The Cheese Thread

[AndrewQLD]

Andrew when do I get a cheese making lesson, the blues you showed me the other day left me salivating. :icon_drool2:

Would love to know more.

Imagine a cheese salami and beer night :beer:

Bring it on Greg, how about a Camembert and Blue cheese making day, we'll have to put our heads together and organise something.
Salami and cheese = heaven.

Thats some fricken hardcore looking cheese press AndrewQLD! Where does one get an actuator (or what ever that this is) to make something like that?

It's a pneumatic cylinder valve similar to this and is actuated by air pressure or as in my case Co2 pressure. The benefit of this type of press is that it's small and compact and will maintain a constant positive pressure as the whey is expelled from the cheese.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[gregs]

Andrew we will have to organise something soon so lets put the wheels in motion. I propose that we have a day eating our home made small goods and drinking beer paired with the food.

Like nibbles and beer, so we need to brew what we think will go with the food groupings, everything on the table must be homemade or home grown.

What do you say?

gregs. :icon_cheers:

 

[AndrewQLD]

I'm in, what kind of time frame are you thinking, I'd like to get some pickled onions organized as well as some Camembert to go with the blue and Cheddar. Beers, would need some lager/pilsner as well as Ales and a weizen is great with a strong blue cheese. What goes with salami and cured meats?

Andrew

 

[gregs]

I'm in, what kind of time frame are you thinking, I'd like to get some pickled onions organized as well as some Camembert to go with the blue and Cheddar. Beers, would need some lager/pilsner as well as Ales and a weizen is great with a strong blue cheese. What goes with salami and cured meats?

Andrew

Andrew, the time frame would depend on what we have available from now and what volume we have. Also depends on what people can contribute, adhering to the theme would mean people may need time to produce their wares but this doesnt mean it has to be an extravagant night.

As for beer and cured meats pairings, for me its the summer beers, but would have to suggest that throughout the world would be varied. Something Cascade or Nelson Sauv but whatever, how about producing a dessert beer and someone making something to go with it, can simplify it for those who are not into home produce.

I feel this could be so simple it would be a blast. Also do you think home butchered meat would be in the theme?

 

[probablynathan]

I have been thinking about making my own cheeses ever since I saw Mathew Evans do it on the gourmet farmer on SBS, but reading this tread and seeing the pics has settled it and I have ordered the Blue/Camembert/Cheddar kit from Cheeselinks.

Thanks for the great thread guys. Can't wait to get started.

 

[AndrewQLD]

Andrew, the time frame would depend on what we have available from now and what volume we have. Also depends on what people can contribute, adhering to the theme would mean people may need time to produce their wares but this doesn't mean it has to be an extravagant night.

As for beer and cured meats pairings, for me it's the summer beers, but would have to suggest that throughout the world would be varied. Something Cascade or Nelson Sauv but whatever, how about producing a dessert beer and someone making something to go with it, can simplify it for those who are not into home produce.

I feel this could be so simple it would be a blast. Also do you think home butchered meat would be in the theme?

Got the dessert beer sorted gregs, I have a sweet Belgian Strong Dark Ale @ 10% that should go well, I think a 100% Nelson Sauv beer would be the go for the salami and prosciutto entree and maybe an APA or smoky stout with some nice BBQ ribs, the home butchered meat would be the icing on the cake.

Andrew

 

[gregs]

Got the dessert beer sorted gregs, I have a sweet Belgian Strong Dark Ale @ 10% that should go well, I think a 100% Nelson Sauv beer would be the go for the salami and prosciutto entree and maybe an APA or smoky stout with some nice BBQ ribs, the home butchered meat would be the icing on the cake.

Andrew

Andrew, we need to work on a date for this to happen, I think it would be good if people bring whatever they like but it would be great to have a couple of specified beer and food pairings worked out prior. This would add an extra dimension to our brewing process. It would certainly be a learning curve and an interesting discussion point for the day/ night.

Kev may have to drink a hole keg before he decides whether or not its the right pairing or not but thats ok we love him.

 

[AndrewQLD]

The Blues are coming along nicely, 2 pics, day 1 and day 7.

 

[gregs]

The Blues are coming along nicely, 2 pics, day 1 and day 7.

View attachment 39439View attachment 39440

This is exceptional, Im gob smacked when can we taste some? :icon_drool2:

 

[peted27]

couple of questions for you guys



can starsan be used for cheese making?? or should i use something else


when i open up the packet of freeze dried culture, what should i do once i take out enough for my starter, put it in a sanitised jar in the freezer??




cheers


Pete

 

[capretta]

hey dude, as far as i know the procedure is the same, cant see any reason not to use your normal sanitisation routine. my cultures i kept in the packet and sealed it in a ziplock bag in the freezer. B)

 

[peted27]

hey dude, as far as i know the procedure is the same, cant see any reason not to use your normal sanitisation routine. my cultures i kept in the packet and sealed it in a ziplock bag in the freezer. B)

ok cool. just wasnt sure if the cheese cultures would be killed by starsan... will triple check before i use it :-D


thanks

 

[Tony]

Im really starting to look into this and gear up...... and found this forum and joined.

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php

cheers

 

[yardy]

just bought our first cheese kit B)

i can feel another obsession coming on....

 

[thelastspud]

It'll be good to see some action on this thread again. post pics when you can yardy

 

[capretta]

hey all, thought id post some pics of a 3 week old blue i did as an experiment with $2 coles milk. the break was ok, i used a farmhouse culture and the strong blue spores from cheeselinks, and have been storing them in tupperware at 13 degrees.. they smell fairly ripe and ive been away heaps so i only got to peirce them today. i cut the smaller one open for a taste test, probably a little too much ammonia taste to be a comp winner, but more than edible. anyone have any tips for reducing ammonia flavour? also it looks like p. candidum has got in there somewhere, not too worried about that

 

[capretta]

 

[seamad]

Since I have been having all the fun brewing my partner has decided to start cheese making.

Made her a simple cheese press with 5:1 lever arm. Will soon have some proper pulleys to increase load by 4:1. The pulley in the photo is just a cheap one I use to hoist the bag..

Recently had a farm stay for the kids which they really loved. The fantastic farmer gave us about 8.5 L of her cows milk to take home, so decided to make some raw milk cheese.

Only got this 270g block from the first 4 L, but this cow was weaning.

Got the beginning of 3 epoisse from the remainder ( different cow and much creamier). They will begin their washing regime in a couple of days.

 

[yardy]

nice job on the press mate, the cheeses look great also, hope ours go ok :icon_cheers:

we are doing our first kit today, one of these mad millie

are there any plans/drawings online for the press or did you make it from scratch ?

cheers

Yard

feel like a noob kicking off with a tin of goo and 2 kilos of sugar

 

[capretta]

i myself used some dumbell weights in food grade plastic bags on top for my light press. didnt look very beautiful but it did the job