a dishwasher also but add some vinegar in the bottom also.  This also keeps a very clean dishwasher!

Excellent, thank you all!

I just need to ask. Wouldn't the chlorine from the tap water be a problem? Do you have a water filter running to your dishwasher to filter out the other things you don't want in there?

or does the water heat up high enough that it boils off the chlorine? if that's the case, i'm using the dishwater from now on

i have well water so chlorine not an issue. If anyone know the answer to this re: temp and chlorinated water, please respond!

I agree with you though, if I could just load the dishwasher and then take out all of my items and lay them out, wow, it would be great...rinse cycle might even do that...all prepped!

Could include muslin, perhaps, and even dishtowels...if they are sanitized I wouldn't mind putting damp dishtowels on the counter to hold utensils....

I've never had a problem with it. I just use my regular dishwasher setting plus some vinegar.

My guess - and please note it is a guess! - is that the heat of the drying cycle will gas off any chlorine. If the items are dry by the time you use them, I don't think you will have any chlorine issues.

That said ... for me the easy process is to put all of my utensils into my large cheesemaking pot with two or three inches of filtered water, and bring to boil. Boil 10 minutes. Remove to a clean cloth on a sanitized surface. (Yes, I've wondered whether the cloth could introduce problems - but none so far over several years of making cheese.) Note that I usually do not sanitize the colander, mold, plastic mesh, and cheese cloth at this point; instead, I wait until the make is 30-60 minutes from being ready to use these, and sanitize them with a separate pot of boiling water. The colander does not fit in the pot, so I "steam" it over the pot. Seems to work for me ...

While the above is happening, I pre-heat the milk by putting the jugs in the sink, and filling the sink with hot water. This saves significantly reduces the time for getting the milk up to the target temperature, so it is win-win for me.

I like your process too, Andy! 

Chlorine is very reactive  , that is why it it works to keep the water in the pipes safe to drink.  A few drops of water from the tap in a big vat of cultured milk will do nothing .

Mind you ... its just cheese - clean yes - sterilise is just not possible in the kitchen. 

My 'sanitisation' routine is

1. Put everything on counter tops  in the kitchen away
2. 25% household bleach - 75% water sprayed on the surfaces
3. Left for 5 minutes
4. Wipe surfaces down with a new chux wipe using hot water
5. Place clean tea towels on the work surfaces.

-- most of you all have seen my kitchen

6. Put all the Spoons, Curd knife, colander, Thermometer probes, cheese cloths into the smaller pot - boil in about 2 inches of water for 10 minutes.
7. take out the above stuff and place on the clean tea towels.
8. Transfer the boiling water to the larger pot and wash it out.

in 6 years of home cheese making, never had a cross contamination issue !

Be clean - agreed,  but no need to be manic about it.

-- Mal

I'm with you Mal, clean it up, wipe it down, sterilize the tools, make cheese