Farmhouse Cheddar Pictorial

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After I buy kegging equipment, I have to try this cheese thing.
 
I have read in Ricki Carrols book that a slightly lower cook temp will make a moister cheese.
 
I just started cheese making and did a traditional cheddar. The book I'm working from never really said to maintain temp at certain points etc...so I've been wondering. This pictorial explains it all...now I know where I've gone wrong and am positive I'm off to making some bomb cheese!! many thanks. Also my trad cheddar I've been aging since 3-6-08 has a lot of mold underneath the red wax...so I opened up today and plan on scraping the mold off and rewaxing...should I just give or what???

thanks-
 
This is so awesome, I am going to order that kit asap! Since its preservative free how long will a wheel of chedder last per-say? Can you vacume seal it and freeze it?
 
This thread is bad news. I now want to make cheese with the fury of a thousand Wisconsin milk maids churning curds for Jesus! :rockin:
 
DAMMIT.

Someone hit the "report post" button to move this to the cheese making forum so I had to investigate and of course...I...NOW...MUST...MAKE...CHEESE....

DAMMIT.

Before you do that, BM, mind stickying this post? This is the best pictoral walkthrough I've seen for cheese. It did an awesome job of breaking it down for us cheese-newbs.
 
Dammit. I was just a bit bored at work and had read all of the other forums through and thought I'd take another look at 30-minute mozz. Now I have the powerful urge to build a cheese press and make some cheese!

It doesn't help that I skipped lunch to work on my next barley crusher and am STARVING!
 
This would be fun. I could even most likely get this hobby done through SWMBO. " Hey honey, you shuold try making cheese". She loves wine. Now I get homemade cheese without working :D
 
Now I have to go add cheesemaking to my list of things I have to do.
 
This looks like so much fun.

I have no idea where to start in finding materials though.
Tips?
 
I have no idea where to start in finding materials though.

The name of the kit is "Basic Hard Cheese Kit". A search will turn up many retailers. Many homebrew shops (online and local) carry this kit. The price is usually around $30, and the kit can make up to 30 pounds of cheese.

If you are going to age any cheese longer than three weeks, which is typical for hard cheeses, you will also need to purchase cheese wax to seal the cheese. The kit comes with everything you need but the wax.
 
I was just looking at that kit from austin and had told the wife that we were gonna start making cheese, she's koo with that. I've slowly been starting to do every thing at home, beer, wine, sausage, candy, smoking. Does any one have any exp. With smoking cheeses? SWMBO loves smoked Gouda so all I have to do is make that and she will be totally on board with this project. Thanks for the pics, great job
 
Why would you guys do this to me? I am just starting to comfortable with my brewing, now I want to make cheese. With cheese and beer, I will be fully self subsistent! (ok, not really...)
 
oh my god i just noticed this cheese making subforum after ive been casually toying with the idea of making cheese soon


this forum is so good..
 
I just made my first block of Farmhouse cheddar and I'm having such a hard time not eating it. I know it will just taste like cheese curds because I just finished it on Monday night, but it just looks so good. Maybe I will make another cheese curd block and eat that.
 
why did i click on this thread?? i have too many things to worry about, and now i want to try this.... :sigh:
 
Excellent information, and awesome pictures. Can't wait to get around to it. Definitely going to get the whole family involved!
 
I just broke into my farmhouse cheddard I made and I have to say its the bomb!!! I pick up a slightly more complete kit than yooper used. Mine came with a tome cheese press. I have to say that making the cheese is a lot of fun and tastes great. I'll be making anoth farmhouse cheddar tonight but I'm doing it with curd from 2 batches. We'll see how it turns out
 
It's way too hot to brew in phoenix right now and will be for the next few months. I needed something new. Thanks for the great pictorial.

I'm sold. Going by my LHBS today.
 
I use some easy-to-find substitutes when making cheese:

Mesophilic Culture = Buttermilk (dairy isle)
Rennet = "Junkit" brand dessert "stuff" ( find near pudding / jello )
Ca Chloride = driveway salt ( ok... you can find food grade stuff in the canning isle )
salt = non iodine salt ( kosher salt is OK )
Cheese cloth = tired old white poplin dress shirts

I use 1% milk and add heavy cream until it's back up to "whole milk" 3-4% milkfat. (or more!)

To simplify my process, I skip the cheese cloth / colandar draining, (more crap to clean!) and pour off the whey from the curds right from the cooking pot, and strain a bit with clean hands.

To "Cheddar" the cheese:
Plop the still wet curds onto a 1/2 cookie sheet on a slight incline. I squish the curds down to make a 1-1/2 inch "mat". I wait 15-20 minutes and cut the mat into quarters, and stack the quarters. Every 15-30 minutes I flip and restack the "mat" of curds, pour off the whey, and taste test the whey. After about 1-2 hours the whey starts tasting a bit tangy (it starts off chalky tasting ) then its time to stop cheddaring, and break the curd up into small chunks and salt it down (the salt slows the lacto to a crawl)

Don't add salt until after cheddaring, or your lacto (buttermilk) won't ripen!

I figure it costs me about $6.00 for a pound of cheddar.
 
This would be fun. I could even most likely get this hobby done through SWMBO. " Hey honey, you shuold try making cheese". She loves wine. Now I get homemade cheese without working :D

My thoughts exactly. SWMBO is already excited to try it.

She makes the dinners and cheese, I make the good beer (That she loves by the way).
:ban:
 
I made a farmhouse cheddar and was wondering if I try say half of it, can I then re-wax the other half to let it age more?
 
I made a farmhouse cheddar and was wondering if I try say half of it, can I then re-wax the other half to let it age more?

'Tis a good question.

And I don't really know the answer but if I had to guess the problem would be that you're cutting off some of the rind which helps preserve it (I know your going to rewax it).

Someone here may know but if you don't get a good answer you will get an answer here:
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/
 
I went to turn over my aged/waxed farmhouse cheddar and noticed small spots of some sort of leakage? Has anyone else had this happen? Does this mean the cheese needs to be thrown out?
 
I went to turn over my aged/waxed farmhouse cheddar and noticed small spots of some sort of leakage? Has anyone else had this happen? Does this mean the cheese needs to be thrown out?

How long has it aged?

When it is first made it should be air dried for a couple weeks. In the the beginning it will "leak" or weep for a while. During this time you wrap it in a cloth or paper towel to absorb it and flip it daily so it dries evenly.

When the towel is no longer wet you can stop wrapping it.

If this is what is happening then you are good. Don't worry about it.
 
I couldn't wait eight weeks any more than I could wait two weeks after bottling my first homebrew. But I made it seven weeks, and I was SMRT and dried and waxed the cheese in two batches so I can age some of it some more.

My farmhouse cheddar is crumbly and nutty and sharp and just all-around good. And that was with regular old milk and not very good technique in raising the temperature during cooking. There will definitely be more cheese made soon. I'm planning a trip out to Pennsylvania to get some raw milk, and in the meantime I'm assembling molds and thinking about how I want to go about a press. Looks like I've got another hobby. :D


cheese by homebrew901, on Flickr
 
Aloha All!

Just came across this pictorial and had to join :eek:)

I do have a question for the OP, you have the pot in the sink and are keeping it at 90℉ - how are you doing that in the sink? and how are you keeping the temp consistent? What am I missing?
 
Aloha All!

Just came across this pictorial and had to join :eek:)

I do have a question for the OP, you have the pot in the sink and are keeping it at 90℉ - how are you doing that in the sink? and how are you keeping the temp consistent? What am I missing?
Keep the temperature of the water in the sink 10 degrees warmer than the liquid in the pot.
 
right, but by which means do you keep the water warmer over time? keep pouring hot water in it? Using an immersion heater?
 
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