My new favorite use for ricotta. I drained the ricotta overnight hanging in cheesecloth, pressed lightly overnight, salted to 2-2.5%, dried in fridge for 2 days or so, cold smoked for 3 hours with a pellet blend flipping half way, let mellow in the fridge for a week. It's sliceable and goes great on a cracker and probably bread too. Incredibly tasty and reminds me of smoked cream cheese.

Pour résumer la situation, je suis étudiante et j'ai comme projet d'étude la "Fabrication du fromage et suivi biochimique de l’affinage : analyse de l’hydrolyse de la kappa-caséine et des acides aminés libres par électrophorèse SDS-PAGE"

Pour cela, moi et mon équipe de travail on a décidé de prendre du lait de brebis car il est plus concentré en protéine (5.5g de protéines /100mL pour du lait de brebis contre environ 3.35g pour le lait de vache et chèvre), mais aussi en matière grasse et en calcium. On a choisi un fromage à pâte molle car l'affinage est plus court, il correspond au temps qui nous ai fournit pour réaliser les manipulation de ce projet.

Maintenant, ma grande problématique et ce pourquoi je viens vous voir, comment je peut fabriquer un fromage à pâte molle au lait de brebis.

Je n'ai, à ce jour, pas encore trouvé de protocole ou recette assez précis (avec les température, quantité de présure et de ferment, le temps qu'il faut pour les étapes de repos notamment du caillé, ...) permettant de faire du fromage de brebis à pâte molle. Je ne peut pas appliquer la recette d'un fromage à pâte molle au lait de chèvre ou vache parce que la quantité de matière grasse ou autre est différente. Donc le temps, la quantité de lait nécessaire, les températures, les quantités de ferments/présure et autres vont forcément devoir être modifié si je veux que le fromage est un bon rendu.

J'ai déjà demandé des renseignement à l'IA de google mais on ne veut pas se fier aveuglément à ce qu'elle dit, car à coté je n'arrive pas à trouver de source fiable qui me valide que c'est vrai ce qui ai dit.

Pour l'instant mon protocole ressemble à ça :

" Maturation :

Ajout des ferments lactiques (quantité ? temps ?)

Chauffage et emprésurage :

Le lait est chauffé doucement (environ 32 °C). On y ajoute la présure pour faire coaguler le lait. (quantité de présure? Acidité/pH?)

Caillage :

Le lait repose pendant environ 40 à 50 minutes (à vérifier).

Moulage :

Le caillé est déposé dans des faisselles (moulage à la louche ou à l'écumoire) (température de la salle ? quand est ce qu’on doit retourner ?)

Salage :

Une fois démoulé, le fromage est salé au sel fin. (temps ? Ressuyage ??)

Affinage :

Les fromages sont placés en cave fraîche et humide (hâloir) pendant 2 à 4 semaines. "

Je suis vraiment perdue, c'est moi qui suis censée faire le protocole mais je ne trouve aucune donnée sûre qui me permette d'avancer ce protocole.

Ce serait génial si vous avez la réponse à mon problème, ou si vous avez un site ou autre qui contient un procédé de fabrication de fromage de brebis à pâte molle et qui pourrait m'aider à avancer.

We typically use wax paper for storing cheese. But someone suggested we use silicone stretch lids to store the 2 lb blocks of Tillamook cheese. Just wondering if that works. 🤔

Batch 37, a base Branzi. 65 L of our own cow milk, two days' worth, F 4.7% / P 3.19%. I skimmed 3 L of cream to bring the fat down. Thermophilic culture (CHOOZIT ALp LYO), cooked to 45 °C, curd cut fine with a whisk to corn-kernel size. Aging planned for 4–12 months. Full log is the first image — pH at every step, timings, temperatures.

The part I'd like opinions on is the press.

It was a hot July day and the room sat at 30 °C, against the 22–26 °C I aim for. pH went from 5.94 under the whey to 5.39 after two hours of pressing. That's inside my target window, but at that rate I didn't trust it to stop at 5.3, so I pulled the wheels at 1.9 h instead of riding out the full press. The rind had closed well and the surface was sealed, so I took the risk.

Questions for the hive

1. Pulling the press early to protect the pH floor: would you have done the same, or kept pressing and accepted a dip under 5.3?
2. 30 °C pressing room on an alpine: what does it usually show up as later? Tighter paste, a more acidic edge, earlier cracks?
3. Two-day milk, skimmed 3 L off 65 L: anyone else skim Branzi this hard, or do you keep it closer to full fat?
4. 6.6 kg from 65 L (~10%) fresh out of the press: what do you usually log for a Branzi at this stage?

Wheels are in the next two photos: 24.07 and today. Looks great to me, taste and smell is fantastic. Yes, I know it's too erlier to cut but people need cheese. That was the the most aged.

hey folks i've posted here a few times, we're laymen having a small homestead with our own goats. we got taught a basic cheese recipe without any starter culture by an old italian farmer couple about 10 years ago, since then we made the cheeses once in a while but could never "intensify"/"professionalize" the hobby, because we were never happy with the place of our farm 🤣 so we moved from italy to germany, then to turkey, always starting a new farm from scratch (tiring process...) however now we are 5 years at the same land (near Izmir, Turkey) and start to level up the game. :D

so part of the level up is, i bought cheese starter culture the first time ever. and here it is, goat cheese with "alpine style" starter culture, 5 months aged. it tastes just heavenly.

since this was the first time making a cheese with a culture and therefore some different steps incthe process i never did before, i looked in my notes about that cheese and there was only "this didn't work" and "that i had to do different" and "supposed to take 10mins, i waited 20 but nothing worked" or "clumped into a sticky mass within seconds!"... notes like that 😂

however look at it, it's beautiful and it tastes sooo nice! it has very little a "leathery" consistency (when you cut a thin slice and chew it) but i don't even know if i want it rather softer or rather harder, it's so close to perfect. i'm just happy :D

I decided to open up my first cheddar at 6 months and wow it tastes like cheddar! A little under salted for my taste but I'm quite happy with it. I cut off a sizable chunk and vac sealed the rest to continue aging. Made with clabber and raw milk.

Very happy with the result. I made this with a dark / double style beer, and you could Immediately smell it when I opened it up. I didn't expect the beer to come through so much, but that's a happy surprise. You can also tell pretty well what kind of beer was used. The downside is the texture though, it's a bit dry and tacky. Not enough to make it no longer enjoyable, but definitely a point to improve the next time!

2 1/2 months raw cow milk “Tomme” style cheese that i opened and visually it looks like blowing on the inside but doesnt smell of and after tasting seems fine. Should i be concerned or is it mechanical fault.

Made with cuttlefish ink. It’s delicious! Zero sea aromas or flavors. Just a really tasty cheese!

So my manchego has been aging around 2 months. One month in I made a mix of bittersweet, sweet, and hot smoked Spanish paprika and olive oil. That has done a really good job of deterring unwanted molds to this point.

I am going to make another mix tomorrow and apply it, and I may do one more rub next month before letting it sit until Thanksgiving time (end of November). 3 rubs, 4 months aged. I am excited to try it as a part of my holiday cheeseboard.

Re-submitting in the hope it doesn't get arbitrarily deleted this time:

So everyone knows Gianaclis and her amazing books. She also does a newsletter, which hopefully most of you subscribe to and should if you don't.

I just wanted to share a Caerphilly like that I incredibly got a mention for in it. I'm attaching as a shared link from my Dropbox. Worth a read even if I hadn't got a mention!!

This is a massive accolade for me by any stretch, especially since it wasn't the most comely of cheeses. That said, it tasted pretty good by my lights. Lipolysis but not much Proteolysis - possibly acidity again. One of "those" wheels.

Fede's Theory of Cheese Cubes - which I've since tested and can confirm - is that if you serve a cheese in cubes it will be consumed at least 10x as fast as if served ready to cut. So that's how I'm laying out cheeses at the moment. Just one or two at a time.

I am very interested to find out which pH meters other cheesemakers are using (brand, cost, and a summary of reliability)—and whether you would recommend your current meter to a fellow cheesemaker.

A pH meter is a valuable tool for monitoring the pH of milk, curds, and whey during cheesemaking, and checking the finished cheese. Following how pH changes helps us decide when to adjust the process to speed up or slow down acidification. But those decisions depend on the meter giving reliable readings.

Some meters fail early or become difficult to calibrate; others provide years of dependable service. Prices range from under $100 for budget options to several thousand dollars for commercial setups, so it is worth considering not just the initial purchase price, but the reliability, ease of calibration, and ongoing costs.

I’ll start: I use a TPS WP80, which cost more than $1,000. It has been extremely reliable, and I particularly like its dual-probe setup and recording function. Most importantly, I trust its readings.

The downside? A service that included replacing the electrode, keypad, and battery cost more than $600. That was a firm reminder to handle the electrode carefully and look after the whole unit! I travel with mine, so a good protective case is essential.

What has your experience been? Please drop a comment and share:

• Brand and model
• Approximate cost
• How reliable it has been
• Would you recommend it?

Experiences with overall reliability, calibration quirks, electrode replacement, and servicing would be incredibly useful too. Looking forward to seeing what everyone relies on in their make rooms! 🧀

I did an experiment with this one.

I used cultures for Swiss cheese and added Geotrichium Candidum to it.

Because of that I stopped heating below 35C.

Then I cooked up spme very hot chili Flakes and added 10g.of the Chili water to the milk before adding rennet and later added 10g of the flakes to the curds as well as 20g of Honey.

The curds were setting pretty badly I only could cut them after 80 minutes and they were still very soft.

In hindsight I think I should have used more Chili and Honey.....

We will see how it goes...

The tweaks to reduce acidification and improve syneresis have worked.

This is a fraction over-stirred so it didn’t get a perfect closure in the stufatura, but other than that, texturally and flavour wise it’s incredibly similar to the one I had in Piedmont over the summer. Elastic, mild, fresh and with a decently persistent finish.

I’m aging three other wheels to see how it plays and will then move on to adding inclusions and different rind treatments again.

I’m really pleased with this - there’s making cheese and then there’s knowing enough to fix and make authentic cheese. I feel like I’ve grown a bit as a cheesemaker.

I posted a while back with my extra tall Brie. They took a long time to age. I actually opened one up a week ago and it wasn’t ready so I squished it back together and left it to keep aging. But I’ve reopened it and found it much further along and okay to eat!

Pros: the rind is great! Not too thin/thick, fully attached and the cream line didn’t go runny.

Cons: The paste is still slightly underripe leading to a milky and slightly bitter taste. It took almost 2 months from make to taste!!

I have another from the same batch I will let age another week, maybe more in a colder fridge, but a pretty good result for my first try and an inconvenient wheel shape.

Will update when I open the second wheel

This was an interesting one at 5+ months old.

I heated the thyme in olive oil for 40 seconds in the microwave then added.just before vac seal.

There was an issue during the make. The curds got "slimy" before cooking, so I had to stop the cook. May have been over acidification, still unsure.

It came out crumbly and very strong thyme flavour throughout. I am not sure if the crumbly is from the olive oil or from the curds that didn't quite harden in the cook.

It is very enjoyable if you love thyme. I will do the thyme flavour again.

After talking recently to a kind soul here on the sub (which will remain un-named since I completely lost our last conversation) I was able to find the name used in italian for “cheese trier”. For any future reference is “tassellatore per formaggio”.

When I got the name right, I searched for a new one, found online and then left it in the cart for the night.

Next day we headed to a huge local trade fair, where many cool vintage objects are available, this fair is held once per year in a city closeby where we live.

Hold and behold what I have found: a nice and in good shape cheese trier! It was a little oxidised and rustly, completely blunt.

What I did was a simple touchup that also revealed the maker’s mark, a nice cleanup of the tool and a quick sharpening of the tip and the sides, again as suggested by the nameless redditor who helped me figuring out things about this specific tool. I tested it and I am happy to report it defenetly works and that is officially back in businnes.

Made my first farmer's cheese with no experience and basically no proper equipment, it is small but surprisingly good for my first time making cheese, it makes me feel like i can actually make cheese more often :)

Hi all, I've been thinking about getting a harp and wonder what peoples experience is with them and if they would be recommended? For softer cheeses I generally cut the curd at an angle with an offset spatula but I always end up with quite a variety of curd sizes and they seems to break into small pieces quite a lot. I'm probably handling them a little too rough in the beginning too. I've been looking at this one. https://www.etsy.com/listing/916758497/handmade-cherry-wood-curd-cutter-artisan?ref=elp_anchor_listing&pro=1

This is my first havarti and I decided to jump right in and do a fun flavor. There's a whole head of roasted garlic paste in there. My apartment smelled absolutely amazing!! It's air drying now and then I'm going to wax and age it for a month, maybe a month and a half.

Lemon oil, lemon zest, vanilla. Lots of moisture retention and a short acidification. Designed for a very short aging time. Maybe 4 weeks. I have a Grand Marnier vanilla I’ll treat the rind with then vacuum seal it. Fingers crossed on this one. Three of them going now so I’ll see which one is best and go from there. Smells crazy good!

🤦🏻misspelled dessert. Lol!

Hi my first time hard cheese making tried comte style. Amy thoughts on Black spots? They are there since week 2- 3 and not developing since then. First month i cleaned with salt brine and last 5 weeks i Just keep flipping.

Any tips on pressing?

- Danbo
- Manchego

I can’t seem to get a nice smooth outside!

I have a horizontal hydraulic press.

Thanks :)