Dr_Pain my foray has been into making mozzarella

Mozzarella is so rewarding. Citric acid and 30 minutes of actual work and bam you have a product

Dr_Pain Prosciutto is my target on the bucket list. I’m so looking forward to doing it. You look like you have a head start, so plenty pictures please.
You know I will. Prosciutto is a year commitment. I have a slight mental block but I will get it done

Dr_Pain said in Any cheesemaking hobbyist amongst you?:

Most of the people that I see interested in cheese ONLY pick up a wine cooler from FB market. I wanted to do charcuteries and eventually soft cheeses so I had to go with absolute temp and humidity control.

We are hoping to get into dairy goats next year, and my wife is really into aged cheese so I will likely pick up a single door soda cooler and do the same as you. I’d like to be able to hang a whole pork leg and an assortment of charcuterie along with cheese.
(Note: I was born in Northern IL and yes I say soda)

I’ll be doing a Prosciutto de Parma sooner than later and I will have enough space in my rig

Most of the people that I see interested in cheese ONLY pick up a wine cooler from FB market. I wanted to do charcuteries and eventually soft cheeses so I had to go with absolute temp and humidity control.

We are hoping to get into dairy goats next year, and my wife is really into aged cheese so I will likely pick up a single door soda cooler and do the same as you. I’d like to be able to hang a whole pork leg and an assortment of charcuterie along with cheese.
(Note: I was born in Northern IL and yes I say soda)

Dr_Pain so I see you have some sausage in there, but if you only had cheese in there would the humidifier be needed since your cheese is vac sealed?

Awesome question! I have all semi-hard cheeses in there so once they are finished drying you can wax them, cloth band them or in my case vac seal them. I do have a Baby Swiss exposed but as soon as the Proprionic Shermani is done doing its thing I will vac seal it also.

The humidity is only important if you do a natural rind (which I may do for my parmesan…upcoming) or if you so soft cheeses like brie, camembert etc… Those are basically put in a container that “breathes”. But I am not the expert on those because I have not made any. Just info from researching!

This is the current state of the unit. I have salamis, salumis and pepperonis in the meat locker along all the cheeses

Not the best shot but……

Are the cheese fridge conditions similar to meat aging?

The “cheese cave” has the same conditions as a curing chamber (50-55F and 80% humidity). I have a couple of controllers on my conversion: One that controls the unit (and kicks the compressor on when the designated temp is reached) and another one that controls the humidifier and dehumidifier I have in the unit.

Dr_Pain I was given a kit for a present and have done some. Like you I have been building a curing chamber. I haven’t proceeded much but I will as time and opportunity permits.

That is awesome! What kind of cheese have you made so far. Always looking to try my hand at different varieties. The cheeses I make most often are:

• Basic white cheddar cheese curds to make poutine
• Whey ricotta (from the left over whey from making cheese) to make ricotta gnocchi or just eat it plain
• Fresh Mozzarella.

The cheeses in the opening posts were more recent (last 4 months or so) creations because I finally had my curing chamber dialed in.