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Hi, I'm Pat, in Niagara county (as in the country that borders Niagara Falls), upstate New York, USA.   I live in an agricultural area, which means I'm fortunate enough to buy my milk (raw) from a farmer just up the road, who has Jersey and Brown Swiss cows.  It's wonderful milk, and I get to pasteurize it at low temp.   I have a PID and rice cooker assemblage that holds temperatures to within a couple of degrees. 

I've done acid-coagulated basic cheese for quite a while, and I'm now starting to mess around with rennet and cultures.  So far I've tried a Monterey Jack, mozzarella, and Colby several times.  I'd really like to get Colby figured out since it's my husband's favorite cheese.  So far my cheese tends to turn out drier and more acidic, so I have some work to do on repeatability and tweaking.  I just got a pH meter, though it's a pen-type bulb model, so I will be posting some questions on use and cleaning.  I look forward to learning many many things, and am delighted to have discovered this forum.

Welcome to the forum Pat and greetings from the neighborhood of Gouda, The Netherlands.

Greeting Pat and welcome!
I just got my (pretty cheap) ph meter from ebay today, I hope it's a accurate

Quote from: hoeklijn on July 08, 2012, 08:32:21 PM
greetings from the neighborhood of Gouda, The Netherlands.

With folks here trying to mimic Gouda cheese, your greeting is really special. 

-Boofer-

For a moister Colby, you need to wash it to a temp close to 80*.  I found that any lower and it ends up too moist and way too soft but even 2 to 4* higher than 80* and it is dry.  Is your thermometer accurate?  I was having trouble with all my cheese for awhile and then discovered that my thermometer had gone off by 10* - makes a huge difference.

I'll check that.   I know for the first couple of colbies I had trouble getting it down to 80 - the warmth of the curds kept it creeping up.   And I've been thinking it's time to check the calibration on my thermometers.

Thanks for the hints!

Welcome to the forum Pat! Several of us New Yorkers around here!

Welcome Pat, have a mooch through the Washed Curd Board, or surf to there and search in there on word "Colby", several threads.

Yes, I discovered that area and have been poking around.  Lots to absorb, but if I do a cheese every week, I'll pick it up  over time.    Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone!