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Howdy all.

I believe I am becoming a cheese maker by pure accident!

I was given an offer I just could not refuse. Free Jersey 1st year heifer, just freshened reportedly giving 2.5 gallons per day. Since I don't have rocks in my head, I jumped at the offer.

We get this lovely animal home to the pasture and find out that she was giving 2.5 gallons per milking. All of a sudden we have a milk crisis! And since I absolutely deplore waste, it is a real crisis. OK so not as bad as oil spills or such, but WHOA! 3-4 gallons per day is a lot of milk, even for a family of 8.

So, we've been doing a lot of butter and cottage cheese and we no longer have to ration milk. Thank God for that.


I happened on this site after a search for homemade cheese presses. Thank you all who contribute to this site, it is really a God sent to us who haven't the faintest of clues about cheese production.

So, the deslemma is: How is the best way to use up 3 gallons of really nice raw milk per day. I mean, in a gallon glass container, this milk has 3 inches of cream.

So, if you had an excess of free milk what would you do with it?

Also, I need to ground up cheese making this weekend!

Welcome to the forum. Wow, how lucky are you to have such a "problem"?

Anticipate a lot of responses from the folks on this forum. Hey, there's ice cream...summer's almost here.

Collect the milk every other day and make a big 7-gallon wheel of something...anything...so many choices.

Envy, envy.... 

Good luck. Keep asking questions.

-Boofer-

Welcome to the forum. Your problem is the same reason i got into cheesemaking; lots of milk from my cows and i cannot stand to waste it. You are going to need to invest in a pot big enough to make a substantial amount because you just can't make it everyday and it takes the same time to make a 20 gallon batch as a 1 gallon batch. Then decide how you are going to heat it. Then you need the right size hoops and an adequate press. In the mean time you probably should learn to make queso fresco to use up a lot of milk in a simple way. I would recommend making Monterey Jack as your first hard cheese as it seems to have a high tolerance for inexperience and ripens quick. if you have specific questions, ask away. Family of 8 equals 6 kids? We have ten kids and I think they benefit more from the milk than any one realizes. Yours are blessed to grow up on it. Love your "handle". Good luck.

Farmer JD,

Any suggestions on where to get such a large stock pot? We've got one that's 24 qt. we use for canning, but I figure we'd need a much BIGGER one. I also thought an additional refrigerator would be really handy. I bought a bunch of 1 gal. glass jars at a yard sale, so I thing I'd have enought for 12 gallons. But so far we have room for 5 in my refrigerator.

What would you recommend as far as the size mold for that much cheese? I dloaded lots of plans from this site and want to fabricate something this weekend.

Yep 6 children 10 to 4 months, the older girls are helping me milk and care for STAR. She lets us all milk her at once. Yesterday she was at her teather waiting to me milked. It was pretty cool.


Yeah, with my handle, lots of people think I'm an environmentalist...HAHA! Yep, wildlife is good to eat! They don't realize its a biblical reference. You have 10, I think we my be there someday. I'm only 37, wife is 36, so there are several years for more blessings.

Thanks for the post, I'm sure I can learn alot from you and others here. This is the first forum I've seen where people share this calliber of knowledge. I think this is what the internet was made for. Neat to be a part of it.

Say, real good to hear from you. I don't have internet at home, so I'll be pretty slow in replying. Thanks again and God bless.

BTW This site is a bit of information overload! I wonder if the moderator would ever consider putting the cheesemaking for dummies section available on PDF for easier use. Man, I would pay for that. I'd beg too! Real good information, No fluff, just good info. I can tell people hear love what they do! It's pretty exciting to me to see people loving what they do.

Debi on this forum has a good ebook here http://www.deejayssmokepit.net/CheeseDownloads_files/LetsMakeCheese.pdf

I've also started my project last week where I plan to write detailed articles that have consolidated information and a mix of science and practice at http://www.wacheese.com/

Welcome! Hope you find what you need here. If you get stuck, we're here to help

Search the forum for stock pot as I think there are a couple of threads with info on them. Ebay is a good place to start. Several discussions debate the use of aluminum for cheesemaking but the pots are really the cheapest alternative. I would say with your situation you should aim for a 15 gallon pot. I used that for a while until I was blessed with a 25 gallon SS one. If you get a pot in this range, you are looking at 8 - 12 gallon batches once a week (at least that's what I would estimate depending on your family consumption of milk, buttermilk and butter). But as you said, that requires another frig. You might try an older upright freezer unit and use a thermostat to keep the temp at 33. That way you don't have to cool another freezer unit and you have the whole space for refrigerated stuff. I finally bought a 19 cu ft all frig. Hard to find them though.


For 8-12 gal batches you would need a 7 or 8 in mold that was about 12 inches tall. For the press, I would definitely recommend a dutch design of some kind. Cheeses this size require a good  deal more pressure than you can produce without leverage.


I have 10 kids from 16 to 9 months and I am 41; wife 38. The best time of the day is when 5 of my boys and I are in the barn talking over the sound of milking 3 cows into 3 buckets. My older girls milked when the boys were too little but the boys won't let them in the barn now.   Sounds like you have a good cow. I train all mine to let 4 kids milk at once. The little ones partner with an older one. Much faster. Nice to have arrows, huh.


This forum really is a knowledge bank. I am so thankful for all the folks who take the time to educate the rest of us. Great people here. Good luck and I look forward to hearing your cheesemaking adventures.

Welcome to the forum and to the wonders of fresh dairy!  What an awesome gift!  Right now you are probably having some culture shock going on, though.  that's a lot of milk.

We have a Jersey cross cow and I always raise an extra calf or two on her.  Plus we keep 3 pigs each summer and feed them a lot of clabbered milk.  Clabbered milk is also very good for chickens.  All good ways to use up the milk until you get in gear for cheesemaking.

Once you are making cheese, you will have gallons and gallons of whey.  Again, chickens and pigs love the stuff.  I soak corn and oats in whey and feed it (very sloppy) to them.  Makes for very good meat.

I'm glad you found us and hope that you are able to glean lots of good stuff from the forum.

Where do you live? Depending on legalities (or even in spite of them, depending on what your in to) you could sell some of the milk. Our cow share started because we simply had too much milk. And later, the cheesemaking began because we still had too much milk.

When you are overwhelmed with milk, one good solution is paneer. You can make it quickly and use it in anything. It also freezes decent in a vacuum bag.

My personal recommendation would be to get some basic cheese supplies (rennet, cultures, and a mold) and make a few small batches with what you have. That way you will understand better which of the many different setups is right for you. It is harder to envision how you want to do each part of the process unless you know what it entails.

FarmerJD,
Yeah, I told my wife about the 25 gallon SS Pot. She was just curious on how in the world you cook with it? It would have to be gigantic, the 6 gallon is BIG. I thought of doing 2 x 6 gallons, but sure would be easier all in one pot. You don't put that on a range do you? Wouldn't the weight bend your stove top. I've heard about people having those stackable quart pressure canners that warped someones stove top due to the weight.

I also thought I would have to have a double boiler sooner or later.

The children love this cow, she's a real gentle girl. My boys are 7, 4, and 2, that doesn't stop them from trying to milk her. None of them really get the movement. Oh, they'll get a little milk out, but not much. I figure they'll get the hang of it if I keep letting them try for a bit each time. Now the 2 year old I haven't let go there yet.

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Mrs KK,
Thanks for the info on what in the world to do with all this whey! I don't have a hog or chickens YET. We've talked about a hog next spring (we're anticipating a move). Chickens we could do. Thanks again.


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Nitai,

Living in Indiana, could do a share. I would have to get a permit to sell for pet use. I've got a lot of people out here with decent dairies. I've been giving some away to neighbors.

Thanks for the idea to start small. I kinda just go with things and learn the hard way. But, you never forget what you've learned.

Well, I thought I'd share about my first cheese making experiences.

First, we saved cottage cheese for a spreadable cheese. The recipe was vague, geared more toward people that have a clue about cheese making. It scalded, but we salvaged it. It would be nice to taste it how it's supposed to be, but I'm not sure it's worth the time again. We added some garlic salt and that dressed it up nicely.

Second, we made Mozzarella. We used citric acid and then rennet. NOTHING! The recipe I used was not from this site as I didn't have any culture on hand, Also, it was for 2 gallons and I multiplied it times 2.5 for 5 gallons. So, I quickly looked up some other recipies. I added more rennet--I think the recipe calc-ed out to 5/8 tablet, I thought that sounded scrimpy, so I added total of 2.5 tabs. Still NOTHING. I added real lemon juice, which caused some curding. So I added more lemon juice. The curds ended up sinking and the second  recipe talked about a "clean break." It didn't really do a very good job describing what that was, so I I figured I'd have to wait. I think I waited 1.5 to 2 hours and suddenly there are the curds. From there all went pretty well. The cheese, despite the blunders, turned out well--4.5# wheel. Gonna be real nice on a pizza.

Anyone have any ideas about citric acid vs lemon juice and why it didn't curd. Also rennet tabs vs liquid. I can definitely get into this cheese making. I can't wait until we get another fridge tonight and stockpile until Thursday, so I can try something pressed!

Which brings me to my last question at this time: Why couldn't you build a press that would press 4 molds at once, which are in a square pattern? It seems that the weight would be distributed, so it would take more total. But, it came to my mind and hadn't seen a discussion on it yet.

Quote from: everygoodtree on June 21, 2010, 03:08:19 PM
Second, we made Mozzarella. We used citric acid and then rennet. NOTHING! The recipe I used was not from this site as I didn't have any culture on hand, Also, it was for 2 gallons and I multiplied it times 2.5 for 5 gallons. So, I quickly looked up some other recipies. I added more rennet--I think the recipe calc-ed out to 5/8 tablet, I thought that sounded scrimpy, so I added total of 2.5 tabs. Still NOTHING. I added real lemon juice, which caused some curding. So I added more lemon juice. The curds ended up sinking and the second  recipe talked about a "clean break." It didn't really do a very good job describing what that was, so I I figured I'd have to wait. I think I waited 1.5 to 2 hours and suddenly there are the curds. From there all went pretty well. The cheese, despite the blunders, turned out well--4.5# wheel. Gonna be real nice on a pizza.

How did you dissolve your rennet tabs? In ice cold distilled or filtered water? Sounds like your rennet was old or not acting well. If you added lemon juice and the curds separated then, you basically made a lemon fresh cheese. Meaning coagulation happened due to the acid and not the rennet. Did it stretch afterward when you made the mozz?

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Anyone have any ideas about citric acid vs lemon juice and why it didn't curd. Also rennet tabs vs liquid.

You need to use a lot more lemon juice than citric acid. Something like 1/3 cup juice per gallon milk, maybe even a little more. With citric, it's about 1.5 tsp per gallon. Liquid rennet works better for me, it's more consistent. The tablets work, but you don't know how old they are and if they're still good. If you dissolve them in cold water and they still don't work, then likely they're too old.

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Which brings me to my last question at this time: Why couldn't you build a press that would press 4 molds at once, which are in a square pattern? It seems that the weight would be distributed, so it would take more total. But, it came to my mind and hadn't seen a discussion on it yet.

You can do that, sure. Most of us don't make cheese in those volumes, and only do 3-5 gal batches at a time, so there's simply no need for more advanced presses. Or we stack the molds on on top of each other.

While it is true that quite a few members here make cheeses in 4-5gallon batches, my intent when I built my Dutch press was to have the ability to press larger moulds if the need arose. Some might call my calculations and intentions overkill. No, just me looking down the road. https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,4026.0.html

Other members have built presses that also look capable of handling what you intend: FarmerJD, sominus.

It doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. There are a lot of ideas on this forum and the issue of pressing power has been discussed at length. Search around and I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for in the way of information.

-Boofer-

Boof,
As a man I REALLY like that big press pic.....what a whopper!
Thanks for the link to your earlier thread. I had planned on making a simple stackable for time sake, but I can definitely see making an off the wall or a dutch like yours. Is the one above a british design?

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Linuxboy,
Here's more detail. I have shallow well water, which goes through a softener, then reverse osmosis. I used tap cool water on a hot day, not ice cold. Citric acid and rennet both dissolved well. Rennet is tablet "Junket" without a date, so could be ancient. Perhaps the name describes how well it works?

The consistency of the curd would be a lot like lemon cheese. Cutting the curd really wasn't terribly possible since it kinda just fell apart into various sized curd clumps. Everything else seemed ok. The recipe was just shredded after I got done, meaning, didn't really use it. I think I'll try the one on this site with the Thermophilic culture. That would delete one obstacle (and perhaps make another). After adding citric acid, should anyting happen? Since it is an acidifying agent, shoudn't it start to curd? The Mozz. did stretch, but I could imagine it was somewhat stiff. It'll be interesting to see what happens the second time around.

Sounds like I could use a pH tester and more experience. Sure did have fun, despite the issues.

If that rennet didn't set the milk, then it's old. That fresh Jersey milk is really fantastic stuff, it should have worked for you unless you're pasteurizing it at high temps. Are you pasteurizing?

Here is my setup during a cheddar make. I have a tank with a hot water heater element in the bottom and the 25 gal pot fits nicely inside it. Here is a pic of it and my press. If you did want to press multiple cheeses, the best way would be to stack them; that way the pressure isn't divided among them. Linux is right about the rennet. I don't use anything but liquid now.