Cheese, Grommit !

put_the_kettle_on

I couldn't find any really good cheese in the supermarkets here so I decided to have a bash at making it at home. Someone on Boards asked if I'd do a thread on it so here we are.

Ordered a few bits prior to Cheese Day; a mesophilic starter culture for cheddar type cheeses, a long knife for cutting curds, cheese cloth and animal rennet.

So, start off by warming milk.

Didn't have a stainless steel pan big enough so I shared the milk destined for cheddar between two pans. The third pan was for a simple fresh cheese.

When milk got to 32°c I added the starter culture to all 3 pans. Allowed it to rehydrate for 5 minutes then stirred for 1 minute. Left them to acidify for 45 mins.

Next added rennet. Stirred for 1 min. Then cover, maintain temp but don't disturb for 45 mins.

Once it set, as above, I checked for a good clean " break " in the gel. Then it was time to cut the curds. Sorry, I was so engrossed I forgot to take a pic but i used a long knife to slide through the curd to achieve half inch cube. Then rested the curds for 5 minutes before starting to bring the heat up very slowly to 37.5°c over a period of 45 minutes. During this the curds shrink a bit and release the whey. Then it's time to drain the curds by hanging both types of cheese in cheesecloth. The fresh cheese for 24 hours and it's done. The cheddar type hangs and drains for an hour then goes into a mold to be pressed. I don't have a cheese press so Himself filled a water carrier with first 10lbs of water and pressed for 10 minutes, then 20lbs for 10 mins, then 50lbs for 12 hours.

End results

I forgot to get a pic of the fresh cheese before us mice got at it ☺️

The cheddar-ish one is about 4.5lbs in weight and now needs drying at room temp for a few days. Then I'll cover it with lard and cheesecloth bandage and put to age in my cheese cave ie. A second hand wine cooler I've repurposed for cheese.

If you're still with me at this point, sorry it was so bloody long winded 😂

put_the_kettle_on

Forgot to say; if anyone fancies trying cheese making I'd be glad if they would post their efforts on this cheese thread.

Also, does anyone in east co Galway have a big steel stock pot they'd like to sell ? 25 to 30 litres would be grand, so. Let me know.

Gloomtastic!

Brilliant! Thanks for that.

Good idea with the wine cooler. The keeping it at a constant temperature was the bit that put me off keeping up my cheese making.

Have a look on Adverts.ie or DoneDeal for a stockpot. How much milk did you originally use?

put_the_kettle_on

Hi there @Gloomtastic! What cheeses have you made ? Any advice will be gratefully received :)

I dropped lucky with the wine cooler. It was on DoneDeal for 50€ and it's one of the dual temp zone types so it'll come in useful when I'm aging multiple cheeses. It did have a broken shelf but Himself has fixed that. He's also just made a dutch cheese press ( no way could we afford a decent sized press at retail. They are mad money. ) So I can't wait to try it out.

I've been scouring DoneDeal for a stock pot but I didn't know about Adverts.ie so thank you for that. I'll be trawling it today !

Re amounts of milk. For the cheese wheel I used approx 14 litres which were divided between 2 pans, and the third pan had 4.5 litres which made the fresh cheese.

If you have another go at cheese please will you post it on here ? Am dying to compare notes 😁

Also, anyone who has an interest in cheese making please use this thread.

Gloomtastic!

I got a cheese-making kit for Christmas one year. It had all the basics to make all types of cheese but I settled for some of the easier soft cheeses due to time/space in the fridge.

put_the_kettle_on

I'm going to try making soft cheese too.

Thanks again re Adverts.ie, I've found 2 already and messaged the sellers 👍