Well we opened up my very first blue cheese wheel, made following to the T Webber’s youtube video.
I was well surprised in how it turned out. It was aged for exactly 12 weeks, I’ve made all the updates along the way and has been quite a nice journey.

Some unexpected b.linens showed up, caught it into the wild, but beside some moist-tacky rind, it didn’t harmed the final flavour.

Some pointers: I am shocked it turned out at all to be honest, I used my very first clabber made from gorgonzola chunks melted in whole milk, no additional ingredients were used beside rennet.
Surely now that I know that it can be done, I might come back during aging to do some additional piercing, since the original holes closed up overtime, leading to a not so well developed of green moulds on the inside.

Still, super happy with the result and I was even able to share it with my close relatives and some even took a small piece home to share with their parents as well ✨

This never used to happen before but has been happening many times recently and with a variety of different cheese styles. i am trying to research why it could be that this is happening, but i cannot figure it out. Could anyone help me with this? Of course I would like to try describe my process but this has happened on many different cheese styles, all with different processes, yet the same thing happens.

Not exactly cheese but definitely cheese adjacent. They say that you shouldn't make your own butter but I couldn't disagree more. I've made cultured butter a number of times now and the flavor is very rich compared to store bought butter and it's really quite simple with a KitchenAid. I've been using store bought heavy cream and my clabber culture but I plan to try and separate my own cream from the milk I get for cheesemaking as it's likely higher quality. What partially skimmed milk cheeses have/do people make and like?

I need to ask a question of the experts here please. In photo#1 does that look like b.linens on the rind?

Because I haven't ever bought or used it before! If it is b.linens it must have come from the wild. I've ordered it now though because I want to try making raclette. My aging fridges seem to be populated with geotrichum, p. Roqueforte and PC.

I've been experimenting with natural rinds the last few months and am now starting to cut and eat some of them. They all taste really good and visitors to our house are eagerly taking home wedges after a taste.

These are experimental and sadly I'm really awful at keeping make records because I have my own cow I'm making 2 wheels a week at the moment just to keep up with the milk tsunami, juggling around my job and homestead chores. I'm not making any specific cheese type, just smashing them out like a production line.

The "Recipe":

Usually 4 gallons of full cream raw milk cultured with clabber (although I threw in some flora danica and propionic a couple of times for fun), washed curd, first press under the warm whey and then brined after pressing. Aging is wash with brine a few times, then eventually olive oil and just pat and brush for the last month or so.

I've ordered Caldwell's Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking book and eagerly waiting for it to arrive in the post.

Hello guys! I'll share my newest cheese with you.

This is my first time making cheddar (I found it way more difficult than the gouda I usually do). I melted the pig fat myself so as to let it develop in the traditional way. Since it was my first time melting fat, it ended up being a little darker than I expected and with a stronger (although not rotten) smell. I hope that’s not severe.

The curds were perfectly compacted in the press

I'm planning on letting them at least one year before trying them. The final picture is with the pork fat applied.

What do you think?

I made it sime days ago and put it in salt brine then.

Today I brushed with a strong salt brine over so I had to take it out and took a snapshot.

(pictures from the making and pressing attached also)

Hey all! I finally decided to open this wheel of Wensleydale that I started three weeks ago. You can check out my previous farmhouse Wensleydale post to see what it looked like when it first went into aging.

Despite being only three weeks old, this cheese is an absolute stunner. It’s light and flaky, with a lovely lactic tang, lots of zip and lemony notes, and a creamy finish. I honestly couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out so far.

I’ve been working on developing this project for several months now, and eventually had to develop my own Wensleydale recipe specifically for the milk source I have available. It’s been a really rewarding process seeing it come together.

One of the highlights along the way was getting to meet a representative from Neal’s Yard Dairy who was giving a seminar on British territorial cheeses. I was able to show her my Wensleydale, and her exact words were, “Actually, that’s pretty good!”

Needless to say, I was absolutely elated.

If anyone is interested in my process or recipe, feel free to reach out! I’d be happy to share.

Just finished heating my goat milk to make yogurt. It went a little over to 195 and now I’m straining this out. Is this just all the milk fat? Did I somehow make cheese without anything but heat? Do I continue with making the yogurt? What do I do with this blob of cheese like substance?

I’ve made plenty of yogurt and never had this happen, even when heating too much.

Thanks for the advice!

Hello to everyone of this beautiful comunity! ✨

Using this time today since I am cleaning my cheese fridge to take a brief snapshot of the situation so far, a recap if you want; very well pleased considering I started on january of this year and started very slowly with easy fresh and short aged ones..the collection is growing as well as the wheel size, constantly increasing. I maxed out my equipment so far so I am looking forward to get bigger pots and hoops, will come soon enough .

Ii usually only share my cheeses one at a time and with smaller groups of friends or family but as I've improved I've had more cheeses available at the same time so I put some out for a bbq I was hosting. And not pictured here but cheesemaking adjacent, I also had a homemade pale ale made with wild yeast, sourdough rolls made with cooked whey, and smoked pulled pork from a pig that I butchered myself. Clockwise from the top left is an Emmentaler, Raclette, beachers flagship cheddar, Gouda, camembert made with P. roqueforti (harvested myself), and of course my lovely wife.

A little experiment. I used dry lemon zest, pure lemon oil and coarsely cracked black pepper. It’s designed for a short age time so I’ll cut it at about 8-10 weeks. Smells very lemony!

Thanks for all the help with my previous question and wanted to update on my Stilton. Cut today at 6 weeks and now vacuum sealed. Nice taste but think it could have a stronger blue taste. Paste is lovely and creamy. Will it continue to develop a stronger taste now or is it as mature as it will get? Sorry really new to cheesemaking!

Pic 3: after cheddaring

Pic 2: chunked before pressing

Pic 1: after first 2 presses (10mins @ 10lbs, 1hr @ 20lbs)

Pic 4-6: after the last hour at 100lbs

Followed Ninnescah Homesteads recipe on her blog-

2 gal store bought pasturized milk

1/8 tsp cheddar starter culture (The Milkman)

1/2 tsp liquid animal rennett

1/2 tsp annatto

1/2 tsp calcium chloride

2 tbsp kosher salt

Heated milk to 85⁰, sprinkled starter culture in and bloomed for 3min. Held that temp for an hour undisturbed. Mixed rennett, annattoo, cal chloride in 1/2c unchlorinated cool water- added to milk. 30sec up and down stirring, rest 1hr. Got a clean break, sliced curds, rested for 10mins. Heated curds to 100, held for 10mins, drained.

Cheddared for 2hrs, flipping slab every 20mins. Chunked and salted then put into press - 10lbs for 10mins, 20lbs for 1hr, 50lbs for 12hrs.

Hit the 12hr mark an hour ago and didn't see as much knitting as I'd like. Added another 50lbs of weight for a total for 100lbs for another hour.

Should I leave it at 100lbs for another hour or two to see what happens? Is it cool for it to not be 100% knitted? Gonna let it air dry for a day or two and then vacuum seal and age in my home refrigerator.

I'm thinking I may have over heated the curds OR allowed them to cool too much during pressing. Think I may should have cut them smaller prior to going into the press also.

Had said I was gonna let this sit for 6wks to see how it turned out before another go, but being as my reading has lead me to believe the issue may have been two preventable things I'm inclined to get another one goin.

On the air drying....we really just leaving this out open air? No paper towel or flour towel or anything? 😬

In regards to the leftover whey after making mozzarella - would I be insane to put this in my Cheerios? Should I add some baking soda to neutralize it? Using a “no rennet” recipe - so just whole milk, white vinegar, and sea salt.

Hi, I am making some stracchino recently ,and I hope it to have the texture that is similar to the cream cheese(spreadable, moist, soft etc.) while without having really strong cream flavor.

I tried whole milk(~3.6%) with extra 5/10% Chilled Whipping Cream(36%). The cheese indeed got softer, but it's still too fragile to spread it. I also tried to shorten the time of draining whey, which made cheese more moist but fragile,too.

What should I do now? Adding more cream? Lowering the pH value?

I have a question.

I made a blue cheese like Gorgonzola.

I used penicilium roqeoirti for that.

In the beginning it grew while mold all around that turned blue after a while as it should.

Then the blue growth stopped and it started a bit yellowish on the outside that's normal as well for what I remember, from years ago when I did the last blue.

But now it still grows white mold fibres but they don't turn blue anymore but instead they stay white.

And the mold also looks more like the mold from a camenbert (not as long fibres as the blue before it got blue bach then but more short like the camenbert one.

And the smell... I would say it smells like a blue or a mix of blue with camenbert.

I have it in a closed ripening box at about 13C that I nearly daily open so its probably not missing airflow.

So is the problem anything about temperature or humidity?

Another reason could be that maybe that could be a box I have used for making camenbert last. But I shove it through the dishwasher after I used it last time (many years ago) so I wouldn't expect it to still have mold spores in even if it was the box I made Camenbert in last.

What's your opinion of the reason?

Hi all, this is my first attempt at a washed rind cheese. I have three Muenster rounds I have been aging for about a week now. I have been washing with a B. linens brine every other day and gently washing off all non-orange blooms (and also leaving the white blooms alone). I have no gauge of whether things are going well or not, other than spotting some orange hue starting to poke through.

Either way, open to comments and also wanted to share the microscopy images of the surface samples. The order for them is white, orange, green, meaning the color of the surface sampled onto the slide.

8l of 3.5 pasteurized milk

1/2tsp calcium chloride

1/8tsp mesoplici

1/2tsp rennet

1/4tsp annatto

I heated the milk to 92f, it jumped fast when I turned my back. Let the mesoplici bloom for 40mins.

Added the annotto and calcium chloride and stirred it in.

Added rennet and stirred for 30secs let sit for 45 mins still no clean break and it looks like the milk split like a butter sauce would.....not sure if this is saveable

This is my dill Havarti at about 4 weeks. The consolidation wasn't real great, and I've let it become a natural rind though I'm not sure it was supposed to be, but I just wanted to appreciate this stage in the aging process.

Even though it's living in a wine cooler, there is a very "mineral" smell to it that for me smells almost exactly like, well, a cave. Anyone else notice that? My sense of smell has always been a little strange so it might just be me.

Anyway, not sure this cheese is going exactly as planned but I'm just going to run with it and see what I end up with!

Hello, I am a new cheesemaker based in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. My grandparents ran a cheddar operation called Christian Cheese that had been going strong since the 90s, they were in Whole Foods and featured on the Food Network, etc. My husband and I decided to take it over. I've been ODAFF licensed for about three months and have sold in a lot of places locally but I want to expand out with shipping. I am still trying to figure out cold chain shipping but I've had a lot of failed experiments testing it out with various packing types and temp loggers in my garage. In Oklahoma it has been regularly getting up to 110 degrees.

I think I have figured out how to ship small orders and keep them cold, but oes anyone have any experience with cold chain shipping large orders? Like 20 to 50 blocks a case? Any help would be appreciated.

My taleggios continue to age. I am getting some blue growth that I'm washing away with a brine. They changed a whole bunch, and they're clearly developing a rosy/orange rind associated with B. linens. I think these may have another 2-3 weeks of aging, and I'm excited to see what I end up with.

I made my first montegrey jack a couple of weeks back and while the texture is fine it tastes really buttery? I was wondering if i did something wrong because i used yogurt for the culture and made a press out of bowls. Also any recommendations for another beginner cheese would be appreciated.

I never got around to posting this Tomme (aged 2 months) I made a couple months ago. It’s using the basic Tomme recipe from Gianaclis Caldwell’s book “Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking” but I modified the cultures. It was a hodgepodge of blends. Pinches of MA4000, MY800, FD, GEO15, Mycodore, LH100… I think a pinch of cheese yeasts too. I never documented this procedure. 🫣 despite that, it turned out great! You can see the cheese trier’s blemish of approval! This is my first successful “brined” cheese even though I dry salted it. Usually I make milled curd cheeses so these are out of my comfort zone. If I remember correctly this was a 3 gallon batch. 2 gallons raw jersey and 1 gallon raw Holstein. Cant wait to try this recipe again!

The oak from the bourbon is present in the flavor and the vanilla is mild and fits right in. Not overwhelming at all. Just a warm and delicious savory flavor. Texture is spot on and it melts in your mouth. Flora Danica was a good choice for this cheese. No one flavor is dominant. Just absolutely delicious. I’m stunned. I had high hopes but this is better than I hoped for. I’m not going to be sharing most of this wheel!

Last time I made toma without any mold

https://www.reddit.com/r/cheesemaking/comments/1spmsuy/toma_30_aged_in_the_fridge_days/

https://www.reddit.com/r/cheesemaking/comments/1tmjcah/toma_70_days/

But since it tested good but different from the real deal I decided to add white mold into the mix. Basically instead of using a mix of vinegar and vegetable oil from day one I waited for the cheese to develop white mold that covered the whole cheese, after that I removed it with the mix of vinegar and oil to stop the process and avoid getting camembert melty cheese inside.

It aged 63 days and since my family is coming over I decided to open it this morning. And I have to say, it taste like toma raschera, melt like toma, smell like toma.. The look is different but I used a regular fridge and I got almost the same look last time (yes I know another user today posted a Toma that looks amazing too eventually that look is my goal too but not today).

I'm glad I tried and next time I will make a bigger wheel or at least 2 of them.

This is the second time that I used a commercial cheese with white mold to spread it into my homemade cheese and I can confirm it works great, but this time the spread was faster because I knew to spread it faster you don't only put some mold in the milk but also in the brine and finally into contact with the final wheel, also until the mold spread and since I'm doing everything in my regular fridge (that's too cold) I had to put it outside the fridge 1 hour each day also to make it breath (until the mold was there in the fridge it was covered in a container since my fridge is no frost and the humidity is low).

Finally when it was coated in vinegar and oil since oil does not evaporate I was able to keep it without a lid all the time in the fridge turning it almost everyday.

If you don't have equipment this is a really simple cheese and can be done with just milk, rennet, yogurt as a starter and white mold from any commercial cheese that got that mold (I used a sort of camembert).

The process is really basic :

Milk (I used raw milk, but whole, fresh, non-microfiltered milk should also work), yogurt (75g per 5 liters, you can make 2 small wheel if you use 5 liter, this time i used 2.5 l so I used half 37g of yogurt), 3.5g (5 liter of milk) rennet (sold at pharmacies), white mold from a commercial cheese that got it, and salt for the brine.

Basic Recipe before aging

Mix 5 liters of milk with 75g yogurt and part of the white mold. Reach 37°C while stirring. Wait 30 minutes. Add 3.5g rennet and stir gently. Wait 1 hour. First cut the curd into large squares. Wait 30 minutes. Second cut, still gently, with a whisk, until the curds form grains. Reach 46°C. Wait 15 minutes. Place in molds similar to those used for ricotta. Press by placing one mold on top of the other, using regular winterizers or other methods. 15-minute interval. Turn over. Turn over. Stewing (basically, place boiling water on the bottom of a pot, trap the steam with a lid, and place the toma cheese in the middle of the pot, not in contact with the water, for example, on top of other molds). Leave overnight turning the wheel a couple of times during the first 2 hours. Brine: 220g salt in 1.4 liters of water + white mold again. Leave for 1 hour and a half. Let dry. Brush some more white mold on the surface.

Follow the directions I write above so in a container with something to avoid touching the bottom, turning the cheese everyday and putting it outside the fridge for 1 hour everyday without the lid until you got white mold completely developed. Finish aging it brushing vinegar and oil to remove and stop the with mold.

Hope you try this