Emergency Cheese Cave! Cheese Updates

Hello Friends!

How are you all doing today? I think that summer is officially over this year, sigh. Usually we get an especially hot and humid September. For the last x number of years, I've been swimming in the lake all the way to the beginning of October! But this year, it's already close to zero at night. Oh well.

I wanted to give you an update on a few things. Firstly, I've made two new Fontina cheeses using two different types of culture for comparison. They are air drying and will be ready for ripening boxes in a few days. I'll post about that in the next few weeks! I have a goat milk cheese going too, which I'll also post about soon.

Also...I got too big for my britches lol...I ran out of room in my cheese cave! It's a small fridge and I have four wheels in there already, plus the Parmesan in a ripening box and the brine...For the next three cheeses, they need to be in ripening boxes for 2-3 months too and I have no more shelves!

So the "emergency cheese cave" has been born. I took an old Styrofoam cooler we had in the basement.

I added two blue cooler thingies (dollar store) and did a 12-hour test to see if it would hold my temperature between 10-12C. It passed the test! It varied from 9.6C to 11.3C - perfect!

My emergency cheese cave will now sit on the counter in the kitchen - safely away from the pets. I'll have to replace the blue cooler thingies every twelve hours to keep the temperature right, so I'll have to hit the dollar store in the next few days to get a few more.

Necessity and lack of funds are the mother of all invention!

Jarlsberg Update: My Jarlsberg is aging at room temperature in the kitchen. If you look close, you can see that the cheese wheel is becoming a little spongy, it's also really expanding in the vacuum seal. This is normal as the "eyes" or holes are developing on the inside of the cheese! I have to watch to make sure it doesn't burst out of the seal. If it does, I have to simply reseal it. This will be ready in about 3 weeks!

And here is a video update of my Parmesan. It's doing what it's supposed to do!

Update after I filmed this video: After doing some more research today, I learned that it's a good idea to have your ripening box slightly open for air circulation. This is how I accomplish that:

A binder clip on the edge of the box with the top on. This leaves a slight crack in the opening for air flow.

Also, I read that you need to wipe the lid on the inside daily to make sure no moisture drips on your cheese, which causes it to mould faster! Forever learning!!! :)

A New Cheese Cave and Mould On The Cheddar

Hi Friends and Cheese Lovers! :)

How do you like the new look of the blog? I took a lot of old posts down that I found were a bit confusing. You see, when I started out cheese making in 2017, it was very challenging for me to find good information. I think that my old blog was all over the place! If a new cheese maker visits my blog, I want he or she to find clear and sound information! 

So...Murphy's Law anyone? 

Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

Not only did a Traditional Mozzarella fail on me the other day due to my BROKEN PH meter (not worth blogging about!!)... the old fridge, a.k.a. the cheese cave, DIED ON ME. I was so upset! I was afraid I'd lose all of my cheeses! It was only 12 years old, but as we all know, nothing is made like it used to be anymore...everything is made to be disposable so it seems!

Luckily one of the stores in Canada (Canadian Tire) had a similar fridge on sale $80 off so Alex and I drove the day after to pick it up. I think I saved my cheeses.

It's a decent size and at the lowest setting, it hits 9.9 Celcius. The ideal cheese aging temperature is between 10-12 Celcius, so I'm happy with 9.9! May the new Rainy Day Cheese Cave have a long and healthy life!!!

When I was putting the cheeses back into the new cave, I noticed some mould on my 3-Month Cheddar. Here is a video I took showing how to remove the mould off your cheese using homemade cheese brine. I'll post a recipe for cheese brine soon!

Cheese Making Goals and Troubleshooting the Cheese Cave

I've come up with my cheese making goals for 2019! I just have to place an order for some fresh cultures and I'm all set to go. I also have to make a schedule so that all of these aren't ready at the same time! I already have three Cheddars aging and I'll make more once the 3-month Cheddar (ready in October) passes the taste test!

My cheese cave is basically a small bar fridge that I try to keep around 10 degrees Celcius. This is a good temperature to age most cheeses. My challenge is to keep it around 10 without the fridge turning off completely. I check every morning to make sure it's not getting too cold in there. This morning it was just under 9 degrees. 

I know that one degree may not seem like much, but I don't want to take any chances with my precious cheeses! I took all of the soda cans out because they tend to keep things colder in there. I also turned the knob down to the position just before it would turn the fridge off. I also put a tea towel in the tray under the freezer. 

An hour later it hit 11.5 degrees! A wee bit warm so I'm going to be fiddling with the knob all day to hit the sweet spot! Someone once said they thought it was funny how I "babysat" my cheese...I'm very passionate about food and creating so yes, I'm proud to be babysitting my cheese!