The Cheese Thread

[braufrau]

Put the cheese onto cheese mats to allow them to drain some more. I keep my cheeses in a decore style container in a spare fridge at around 9c, leave the lid open a crack to regulate the humidity and keep turning the cheese on a daily basis. After about 10 days you will see the cheese is starting to mold up

9C?? I need a cellar!

 

[Fents]

Just ordered my first cam/fetta/chedda cheese kit last night!

Do i need a cheese press with weights like andrews to make camenbret?

 

[AndrewQLD]

Just ordered my first cam/fetta/chedda cheese kit last night!

Do i need a cheese press with weights like andrews to make camenbret?

No Fents, Camembert and most blue cheeses are soft to semi soft cheeses and don't need a press.
Let us know how your first attempt goes.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Fents]

will do andrew! i'll take snaps too.

 

[braufrau]

BTW - for adelaidians ... the blessed cheese in mclaran vale run one day cheese making
courses and I *think* you can get rennet etc. there.
http://www.blessedcheese.com.au/

 

[Fents]

Cheese kit just arrived :beerbang:

get stuck into it on the weekend.

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Okay, here is one of my Stiltons at 3.5 weeks. Crust has formed nicely.

 

[Kai]

Geez, that's some interesting mould development, have you been washing the cheese or is that au naturale? You've got some interesting growth cranking there, if you haven't been washing the cheese then it's been very slow, if you have then you shouldn't really be seeing those grey bits. Are they standing up tufty above the white mould? How's the mould on the side of the cheese? I can't see it.

God damn I love cheese.

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Geez, that's some interesting mould development, have you been washing the cheese or is that au naturale? You've got some interesting growth cranking there, if you haven't been washing the cheese then it's been very slow, if you have then you shouldn't really be seeing those grey bits. Are they standing up tufty above the white mould? How's the mould on the side of the cheese? I can't see it.

God damn I love cheese.

Gidday Kai, haven't washed the cheese whatsoever. The cheese was soaked in a saturated brine solution with a drop of the blue mold spores added, this was recommended to me. The white mold and blue/grey stuff are at the same level. I think what you are seeing is the mottling effect of the cheesemat I am using. Mold on the sides is similar.
Should I be worried?

C&B
TDA

 

[AndrewQLD]

Gidday Kai, haven't washed the cheese whatsoever. The cheese was soaked in a saturated brine solution with a drop of the blue mold spores added, this was recommended to me. The white mold and blue/grey stuff are at the same level. I think what you are seeing is the mottling effect of the cheesemat I am using. Mold on the sides is similar.
Should I be worried?

C&B
TDA

That sounds fine to me TDA, mind you the photo isn't the best. The mold you really need to watch for is black and this should be removed with a vinegar soaked cloth. It is really amazing the different color molds that will appear on the cheese as it is maturing, I have had blue, green, grey, orange and brown.


Cheers
Andrew

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Thanks Andrew once again. :beer:

I will be needling these on Sunday and will take some better snaps.

C&B
TDA

 

[Kai]

Gidday Kai, haven't washed the cheese whatsoever. The cheese was soaked in a saturated brine solution with a drop of the blue mold spores added, this was recommended to me. The white mold and blue/grey stuff are at the same level. I think what you are seeing is the mottling effect of the cheesemat I am using. Mold on the sides is similar.
Should I be worried?

C&B
TDA

I was well pickled when I looked at that photo and had my ramble last night, it's a bit hard to tell but if that non white mould is grey and not blue then it might be mucor. Not what you really want growing on your cheese but it should still be right to eat if a little more bitter. Like andrew says, you can wash off any moulds you don't want if you're bothered by it.

 

[fixa]

That's it. Can't take it anymore...

Just ordered a kit from cheeselinks. Unbelievebly, the missus said "OK" when i mentioned it last night. Was expecting a "you wanna make what?"........

roll on next week!!!!

 

[bonj]

Awesome Fixa! I haven't ordered mine yet. Too many competing interests... building my brewery. But SWMBO is keen to do it too (make cheese that is), so it won't be too long.

 

[Fents]

That's it. Can't take it anymore...

Just ordered a kit from cheeselinks. Unbelievebly, the missus said "OK" when i mentioned it last night. Was expecting a "you wanna make what?"........

roll on next week!!!!

word! my missus wanted it worse than i did :beerbang:

 

[fixa]

it's probably already been covered, but can you age the cheeses in the same fridge as fermenting beer? and can you have different varieties of cheese aging in the same fridge? Like a blue, Camembert and cheddar?

 

[goatherder]

fixa, I have aged my cheeses in my fermenter fridge. I have them in closed containers though. I think a sealed fermentation with airlock would be good practice to keep all the cheese bugs at bay. As for aging different cheeses together, that might be more challenging. The blue mould is very adventurous - my non-blue cheese turned blue pretty quickly when I had it in the same fridge as a blue cheese. I'm not saying it can't be done, maybe others are better at it than me.

 

[Airgead]

Folks
After a bit of a break from the cheesemaking I got back into it last weekend. Made up a small batch of lactose free chevre style cheese (only not with goats milk) for the missus. Made ricotta out of the whey as well.

The chevre didn't drain properly. I tipped it all into a muslin lined strainer and it went rubbery on the outside but was very sloppy inside. I suspect the muslin didn't let the whey drain properly and having it all in one big lump probably didn't help.

It worked well enough that I got permission to invest in some proper draining baskets and moulds. I think it was the ricotta that did it. The missus used to love ricotta before becoming lactose intolerant so this was the first ricotta she had tasted in 5 years.

I might make up a press and try some hard/semi hard cheeses next.

One question for the other cheesemakers out there - where do you buy your milk? I find non-homoginised works best and the only place I can find that is in the hippy section of coles in a 2l carton. At $5 for 2l its a bit pricey to buy 10l for a decent batch of cheese though. Anyone know of somewhere in Sydney where you can get non-homoginised milk in bulk?

Cheers
Dave

 

[Kai]

Five bucks for two litres? Blimey.

I was fortunate enough in Adelaide to get non-homogenised milk in 4L cartons for about the same price.

 

[Fents]

what sort of shop would one buy this milk? milk bar? supermarket?

And will brie and camenbert work fine with normal milk?