Peter Dixon, a cheese consultant in Vermont, offers some great free recipes for the serious cheesemaker.
Posts Tagged ‘making cheese’
Making Cheese
D.J. making cheese
(Brigette Adams Photo)
It’s been a long and educational week. On Monday, we bought our first load of cow milk, 532 gallons, from a local dairy. Then the fun began. Nothing ever works quite like it looks on paper!
Equipment failures and unanticipated challenges started before I’d even gotten the milk home. Four batches and [...]
Things we learned from our first batch of cheese
Yesterday we used our new equipment to make its first batch of cheese. It was an educational experience. We did end up with cheese– time will tell whether it comes out like it should. And we learned a few things:
Our minimum batch size is 50 gallons. We tried to make a 30 gallon batch, and [...]
What cheese should we make?
Now that our pasteurizer is licensed, it’s time to make some cheese. And there are so many varieties to choose from! Shall we make Gouda today? Chevre? Cheddar? Tome?
We finally settled on Brie for our first cheese in the new equipment. That’s in part thanks to the persistent requests of our friend Chris. With luck, [...]
YouTube: How to Make Paneer
ShowMeTheCurry.com offers this video (via YouTube) showing how to make paneer, a fresh Indian-style cheese that’s much like ricotta. It’s easy! For a cloth, we use “flour sack cloth” that they sell at the local 99 Cent store.
They also suggest using the leftover whey as a vegetarian stock instead of chicken or beef. [...]
85 Degrees
Last week, a 3 hour test of the vat resulted in a 16 degree rise in vat temperature, and I learned we had it hooked up wrong and needed more water flow.
This past week, I corrected the plumbing and installed a faster pump. Yesterday, I learned that our tankless hot water heater is the choke point. [...]
The saga of the vat continues…
(The plumbing to the vat pasteurizer.)
Our “new” vat pasteurizer was made decades ago by Creamery Package in Wisconsin. The problem is, it’s hard to find anyone who knows how it works. The used equipment dealer I bought it from has been very nice, but has no technical knowledge. He did, however, call the manufacturer for [...]
Hooking up the vat
I’ve been trying for two weeks to hook up the new cheese vat/pasteurizer. I hadn’t realized that the pump wouldn’t pull water from the tank to the vat, it would only push. So I had to re-plumb and re-wire the pump in the other room. Then it didn’t pump, and when I [...]
How does this thing work?
We bought our new (used) pasteurizer last fall, never thinking that it didn’t come with a manual. After weeks of internet searches, emails, and phone calls, we finally found someone who knows how it works.
It turns out the hot water (yes, thankfully it’s designed for hot water, not steam) is delivered under pressure, sprays against [...]
Home Cheesemaking Resources
Here are two more resources for those making (or wanting to make) cheese at home:
The Joy of Home Cheesemaking Podcast: Offers two episodes so far, beginning with a recipe for Meunster cheese.
Facebook: Home Cheese Makers: Fans of home cheesemaking sharing resources and recipes.
