Who loves cheese? Well, I do and I love making it and sharing it with family and friends.
Having produced cheese as a hobby now at least monthly for more than 10 years, I thought it would be a great time to share with you some tips that I have learnt. Here are Gavin’s Top 10 Tips for Successful Cheese Making.
Tip #1 – Cleanliness
Firstly and most importantly is cleanliness. The area that you intend on making your cheese, and your tools that you make your cheese with, must be spotlessly clean and sterilised. I cannot stress this enough. Some people use bleach to clean their surfaces and utensils, but I prefer vinegar and bicarbonate soda, and to boil all the metal utensils and cheesecloths for 15 minutes. It doesn’t take long, and this is one of the first things I teach everyone in my cheese making classes.
I spray all surfaces with white vinegar including the utensils that I can’t boil to sterilise and let them dry naturally. This kills any wild mould spores that can inoculate your cheese unintentionally. I even spray my hands with vinegar and give them a good rub together every time I handle the cheese during the process to alleviate this problem. I have not had a problem with bad mould to date.
Tip #2 – Preparation
Have everything all prepared and laid out before you start. As I am waiting for the 15-20 minutes for the pot, stainless steel utensils and cheesecloths to sterilise, I get a clean tea towel and lay it on the kitchen bench next to the stovetop, ready to place all the tools on. I select the recipe well in advance, and get out all the necessary ingredients and put them on the side ready to go.
Cheesemaking requires un-chlorinated water for diluting some ingredients, so I have to pre-boil some rainwater from my tank and let it cool to room temperature. You could use bottled water, but I do not due to environmental reasons. I pre mix the diluted calcium chloride with this water, and do the same with the rennet. Something I learnt in the Boy Scouts that I shall never forget and that is the Scouts motto, “Be Prepared”.
Tip #3 – Plan Your Time.
Although the process of cheese making is not particularly difficult, it can be time-consuming. Ensure you take into account all factors involved in culturing the milk, renneting, stirring, milling, and pressing. If making a simple hard cheese, allow at least 4-5 hours to entirely finish the process. I make one cheese, Wensleydale, that takes over 9 hours from start to the final pressing! Mind you the final product is well worth the effort.
Tip #4 – Start Simply
Start off with a simple cheese to build your confidence. Try a soft cheese like yoghurt cheese (Labneh) which is basically putting 1 kg (2 lbs) of natural yoghurt into a cheesecloth and draining for a few hours, then gather into a ball and suspend over a large pot overnight in the fridge. Simple, yet tasty and you can mix in different flavours, either savoury or sweet to liven it up as a dip.
Ricotta is another easy cheese to make. Take 4 litres of milk, bring to about 93°C and add a quarter of a cup (67ml) of white vinegar or lemon juice and stir. You will see the milk separate into curds and whey. Ladle into a cheesecloth-lined colander to drain. When cool to touch, tie the corners of the cloth into a ball and wrap the ends around a large wooden spoon and drain over a large pot. After a few hours of draining you can add salt to taste and it will keep for about 5 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Great for lasagna and any other dish that requires a large amount of ricotta. As I said, simple successes give you the confidence to try something a little harder next time.
Tip #5 – Attend A Cheese Making Course
If you find that you enjoy making simple and basic cheeses, see if you can find a local cheese-making course that is held nearby. The knowledge that you will learn will take you to the next level, and as I found, the interaction with other amateur cheesemakers is priceless. Some of the courses can be expensive, but I found a relatively cheap one that was definitely worth the money. I have attended two of these courses (basic and mould) at our local community centre. Have a look around your local area. You might just get a surprise and find me teaching you a mozzarella and ricotta course. If you can’t find a course to attend, you may want to try my cheese making books and DVDs.
Tip #6 – Try Something Harder
When taking the next step and you have the urge to make an intermediate skill level cheese, like Farmhouse Cheddar, Wensleydale, Colby, or one like Caerphilly that only takes a short time to ripen (3 weeks) so that you can taste your handy work quickly. By making these quick to ripen cheeses once a month, you will always have some type of cheese at hand at home and never be tempted to by that processed store-bought rubbish that some supermarkets try to pass off as cheese!
Tip #7 – Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment
Once you get the basics right fairly consistently, don’t be afraid to experiment a little by adding other flavours to your cheeses during pressing or milling. I add a layer of home-grown sage leaves into the middle of my Wensleydale and it imparts a fantastic flavour. I add homegrown dried Birds eye chilli to my Monterey Jack to produce a variety called Pepper Jack. I’ve even added green peppercorns to my Farmhouse cheddar. It is all about the cheese and the final flavour.
Tip #8 – Have Patience
A good cheese, like a good wine, needs to ripen for a specific period of time and get better with age. Try and resist temptation by eating your cheese earlier than recommended. All hard cheeses take time to mature to the right taste. You would be amazed by the difference a week or month between tastings.
Depending on the cheese, if tasted early it will be very mild, but if left for longer the flavour gets stronger over time. I will give you an example. I made some Camembert, tried it at 3 weeks and it was fantastic. Left one for 4 weeks, and it was so strong it was overpowering but out of this world. Another example, my first Caerphilly cheese I sampled at 15 days when it was supposed to ripen to 28 days. It was nice, but when we tried it at 28 days, it was fantastic. I don’t dare try my Parmesan until at least 12 months!
Tip #9 – Invest In Good Equipment
If you find that cheese making is the hobby for you, invest in a few good books, a decent press, and if you don’t have a cellar that maintains a constant temperature between 10-15 C, then you will need to invest in a wine fridge or small fridge with an external thermostat that has the same temperature range.
After I decided that cheese making was going to be a long-term hobby, then I took this step and invested in such a fridge and it has become my “cheese cave”. The summers can be pretty gruesome where I live, so it was a need more than a want if I was to continue to make cheese during this hot season. I picked it up relatively cheaply, and it has served me well so far. I can now make un-waxed cheeses as well as mould type cheeses (blue vein, brie, camembert) because I can keep the temperature constant.
You will also need to invest in measuring spoons, good stirring spoons and a dairy thermometer. A long knife for cutting curd will also come in handy.
Tip #10 – Share Your Success.
Don’t forget to have fun and share the final product. I usually make my cheese on a Friday night, with a few glasses of wine to relax after a tough week at the office. I find it very therapeutic. I also enjoy breaking out a small cheese platter when friends drop by whereby sharing all the different tastes. Most say I should sell it at a local farmers market, but I think it would spoil the fun of the hobby. Some of my friends have never heard of most of the cheese types that I make, because the main cheese consumed in Australia is cheddar or processed cheese slices. I love the variety that home make cheesemaking gives you.
In Summary
Who would believe that you can make so many different types of cheese with plain old milk! After all, cheese is milks immortal leap.
Cheesemaking is great fun, so give it a go, and remember the most important rule. Don’t cry over spilt milk :-). It’s bound to happen.
Don’t forget that you can find all your cheese making needs in our store in the Cheese Making section. There are kits perfect for beginners all the way to the advanced home cheesemaker.
Hi Gavin
when I look at my finished cheeses (hard/semi hard) they seem much reduced in size than yours.I’m using the same 165 mold. Am i over pressing?
Hi Gavin, I have recently made provolone. I used thermo and meso cultures rather than the yoghurt , I noticed you had a hard time getting the cheese to acidity during one of your provolone videos so I added a extra half part of thermo culture1/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon) . After sitting the culture over warm whey for about 18 hours I still could get the cure to stretch, I checked the ph and it said it was around the 5.1 mark( probably wasn’t) When I would try and stretch it in the hot whey (85c) it would just seperate into corn kernels sized pieces so I drained it and let it solidify and then zapped it in the microwave for 30 second interval, This seemed to help it to Form one piece somewhat shiney but not stretchy. I have just said my peace with it and stuck it in a mould too see what happens.
Do you have any ideas on why I could not get this curd to stretch or get to its desired acidity?
Gavin: Don’t give up the ship with your great wife’s cancer. It can be beat. I know|
because I had three go around with it. Throat, left lung and colon. I won all three
bouts. My Docs asked me why I didn’t ” Loose It” over having cancer is because
I have a good sense of humor and I am learning how to make good cheese. Cheers
Thanks John! We haven’t given up just yet 🙂
Hi Gavin. Love your videos – your voice is so calming it takes all the fear out of making cheese. I have recently made two Gouda cheeses (one to try in September time and one for Christmas) and have invested in a cheese cave (wine fridge). My problem is that I can’t get the humidity right in there, it’s far too dry. I’ve tried putting a bowl of water in, and damp or even wet cloths but still too dry (around 60%). I’ve tried putting the cheeses inside a sealed plastic bag but the humidity drops from 85% back down to around 60% very quickly. Most recently, I tried putting a damp cloth inside the plastic bag but now the humidity is 99%. Both cheeses are waxed so is it a big problem? What would you do? I am in the UK and it’s summer so temperature and humidity constantly erratic!
On the plus side, I’ve made two batches of fabulous ricotta from the whey.
Hi Karen, humidity doesn’t matter if the cheese is waxed. The wax protects the cheese during maturation. As long as you keep the temperature constant during affinage for that cheese, you shouldn’t have any issues. Gavin
Gavin, I have a unlimited amount of raw cream(well almost unlimited) is their a hard or semi hard cheese you could recommend for using 100% cream instead of milk? Is this even possible? Only been making cheese for about a year now but am really hooked.
Hi John, there is only one cheese I know of that uses just cream. Mascarpone. Hard and semi-hard cheese cannot handle that much fat without the protein needed for a good curd structure.
Sorry there was a typo in my previous comment I meant to say what is a decent cheese press
Hi Josephine, we have a press for sale that I consider to be perfect for the home cheesemaker. In fact, this is the model that I use in all my videos; https://www.littlegreenworkshops.com.au/product/cheese-press-with-spring/
Hi thank you for all your knowledge I enjoy watching your videos I have a question what do you consider a decent price for a beginner if there was a name or model number if you could recommend one or where I could get one and what’s the decent price range thank you so much
Hi Gavin..I am beginner in cheesemaking.I drag myself to start this but after i formed a hard cheese using your video i think im excited to learn more!But i have a question here.What if i dont have a constant 10degree C temperature, can i keep it inside the fridge (vegetable section) place?
Thanks Gavin.
Hi Gavin,
Do you ever teach classes/workshops in Queensland? I’m specifically looking for one on the Sunshine Coast.
Hi Melanie, unfortunately, we do not travel outside of Victoria for our cheese making classes. However, I do have a comprehensive online beginners course that you can find here; https://courses.littlegreenworkshops.com.au/
Awesome, thanks. Will check that one out then 🙂
Hi Gavin,
great work you have here and on Youtube. i have been trying to make cheese with little success.
🙁
I suspect my biggest issues is scaling your recopies. I work 1-3 L batches not the 8-10 L you work with. I have done simple factoring of 4 and I think I am getting messed up with my Rennet, I am using tablets from Danisco which states that it clots 50L at 35c I have assumed that applies to each tablet not all 10. so if you take 2 L which means 1/25th of a tablet but I am not getting curds.
typing this out it is now making sense that 50 L must be for all tables so it’s 5 L for each one.
what about scaling of the CaCl is that the straight factoring from 8 L down 2 L divide your 1/8 tsp by 4 giving (0.03125 tsp) or maybe its better to use the 1/8 tsp into 1/4 cup and only use 15 ml of the solution, or can I just leave it at full strength? for that matter what are the results if you have too much rennet?
oh another thing if I have your attention. please consider making a video on cultures. like what is the difference between MA 011 and MA 030 or MA 036 and can these be used interchangeably as long as meso to meso and thermo to thermo? if you know what their flavor profile saying that x is sweeter then Y or tangier or what ever quality you could compare.
thank you for taking the time to read this post and I hope to hear back from you
Dan (beginner Cheese Nerd)
Hi Dan,
Unfortunately, we don’t sell the Danisco rennet tablets here in our shop so I do not have any experience with them. However, my immediate suspect is usually the type of milk you are using.
We do have a video on cultures; https://youtu.be/5gJ46HuzD4M. Hopefully, this video explains enough for you.
Regards,
Gavin
I was wondering if you could mix two different types of milk like goat’s milk Raw and pasteurized cow milk or if this would be a waste of time thank you
Hi Mark, not a waste of time at all. I have mixed cow and goat’s milk to make some amazing flavoured cheeses. The goat’s milk adds a nice tang to an otherwise bland cows milk cheese and also adds some lipase needed for those hard Italian cheeses.