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I make my own homemade cheese and I finally cut into my homemade Farmhouse Cheddar tonight. It's been aging for 17 months now and I really couldn't wait any longer to try it. My thoughts were that it was quite dry, quite bitter and sharp, but full of intense flavour. I am a fan of a really sharp cheddar so this was right up my alley and I really love it. The good thing is that I love it and will make it again......the shitty thing is that I will need to wait for another 1.5+ years to have it again! I'd love to be able to let it age for a good 5 years to see the difference.

that's fantastic! did you just use store bought milk? I have some relatives with a dairy farm, I'm hoping to go there and make some simple feta sometime in the next couple months. where did you get your supplies?

Wow thats a long wait for cheese.

Sandy

Yeah a long wait but wow that looks great.

Looks wicked

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:that's fantastic! did you just use store bought milk? I have some relatives with a dairy farm, I'm hoping to go there and make some simple feta sometime in the next couple months. where did you get your supplies?

I buy all of my stuff from http://www.cheesemaking.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; out of New England. For this particular cheese I used 7.5 litres of homogenized milk and 500ml of heavy cream. Hard cheeses are more difficult and time intensive to make, however soft cheeses like Mozza, feta, cottage, etc are very simple. I make homemade mozza at least a couple times a month. It's fantastic on homemade pizzas!


A couple of other pics of the process.....just a cut and paste from another forum.

The Cheddar

I combined 7.5 litres of 2% milk along with 500ml of heavy cream and brought the temp up slowly to 90F.




After it reached it's temperature I added 1/2 tsp of Calcium Chloride and let it sit for 45 mins. After that I added and 3/4 of rennet dissolved cool water, stirred for a couple of mins, covered and let it sit for another 45 mins. After that I cut the curd into 1/2" blocks.



I then brought the curds up to temp of 100F by sitting the pot in a sink of hot water. I then poured the curds into a cheese cloth lined colander to drain the whey. I let sit for about 15 mins and then hung it up on my faucet to drain further for 30 mins.



After draining, I mixed the curds with a Tbsp of cheese salt.



I got my cheese mold ready and lined it with cheese cloth.




Added the cheese curds to it.



Pressed it with 10lbs of weight for about 15-20 mins.



Now I have to have it pressed under 20lbs of weight for the next 12 hours. This is my version of a 20lb weight.




The process continues.


And some Mozza pics. Making homemade mozza is extremely easy and VERY tasty! I have it on all of my homemade pizzas!


Mozza curds



Stretching the mozza



Mozza ball



Cooling it down in ice water




Finished



My first piece.

Man, that's awesome.

Very impressive. The first cheese looks incredible.

Awesome!

WOW, that looks great.
I have been looking into making smoked Gouda, but haven't bothered actually ordering any supplies yet.
What did you use for a mold?

I love old sharp cheddar. When you are done making the cheese, could you quarter that block and age them separately, or should it stay as one large block?

id like to get started in making cheese.

i was wondering if you could provide any beginners tips for resources. etc....

Tony, I use a small basket for my mold. You can see it in a couple of the pics. I purchased a kit from the website I posted earlier and it came with the mold. Kits are very inexpensive if you want to get started.

This is the kit that I started out with.

http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/p/313 ... BR12-.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

akr71 wrote:
I love old sharp cheddar. When you are done making the cheese, could you quarter that block and age them separately, or should it stay as one large block?

I've never cut up the blocks into quarters, but I don't see why you couldn't do that and age them separately. You'll just need to wax 4 small pieces instead of 1 larger one is all.

sleepyjamie wrote:id like to get started in making cheese.

i was wondering if you could provide any beginners tips for resources. etc....

If you get the kit that I recommended to Tony, it comes with a very simple to follow instruction booklet for making the various types of cheeses. That website also has a LOT of information as well. This might be a good place to start. http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/24 ... nners.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

canuck wrote:

akr71 wrote:
I love old sharp cheddar. When you are done making the cheese, could you quarter that block and age them separately, or should it stay as one large block?

I've never cut up the blocks into quarters, but I don't see why you couldn't do that and age them separately. You'll just need to wax 4 small pieces instead of 1 larger one is all.

I was just thinking that it might be easier to justify aging it for longer - like bottling a big beer, you can sample now and cellar for later...

I would love to make some blue cheese ala Dragon's Breath. When you do the softer cheeses do you need a press? Building a cheese press has been on the to do list for a while now!

very cool

Inspiring.

Brewnoser wrote:Inspiring.

I'd have been more inspired if he'd brought some to Big Strange Brew

Had trouble ordering off that site, Shane, but will give it a try later tonight.

It's a done deal. It will be winging its way to me starting tomorrow.

Hi,

I ordered a kit and I'm very excited to make some mozzarella! However I was wondering if I could buy some rennet from anyone in this thread! I live in Halifax and would be willing to pay! I just can't wait

Going out to buy some supplies tomorrow to make a habanero cheese. I didn't realize it was so easy to make cheese.

Rennetgirl wrote:Hi,

I ordered a kit and I'm very excited to make some mozzarella! However I was wondering if I could buy some rennet from anyone in this thread! I live in Halifax and would be willing to pay! I just can't wait

Apparently nobody has any from the lack of responses I'd help you out but I'm rennetless atm