Making Cheese?

[MountainDon]

gotta start a cheese club.....

[peternap]

I may make a cheese press today...as if I didn't have enough on my plate (Pun Intended ) this week.

[OlJarhead]

I may make a cheese press today...as if I didn't have enough on my plate (Pun Intended ) this week.

A dutch press!  I need to make one because the one I have sucks.  It isn't strong enough to make good cheddar.  If you need some ideas go to cheeseforum.org

[OlJarhead]

gotta start a cheese club.....

  They did!  I gave Peter the link  

[OlJarhead]

After one week of ripening.

There is hope yet!  The press isn't strong enough, the milk was cooked too fast, the rennet didn't work well, the curds were too small and who knows what else??  But after a week my 2nd cheese is looking tasty!

On a side note I had the first cheese (some of it) for breakfast this morning Mmmmmm  It couldn't be aged because of the whey in it (not enough pressed out) so I had to eat it .....darn 

[OlJarhead]

In the cave   It will spend the rest of it's life in here

[OlJarhead]

After a week of ripening my 2nd Cheddar is looking very nice   I've also been eating the first which despite all the troubles tastes fantastic!

[OlJarhead]

Ready to age


The first cheese is about half gone...but I'm aging what I can

[OlJarhead]

Decided to cut open the 1st cheese and try it today after 5 weeks of aging.


The cheese smelled a little like sour milk but had a decent flavor.  It was, however, too salty.

I'm hoping to try the 2nd cheese soon also (maybe New Years) and plan to make more over the holidays.

[peternap]

Have you compared the cost to store bought yet?

[OlJarhead]

Have you compared the cost to store bought yet?

My cheese is $2/lb vs. store bought cheese at about $3-$5/lb (assuming you aren't buying good cheeses that can be as much as $56/lb)....

Maybe mine is really $2.25 per pound when you add in all the stuff I've bought and assuming I make more then 1 or 2 pounds

[Sassy]

Looks good - and at least you've gotten some good tasting cheeses.  Seems like a lot of work, though...  Guess I'm not ready to try it yet 

[glenn kangiser]

Had to check up on you, OJ....

I have been suppressing myself for so long now......

Nope... not gonna do it...

Time has passed...

I can see it's done....

There will never be another opportunity...

for me to ask,

"Hey OJ, when are you going to cut the cheese..... ? "

Sorry...

I couldn't help it....

[OlJarhead]

Looks good - and at least you've gotten some good tasting cheeses.  Seems like a lot of work, though...  Guess I'm not ready to try it yet 

It's like building a cabin I guess

Actually, it isn't that much work per say, more like it's just involved in the sense that you have to do things long after it's 'made' -- like flipping it every couple days.

All in all I don't feel it's much more work then making home made bread from milling your flour to baking...oh wait, I think that's harder

[peternap]

Well, I think it's admirable. Learning to do new things that are not common anymore, is what separates us from them I guess.

It was not that long ago that if you wanted cheese, you made it or got it from a neighbor that made it.
I wish I had was at the farm full time so I could have a milk cow or two along with other livestock so I could make my own dairy products.

[glenn kangiser]

Still looks like a lot of work to me but satisfying when you get it tuned in to where it comes out the way you want after you make it.

Thanks for detailing the process too.  Don't know if I will ever get that far but nice ot know how it's done - especially in a small way.  We may need the knowledge when corporate America goes belly up or their food recalls get to be more than we want to deal with.

[OlJarhead]

Still looks like a lot of work to me but satisfying when you get it tuned in to where it comes out the way you want after you make it.

Thanks for detailing the process too.  Don't know if I will ever get that far but nice ot know how it's done - especially in a small way.  We may need the knowledge when corporate America goes belly up or their food recalls get to be more than we want to deal with.

Amen brother!  Amen!

At this point it is more a hobby, like smoking meats or making bread from home milled flour (the most awesome by the way)....but then I love food

[glenn kangiser]

Even if you learn it as a hobby, the knowledge will be with you and those you pass it on to forever.

[OlJarhead]

Not at the cabin?  Bored?  No problem!  Just make a press!

So my son and I got out the saws, some oak and 2x4 studs and came up with this Dutch Press design.  I'll have to finish it now but it gives a multiple of about 4x so with 35lbs of weight on the end I should get about 140lbs on the cheese -- which would do nicely for Cheddar I think.

[OlJarhead]

Even if you learn it as a hobby, the knowledge will be with you and those you pass it on to forever.

I certainly hope to pass it on   Old world skills are dying out these days as most people (what?  99% maybe) just buy stuff and have no clue how it is made.

My son seemed to enjoy helping with the press making and even seemed interested in the math which produced this:

If the press can take it I think it can provide 10psi on an 8" mold which is about what you need for Cheddar (good cheddar anyway).  That's around 487lbs of pressing weight produced by putting an 80lbs weight on the end of the press and adjusting it to it's maximum setting.

[MountainDon]

Way off the subject of home made cheese.....

Southwest Cheese in Clovis NM exports cheese to China. I thought that was very interesting. Lots of pizza parlors in China apparently and they use a lot of cheese.

[OlJarhead]

9 weeks of waiting   Ok we did snack at little around 4 or 5 weeks but now it should 'officially' be a 'mild' cheddar so I decided to crack the cheese open and have a snack


As you can see, nothing has changed visually since December 24th when we opened it up the first time.


Color and texture are excellent.


I need to make more cheese!  I've just been so busy lately but this is inspiring!


First taste and it's definitely a mild cheddar.  Excellent taste and texture -- I could eat the whole darn thing!  But I only had a little


Lunch today consisted of smoked claims in oil, vegetable thins and my little cheddar!  Was awesome and I can't wait for it to age more! 

With luck I'll finish the press soon (it would work now though) and will make a bunch more cheese but at the moment I'm heavily into making lumber for the cabin so I'll let the cheese age some more and plan for the day I can make a few pounds at once

Cheers and thanks!
Erik

[Windpower]

Looks excellent

I really like smoked oysters too

If you have a Trader Joes near you get some of their "Savory Crackers"   --really good with cheese

[considerations]

Ok so now I'm Really hungry.  By the way, making tofu is about the same as the first steps of cheese making, or cottage cheese making...just using soy 'milk" instead. 

Out to lunch....

[OlJarhead]

Making my 3rd cheese!  This time I'm making a 'batch' of cheese.  Should produce 2 2lbs blocks of cheese with the 3 3/4 gallons of milk I'm using.

I'm also trying a new cooking method which is working nicely!


I borrowed a Turkey Roaster (was going to buy it but my mother in law thinks she'd like to keep it and just let me use it when I want -- can't argue with that!)


This 18quart Rival seems to work perfectly to get the temp up and hold it perfectly there!  I love it!


Annatto, Calcium Chloride and culture all added and ripening has begun.  This is MUCH easier then the last two I made!!!!


Temperature is holding nicely!

I'm using the same recipe as the last two with only slight modifications.  Once ready to press I'll use the new dutch press with a 25lbs dumbbell hanging off the end.  I'm excited because I think it will work much better then the silly ebay press I was using!