CheeseForum.org » Forum

there are forums for everything, but i'm surprised to see how few there are for cheese making.  also, unfortunately, this one is not very heavily traffic'ed

this is the only one i kind find (at least large forum).  anyone know of any others?

Mate, I don't follow what you mean. This site gets thousands of hits a day. For cheese, this is huge. Artisan, home, and commercial scale cheesemakers from all over the world come here because this is the place where they can get the straight dope on what works in practical reality. In the US, we barely have 1,000 licensed artisan cheesemakers, and almost all do not visit or contribute here regularly because they're too busy taking care of animals and taking care of their farms. The overall market for cheesemaking, especially at a hobbyist scale is extremely small.  I'd be surprised if there were 10,000 cheesemakers in the US. And of those, many read this site, get their info, never say hello and leave. or they make very basic types of cheeses that do not require extreme dedication to the art.

There are a few resources, like Rick's site, the sub forum on homebrewtalk and the sausage forums, DeejayDebi's site, etc.

Honestly, we've covered so much ground here in the last 3 years that most of the questions anyone might have, they've been discussed in previous threads. So lately, the new thread creations have decreased because the quality of the material we already have is high quality.

I'm a novice cheesemaker and have found this forum absolutely essential in terms of both the info on past threads and the quick and thoughtful responses to questions members pose. Hang on in here - you'll be amazed at what you will find. Just click 'unread posts since my last visit' and you'll get the active threads, usually a dozen or more each day.
Margaret

Even if there are any other forums, there won't be another Linuxboy, Sailor con queso, Boofer, Tea, DeeJayDebi, John (CH) and countless number of other people whom I forgot to mention (and sorry for that).

If you think there isn't heavy traffic (and I don't know what you mean about "heavy") that's probably somewhere in the forum, the "question" has been asked and answered and the person is studying it rather than asking it again.

There probably are-but in reality this has got to be the best of the lot-hands down the best forum of any kind that I have ever belonged to. Again, thank you very much John, and to all that regularly participate.

Quote from: Gürkan Yeniçeri on August 21, 2011, 10:17:32 PM
Even if there are any other forums, there won't be another Linuxboy, Sailor con queso, Boofer, Tea, DeeJayDebi, John (CH) and countless number of other people whom I forgot to mention (and sorry for that).

If you think there isn't heavy traffic (and I don't know what you mean about "heavy") that's probably somewhere in the forum, the "question" has been asked and answered and the person is studying it rather than asking it again.

Gürkan, put yourself in the long list of devotees to this site. Your latest cheese in sausage casings is something I don't see every day.

If someone is curious about traffic to this forum, they could click on Home, and page down to the number of Guests and Members on at any given day. They could also see the peak visitor number. To me, that shows this forum is pretty busy.

One of the many attractive features of this forum to me is that, if you ask a question, you will get multiple opinions, informed and otherwise. Most of the time, you aren't left wondering if anyone cares enough to enter a comment. I would be absolutely lost and confused without the valuable information, opinions, and steerage that I get from being on here.

Thank you, John, for policing the occasional  Troll  that attempts to disrupt activities here.

It can be somewhat addictive, but I'm not ready for a 12-Step Program just yet. 

-Boofer-

calm down, fellas.    i know there are plenty of knowlegable people here.  I'm not looking to replace this forum, but to supplement it 

i very much appreciate sailor, boofer, linux, mrskk, etc., etc!    i had been coming here a while before i actually signed up.  like i said, this is the biggest i could fine (and best), just curious if there were any other sites.

i guess maybe i'm looking at it wrong.  it very possibly could be that there are few here with the inexperience i have that are trying to figure out the simple stuff.  looking at all the unread posts, it does appear there is quite a bit going on here, and i'm just not in the right spots to see it.

for the most part, i've been in the rennet coagulated threads

no offense meant   

sausage casing stuffed with cheeses, huh?  that sounds interesting.  my dad is a butcher (well, used to be a farmer and butcher, but sold the farm and just processes his beef, my brother's hogs, makes sausages and venison salami), and if i ever figure out the novice-leveled cheeses, i might move into that arena some day.

We're having some difficulty understanding what you mean when you say something like that the forum is not heavily trafficked. There just aren't that many cheesemakers out there in the universe, and few take time to visit regularly, and fewer still contribute.

There are many people who check the site literally everyday just to keep up but who only post when it is meaningful to keep the discussions at a manageable level. This site is the premier source for cheese-making info on the web, books or really anywhere. I cannot imagine cheesemaking without it. I would think that this forum has been so successful that there is really no need for another. I can tell you probably didn't mean anything offensive by your statement, but we are all kind of fond of the site. Keep trying and use the search tool often. Good luck.

Non taken Saltysteele 

I just love this community and the synergy built around it. Without it, I wouldn't be able to even try some of the things I am doing now.

Hi Saltysteele;
Just a note to say that all of us started out with very little experience, too. If you read some of the older threads you'll see that the questions/answers addressed very basic issues and as the experience level evolved, things got more technical.
I probably would have quit trying to make cheese from books if I hadn't found this forum. I was making "edible" cheeses but now I am making really great stuff! You'll be amazed if you stick with it and read this forum.
Welcome and good luck.
Pam

Quote from: mtncheesemaker(Pam) on August 22, 2011, 01:33:15 AM
I probably would have quit trying to make cheese from books if I hadn't found this forum. I was making "edible" cheeses but now I am making really great stuff!

Ditto!  I still have a few fails now and then, but thanks to all the wonderful people here, at least now I know "why" each time, so I never do it again.

well, while i have no experience with the cheese books, i do make soap.   most soap books....  well, there's more than one way to skin a cat.  a book shows you one way.  you buy 10 books, you'll see 10 ways, and they still might not show you a way that works for you and they're very limited in explaining what is happening.  even if you do find a book you like, there is still no way to ask questions.

with the advent of the internet, a world of possibilities has been opened up for hobbyists 


right now i'm trying to figure out how to make cheese with store milk, before i waste my time on goat milk.  my dad has a goat that is about to kid.  while he only lives 1/4 mile down the road and my daughter and i can just scoot over on the golf cart, a goat doesn't give a whole lot of milk at a milking.  if i'm going to take the time to go over there twice a day to milk the goat, i don't want to waste its milk figuring out what i'm doing.

i realize mozzarella isn't the easiest cheese to make, but it is one that you are able to find out if it worked without waiting several months.  i don't want to milk this goat for 4 months, only to find i've been making poop cheeses for 4 months.

so, at least i hope to have it figured out to the curd stage.  if i can get it to make a usable curd with store bought milk, it should be easier with raw milk (i hope, at least) 

and linuxboy, if you want to see heavily trafficed, check out backyardchickens dot com.  seems like there are 10 people reading your post as you type it  lol

like i said, it's not that i think this forum is full of junk or people who don't know what they're doing, i just like to get as much info as possible, and if there is some other place out there, i would like to check it out.  i don't think there is, though, as i haven't been able to find anything; just thought i'd ask.  didn't mean to offend anyone.  before finding this forum, most of my results ended up in the 30-min mozz or the like

I see, thanks for explaining. Yeah, absolutely... there are hundreds of thousands of chicken owners across the US, so that site tends to have a lot of traffic. I can count on my fingers and toes the number of mini dairy goat owners in Seattle who make cheese regularly, and of those, not too many venture beyond the basics. It's a demanding hobby

For using store bought milk, it's really tough to make anything decent. If you happen to have a local dairy that has good milk, it's possible. But generally, store milk is only good for undemanding cheeses, like labneh. Or for blue cheeses. For hard cheeses, or cheeses where the casein quality is vital (like mozz), it tends to be hit and miss, and it's nothing you did wrong. I started out like everyone, buying store bought milk and trying to figure out why my curds wouldn't spin when I tested them for mozz. And suspiciously eyeing all the mold growing on the rind of hard cheeses

The other decent cheese you can make with store milk is parmesan. Use good lipase and age it out for a year, and it will make a very decent parm. But the store milk tends to be so damaged, making normal hard cheese from it is impossible.

Salty, I agree with LB. Using poor quality store bought milk can be a major exercise in frustration. And unfortunately it is difficult to develop good technique when things don't work the way they are supposed to. So, many people give up because they think they are doing things wrong. You can't make good cheese from bad milk.