Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

Heating Milk for Cheese Making

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I’ve had many questions asking me how I control the temperature of the milk during cheesemaking. Well, let me show you two easy methods that work like a treat!

 

There is also another method that I didn’t mention in the video.  There is a new product on the market called an Anova Precision Cooker.

Anova Precision Cooker

You can place this device into your kitchen sink, fill the sink with water, and put in your cheese pot.  The precision cooker then controls the water temperature creating a water jacket or pseudo double boiler.

You can pick one up here in Australia, or here in the US or Canada.

How to Sanitize Your Cheese Making Equipment

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Cleanliness and sanitization go hand in hand before you start your cheese making session.  But how do you ensure that you sanitize without using harmful ingredients?  In this post, I am going to show you a greener way to sanitize your cheese making equipment.

Make sure that you clean every item in hot soapy water first, then rinse off with clean tap water.  Make sure there isn’t any oils or cheese stone on the surfaces of your equipment.

Once all your cheese making equipment is clean, then it is on to the sanitizing stage.  For that, all you need is boiling water and white vinegar!  Check out the YouTube video for full details.

 

Pretty simple and all without the use of bleach or iodophor.  For all your plastic molds and baskets, just spray with white vinegar and allow to dry.  That will take care of most bacteria or yeasts.

All it takes is a bit of common sense.  If or when you are unsure whether a piece of equipment is not clean enough, then go through the process again to make sure it’s okay to use.

I’ve been using this method for years, with no issues, or contaminated cheese.  I have also not had any cross contamination when using different starter cultures and moulds between cheese making sessions.

Sanitzing your cheese making equipment

There’s just one caveat.  If you intend on selling your cheese, then to ensure compliance with any regulations, you will need to take your cleaning and sanitization to the next level.  There are different rules and regulations in each country or state, so make sure you contact the relevant regulatory body for more information if you want to take the next step towards the commercialisation of your cheese making operations.

However, for the home cheese maker, my simple process to sanitize your cheese making equipment is fine for home consumption.

For more tips about cleanliness and sanitization check out this post titled .

Vacuum Packing Cheese for Maturation or Storage

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Other than waxing, what other methods do I use to mature my cheese?  Well some cheese I allow to form a natural rind, and the remainder I vacuum package.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a quick video tutorial that I just published.


I have been using the Sunbeam FoodSaver for about three years, and have never had any problems with the seal.  The plastic rolls are readily available online and are relatively inexpensive for the amount I use.  It has a cutting blade built into the unit and it can also be used to vacuum seal many other foods for long life preservation.  I mainly use it for cheese though.  There are many types of vacuum sealing units; I bought this one because it was available locally and less than AUD$200 when I bought it.

What I really like is that this method takes the guesswork out of maturation.  I turn my vac packed cheese once a week and that’s it.  It is protected from any unwanted moulds or bacteria.  You don’t have to worry if the cheese is seeping through the wax or the rind is getting too dry.

For long maturing times, I prefer vacuum packing cheese, however for cheese that matures in less than 3 months, I wax the cheese instead.  Just habit I suppose and the final result is amazing.  Fantastic tasting cheese without any issues.

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