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You are here: Home / Hardware / My New Cheese Cave

My New Cheese Cave

17/02/2014 By Gavin Webber 18 Comments

The cheese drought has broken, and I am back in business!  I have a new cheese cave.

I mentioned this in my last podcast or two, but finally I saved up enough money to replace my ailing cheese fridge with a brand new small bar fridge with external thermostat.

To recap, this is the old cheese fridge.

It was just a wine fridge that worked using a thermoelectric system, which performs best in homes that are not kept much warmer than 24°C (75°F).  Unfortunately, my home get well about that, that the temperature of this unit would drift at least 10°C above what I had it set at.  This was not satisfactory for cheese making, and some cheeses even started to weep oil.

So I had to place the two cheeses I made in early December into the normal kitchen fridge, until I saved up for a replacement.

Thankfully, that day was today.  Last week I purchased a small bar fridge for a couple of hundred dollars, and found a suitable external thermostat for A$21.

New cheese cave aka bar fridge

The fridge has three racks inside and room for about 30 wheels of cheese.  More than enough, I think.

external thermostat for cheese cave

The thermostat is very basic.  Plug it into a power socket, then plug in the fridge.  Set it to cool by holding in the centre button for 4 seconds, then set your desired temperature with the SET button.  Pretty simple, although I have noticed that it sits about 1°C below its setting.

This shot shows the probe, which is the grey cable with a white probe on the end to the left.  I placed my normal hygrometer next to it to check if it was reading true.  This the display was still cooling down at the time.  I have just dangled the sensor probe through the fridge seal and tied gently to the middle rack.  Nothing too technical like drilling holes through the side of the fridge.  I wanted to keep it simple.

This method does not seem to be affecting the temperature, as it is sitting at a comfortable 13°C now, and has been for the last hour with the fridge turned off.

new cheese cave

Once the temperature had stabilised, I placed the two cheeses, a Romano Pepato and a Cotswold, that I had stored in the kitchen fridge.

Speaking of temperature, the weather cooled down sufficiently (24°C) on Sunday for me to make two wheels of cheese.

It was glorious.  I felt so, so, so refreshed.  It had been over six weeks since I made cheese, and it was starting to get withdrawal symptoms. 😉 More about the cheese I made in the next post, but suffice it to say, it was great fun running my fingers through curds and whey once again!

Have any of you recently set up a new cheese cave?  What did you use to control the temperature?

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Filed Under: Hardware Tagged With: Cheese Cave

← LGC 021 – Making and Maintaining Brine Cheese Fridge Video and Update →

About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber is passionate about home cheese making. He loves to make cheese in his spare time and shares the techniques, videos, podcasts, and recipes with his fellow curd nerds!

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  1. Kyle says

    30/06/2021 at 13:56

    Lise,

    I know this is late but it may help others reading this post. What you want to buy is a home brewing thermostat from a lot of online or in-store home brew businesses in your area. The two predominant brands that I own and are available in Australia are the “Keg King MKII Temperature Controller” and “Inkbird ITC-308”, which is available in both wi-fi and non-wi-fi models. It allows your refrigerator or freezer to be converted into a cool environment for fermenting, or in your case maturing cheeses. Works just like the model in the above post, but they DEFINITELY conform to Australian electrical standards, as well as have a plethora of forums dedicated to home brewing discussing its use, reliability, and troubleshooting. Hopefully this helps you if you dropped cheese making because of your difficulty in obtaining a cheese cave. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Lise says

    19/07/2020 at 17:40

    hi, do you have the brand of the thermosthat you use, it’s not available anymore on little green workshops, thanks

    Reply
  3. Tom says

    28/03/2018 at 19:20

    Hi Gavin

    How do you maintain the humidity at the right levels in the bar fridge?

    Cheers
    Tom

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      29/03/2018 at 10:58

      I use ripen boxes for mould ripened and natural rind cheeses.

      Reply
  4. Deborah says

    03/11/2016 at 19:42

    Thanks for the information. I had been concerned about using a wine fridge because of the long hot summers we get here in Queensland (didn’t want fluctuations). Am going to plug my new thermostat in now and the fridge should be good for my first hard cheese effort tomorrow (fingers crossed). By the way I do enjoy your cheese making videos. You give all the details without being long winded.

    Reply
  5. Murray says

    14/08/2014 at 00:56

    Have had a dedicated cheese fridge for a while but it has been a challenge keeping the temperature correct using the built-in thermostat. Thanks, Gavin, for the link to the 240v controller with probe – did not know about them so one has now been ordered.

    Reply
  6. Andrew Smithson says

    07/04/2014 at 08:57

    Hi Gavin, I am new to cheesemaking and was just about to buy a wine fridge for my cheese cave. do you belive this is a better option?
    How would this go through winter? would it get too cold?
    Do you still have to ad a bowl of water in the bottom to add extra humidity still?
    Thanks for your help and advice.
    Andrew

    Reply
  7. Cheesemaker says

    19/02/2014 at 17:40

    Hi Gavin.
    I have an older ordinary fridge, as my husband has fitted an additional thermostat in. The temperature varies between 11.4 and 12.6 C, I have attached a thermometer which also hygrometer in the inside of the door so I can always check both.
    I think it fit fine for me. When it's winter, we have an unheated room upstairs where I can put my stilton and brie. It has also been ok with about 10C …
    Congrats with youre new cave.
    Hugs here from Denmark, Aase

    Reply
    • Cheeseadmin says

      01/03/2014 at 22:17

      Hi Aase. It is good that you can mature without refrigeration in winter. It would probably save a bit of money for electricity.

      Reply
  8. Albert Campsolinas says

    18/02/2014 at 21:16

    Hi Gavin
    I bought exactly the same thermostat here in Spain one year ago and it works very well!!!
    Congrats for your new cave!!

    Reply
    • Cheeseadmin says

      18/02/2014 at 23:00

      Thanks Albert. It works well, doesn't it.

      Reply
  9. Cheeseadmin says

    18/02/2014 at 10:34

    I find that you have better control over the rennet dose with liquid. However I still use the tablets for making quick mozzarella. Hope that helps

    Gav

    Reply
  10. white_lilly says

    18/02/2014 at 10:19

    I feel you enthusiasm and thanks for the info on the external thermostat. I just have one question in regards to liquid and tablet rennet, is one better or easier to use than the other?

    Reply
  11. Michael says

    17/02/2014 at 13:49

    Good stuff Gav,

    I like that external thermostat. Do you have any details or a link to the specs?

    Cheers

    Reply
    • Cheeseadmin says

      17/02/2014 at 22:09

      Hi Michael. Here is the link where I bought it from on ebay; http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/JET-200-Digital-Reptile-Thermostat-0-38C-Aquarium-Brooder-Incubator-Snake-Lizard-/170829639592?pt=AU_Pet_Supplies&hash=item27c63d6fa8

      Gav

      Reply
  12. Adam says

    17/02/2014 at 11:40

    What you also have there Gavin, when you have no cheese on, the go is a temperature controlled fermenter for your homebrew. Controlling the fermentation temp makes a big difference to the quality of the brew.

    Reply
    • Cheeseadmin says

      17/02/2014 at 11:50

      Great idea Adam. I could probably squeeze in two demi-jons if I take the shelves out.

      Cheers, Gav

      Reply

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