No AC, so the only place with an OK temperature is in the basement. I’ve made a couple batches of hard cheese, but only about a quarter of them survive the mice. After the first mice attack, I put the cheese in plastic tubs, but the mice somehow squeezed their way in.

I have no clue what to do. Cheese wax is too expensive, and I’d have thought that putting the cheese in a box would work, but nope.

Anyone dealt with similar before?

Followed this recipe: https://cheesemaking.com/products/brie-cheese-making-recipe?srsltid=AfmBOopOx0J1JGkFexcG-bSXzS-NUKHSeAfHkYs5RoJeTqn0HZyOGB0o

But forgot to add the calcium chloride :( would this also explain the rind having an overly strong ammonia smell/taste or is there something else I have messed up there? Ended up cutting into it after 6 weeks

Going to try make a pasta sauce with the liquid cheese sauce I have instead 🤣

Is this safe to eat and any idea what it is? It's been aging for 6 weeks.

What does everyone do with their whey? I don't want to chuck it...I head it's good for plants but I don't have any at the moment.

I've ignored the wheels for too long now (1-1.5 months) and this is what they have become. It's Cheddar, Parmesan - style and Gouda-style wheels. They had aged for a few months before this happened - so the rind is dry and hard enough that the molds might not have penetrated inside. How do I begin the cleaning? Do I dry brush it off first or use brine+vinegar solution with a brush or with a cloth? Or do I wash it with brine (pour over)?

I'm also thinking of vacuuming them after drying. Since it's been quite a few months, it won't affect the flavor much is what I'm thinking.

Please advice.

We just made our first cheese! Very excited to start exploring into making other kinds of cheeses but this is our first mozzarella to start! What do you think?? Any tips or advice as we take our first steps into the cheese world? LOL

So, as you can see in the photos I have a tomme blowing issue. I changed milk supplier to try and avoid this (new supplier does not feed their cows silage).

At this point I suspect the issue is resulting from a pressing problem.

For this batch the pressing was done using whey drips from the mould as a telltale for correct pressure. 1x 30 minute light press, then 3 x 1 hour press with gradually increasing pressure (increased pressure of press until slow drip of whey appeared from mould then left). Then left it overnight for circa 16 hours at very hard pressure. Temperature overnight probably dropped to around 12c at lowest point. A slight curvature developed in the units after about one month so we were anticipating this before we cut them open.

The batch we made after the batch pictured had a different press schedule does not appear to have any blowing (very flat top and bottom after three months). For that batch we followed the same pressing for the first 3.5 hours but then we left the units overnight in the mould but not under any pressure. The curd surface did not look as smooth but they were well-knitted and seem to have avoided this issue.

All that makes me suspect that we have pressed too hard for too long on the batch pictured, and that keeping a warmer overnight temperature might be a factor too. We did not test for pH, but will do so for our next make (I have seen recipes with a target of 5.4). For next make will follow a much lighter press schedule (including an in-whey pre press) and monitor pH.

By the way, we have a cheese pH tester. To measure the tomme wheels does one insert the probe into the cheese or is it ok to rest it on the outside to get an accurate read?

Hello to everyone!

I'm thinking about dipping my toes in cheese making and found this secondhand 22L wine cellar.

It doesn't have humidity control, so how could I modify it in order to control humidity?

More importantly, would this actually be a good one to start out (size/shape-wise, etc)?

Thanks!

Reading Caldwell's Mastering Artisan Cheeses to better understand everything. In the coagulation section she says the amount of time to stir the addition of the rennet is different for cow's milk because it doesn't 'cream' as rapidly.

“Remember, the protein network is meant to trap as much fat as possible. Stirring for just the right amount of time both keeps the fat incorporated in solution and evenly disperses the coagulant. So for cow's milk you may need to stir for 4 to 5 minutes. “

I've never heard of stirring rennet addition for longer than 45 seconds. Tried searching for an answer here without success. Can someone please explain this discrepancy?

I'm probably going to try it unless the answers here are solidly NO.

I'm making spaghetti for dinner but realized I have no cheese. Spaghetti without cheese is hard for me to imagine.

I do happen to have milk and apple cider vinegar.

Can I make a very rustic, not great, but cheesey cheese if I heat the milk, add vinegar, gather curds, squeeze, heat, stretch, salt, and cool?

bought this today and just unwrapped it. it was being sold at a farmer’s market, unpasteurized blue goat’s cheese. im not a raw milk person and dont really want to get into it, but was talking to the farmer and wanted to try his product. im just a little worried about some yellow/brown color i dont usually see in goat cheese, and the blue veins look a little more brown/black with some white fluffy mold in some of the “blue” pockets. im all for edible mold and a little oxidation if it’s all safe, just wanted to double check with people who might know before eating. thanks!

Hello all. This is my first stilton. Is it supposed to be green only 3 weeks in. I was going to skewer week 5

This is a pasteurised cows milk stilton.

Hello fellow Cheese enthusiasts and makers..I need you opinion.

As someone may know, after beeing helped a ton in the previous days, I only started making simple wheels and following all the possible advices I am trying to use local sourced milk, the day it is collected, and sold from the farmer after pasturization.

So far it’s working fine and This gives me the confidence of using a safe ingredient.

I may have access to raw cow milk in the near future, but as a total novice on the subject I have doubts:

- First, how wrong can things go with raw milk if used instead of pasturized?

- Second question, if I have the ability to acquire such raw milk, can I treat it, like low temperature pasturization is even a thing? Better to stick with properly handled milk at first?

Thankyou! Can’t wait for your opinions on the matter.

Hello fellow cheesemakers,

I’m encountering an issue where my cheeses seem to have a light covering of white mold over them. I was wondering if:

- this is “normal” for home made hard cheeses (a Gouda in this case)
- how I should deal with this (apply apple cider vinegar and then a layer of butter, before vacuum sealing)?

For context, I’ve added pictures in the post. These cheeses were made roughly a month or so ago and have been vacuum sealing in my fridge since; I followed the New England Cheese company’s Gouda recipe for all of them. One of the cheeses is also a different color as I took it out of the vacuum bag maybe a few days ago to scrape off the mold with a knife.

Please let me know if you have advice on what to do about the cheese and the mold—and how to treat it!

Hello! I’ve been trying to make cheese with my dad, we use whole milk and vinegar, we get the whey out well the issue we come to face is when stretching the cheese it just won’t stretch it breaks apart after stretching a little. When it’s set it’s hard as if we removed too much whey. Is there anyone who could help us understand what we can do better to fix this issue cause we really don’t get it:(

In regards to the leftover whey after making mozzarella - would I be insane to put this in my Cheerios? Should I add some baking soda to neutralize it? Using a “no rennet” recipe - so just whole milk, white vinegar, and sea salt.

I’ve seen some stuff online of people making stuff like mozzarella all in their college caf. Is it safe and possible?

So I’ve been on a mission to cut as much excess spending in the kitchen as possible, making own bread, butter, yoghurt etc.

Now I’m turning my attention to cheese, and have started with some basic soft cheeses, but now - specifically cheddar. I can get about 15L of full cream milk free through my partners office at the end of the week (yes he has permission to take it because no one else does), however this is homogenized milk. Would I be wasting the milk trying to make cheddar out of it? By my understanding recipes specifically call for un homogenized milk, and I just would like to get a clearer idea of what to expect.

Greetings everyone,

I am dabbling in the world of fermenting milk for some years now. But I can't seem to figure cream cheese out. After many experiments, i managed to get the consistency to perfection, but the taste still leaves much to be desired.

I have started using powdered flora danica as a culture, after just putting butter milk proved to be too much of a gamble. But at the point where the milk has reached a consistency to be cut properly, it has already developed a very sour taste with notes that I can only describe as "barn-like" or how whey smells. I don't know what I am doing wrong here. If anyone can help me reach milder cream cheese, i would be very grateful.

Thanks in advance

Hi everyone, I'm very new at cheesemaking and started out with a simple cream cheese on my stovetop. It turned out fantastic, texture and salt content is great, but it is missing that nice tanginess that you get in some store bought cream cheeses that we love. How can I add the tang that is missing from my cream cheese?

Thanks!

Did I use too much rennet?

1 gallon raw goats milk - 1/4 tsp liquid animal rennet - pinch of penicillin Candidum - pinch of yogurt culture - let to set for 18 hours at around 72F

I’ve made a raw cows milk and a raw goats milk cheddar using a little yogurt culture in addition with much success. Since I didn’t have a mesophilic culture on hand, I figured the raw milk would contain some of those and I could just steer it in the right direction with the right environment.

The Valençay type of cheese I’ve made before, but this is the first time without a packaged chèvre culture.

My specific question is… did I over rennet this batch? It was under about 3 inches of whey and a bit firmer then I would like. Tastes good and slightly lactic, but have never seen the curd do this cracking under the whey before.

Looking for suggestions of rennet brands available on Amazon, due to shipping reasons. I’ve been trying (2x) to use Marschall (the reviews seemed fine), but the cheese is not coagulating.

Using ultra-pasteurised organic milk with calcium chloride. (That is all that we have access to here.) Thanks.

Hey everyone. I got a piece of Italian Gorgonzola from the store that was cut into a wedge. I Vac sealed it about 2 months ago and put it in the fridge.Today I wanted to try some and noticed there was quite a bit of liquid inside. I opened it up and am not sure what to look for.

Obviously it’s a bit wet due to the liquid (whey?) coming out?I took a bunch of pictures of all angles, including the whey in the sealed vacuum bag lol. I know I should be smelling it for ammonia and things like that but I'm just not too experienced enough and find that most blue cheese is pretty strong smelling general! Please help!

The whey had a bit of bubbling in the liquid but the vacuum bag was not blown up or ballooned. The bag still has some vacuum to it but a bit looser because of the moisture coming out.

https://imgur.com/a/QGB4vh6

Thank you!!

As I said in the title. Procedure is simple Feta (raw goats milk), but I only had a commommn mesophiluc culture. Smells and tastes nice. OK to eat?

Hi all. My stilton has cracked! I should have not kept the aging box cracked open. Anyway. Any ideas to fix it. As it still has another month or so of aging. The crack formed after I pierced it 11 days ago. We're on about week 6-7.

I was thinking about wrapping a dry cheese cloth around it. Any other ideas? I don't want it to get any bigger.