Creamery in a Box

aryoung1980 · Dec 26, 2014

I have been debating in my head for months now if I should invest in cheese making equipment. While at Northern Brewer this afternoon I decided to just go for it. I didn't buy the cheese making utensil kit; only the ingredient one.

Here's to another potential hobby.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419631512.236507.jpg

aryoung1980 · Dec 26, 2014

Clean break View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419640293.931393.jpg

Pressing the cheese with random household itemsView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419640340.727030.jpg

aryoung1980 · Dec 26, 2014

The final balancing act of ~50lbs for 12 hours.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419643158.049552.jpg

aryoung1980 · Dec 27, 2014

Drying time
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419693564.340515.jpg

Pappers_ · Dec 27, 2014

I'd like to try my hand at cheese sometime.

Nogud247 · Dec 27, 2014

What did you use to mold it? Looks awesome.

marckw · Dec 27, 2014

That balancing act for the DIY press is quite impressive.

aryoung1980 · Dec 27, 2014

Nogud247 said:
What did you use to mold it? Looks awesome.

Haha, I took a canister of Gatorade powder, cut it in half, and wrapped the outside of it with packing tape.

If this turns out decent, which I think it will, I'll invest in an actual press and molds.

aryoung1980 · Dec 27, 2014

Damn cat jumped on the counter and licked away my cheese. Now there is a giant divot on one side.

Homercidal · Dec 29, 2014

LOL! My cats were good to me. I left mine out on the table for a couple of days no problem.

passedpawn · Jan 4, 2015

aryoung1980 said:
Damn cat jumped on the counter and licked away my cheese. Now there is a giant divot on one side.

Great looking cheddar. Good luck with that. It's hard to wait, I know. After you dry the rind, how are you going to age it? Wax, vacuum bag, ?

My dog has eaten several wheels by standing and pulling at cheesecloth and dragging it off the counter. Ugh.

aryoung1980 · Jan 6, 2015

I waxed it but I'm worried I did it too soon. There has been moisture coming through the wax. I'm thinking about opening it up and assessing from there.

CaptainXX · Jan 25, 2015

The instructions just say "salt to taste." But as a first time cheese maker, it would be nice to have a general guideline of where to start. Any idea how much you used?

Thanks!

aryoung1980 · Jan 25, 2015

I used 1 Tbsp. That may have been a bit much. My wheel is still aging so I don't know for sure yet.

CaptainXX · Jan 25, 2015

I'm glad I asked! Since the kit is supposed to make 5 batches, I was going to use 1/5 of the provided salt, which is about 3 tablespoons.

Thanks again!

CaptainXX · Jan 26, 2015

I also only bought the ingredients. What did you use as a drying mat?

aryoung1980 · Jan 26, 2015

I used a small cooling rack.

aryoung1980 · Jan 31, 2015

Five weeks after cutting the curd, I tried a small wedge. I will be making more cheddar in the near future.

I definitely needed to let it dry longer and press it with more weight and/or for a longer amount of time. It was moist semi crumbly.

I may reduce the salt by 25-50% too.

All in all, it was worth the time and effort.

I decided to remove the wax and dry it some more.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1422754234.413894.jpg

aryoung1980 · Feb 10, 2015

Made another wheel this past weekend. My rigged up press and mold failed. Ended up salvaging it with a coffee can as the mold.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1423614441.900322.jpg View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1423614471.567061.jpg

Definitely time to build a real mold/press.

passedpawn · Feb 10, 2015

Nice press

Little slanted there. I've made a few of those Frankensteins.

passedpawn · Feb 10, 2015

I've had some dry crumbly cheddars. Argh. I think the answer is to cut the curds much larger, say 1". The smaller the curds, the more whey they give up, the dry the cheese.

aryoung1980 · Feb 10, 2015

Yeah, that second one is quite slanted. Oops.

I started another thread asking how people get the large curds; no replies though. Both times I've made a cheddar, my curds crumble as soon as I stir.

I'm going to need a lot of practice. Thankfully my mistakes still taste good.

Creamery in a Box

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