BigPatBrewer

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I have been reading a lot of the posts on making cheese and am very excited to start making some. I just have a couple of quick questions:

What is the maximum temperature for making cheese? The reason I ask is because my house is usually in the mid 70s and dry all year round (Tucson, AZ) and that seems like it might be too warm and dry for cheese. I would like to try a bunch of different types of cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, bleu)

Has anyone tried using a cooler for a "cave"? I was thinking by using some frozen water bottles and maybe a container of open water, I could dial in the right temperature and humidity ranges with an external gauge.

Any other recommendations or starting advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for the help!

Yooper

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Non-aged cheeses like mozzarella don't need a cheese cave to ripen, so temperature doesn't matter. You could do chevre, queso fresco, and mozzarella without worrying about temperature. For hard cheeses, it's imperative to have the correct temperature and humidity for the cheese to ripen (ferment/age).

I've seen coolers done with ice blocks and water to make cheese caves in photos on the internet. That would work if you have the patience, I think! I used a little wine cooler for mine.

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Bottenbrew

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Like the Yoop I found a good deal on a 12 bottle wine fridge. It has worked great for my Farmhouse Cheddars.

JTylerSingletary

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I'm just starting to look into making cheese. My question is this: Where is the best place to get the milk? I know that most store bought milk is too pasteurized to make good cheese, so where do you go? (I'm hoping that the Farmer's Market is not my only option as it isn't very convenient when I decide last minute to make some). If anyone in Tampa, FL has any helpful specifics it would be much appreciated.

Bottenbrew

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This is a good link for milk information http://schmidling.com/milk.htm. Personally I have just used Costco whole milk with some excellent results.

JohnTheBrewist

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For those of you using a wine fridge, I have a few questions. Are you also using a separate humidity and temp controller? Did you add anything to create more humidity, or does the wine fridge do it well enough? Did you do anything to block the light coming in through the glass?

Thanks

JTB

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Bottenbrew

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I have a tupperware container filled with water in mine and put an old humidity reader from a cigar box in it to see where it is at. As for light, it is in my basement so minimal light to begin with, but the glass is very tinted so not much would get in either way.