Anyone tried making their own cheese.

[6x6x6]

Still have a month or so until I'm able to get out hunting and was looking for something to do in the meantime. Ive always want to try to cold smoke some different cheese so after doing a little Google research I came across making your own cheese. Now I wanna try it start to finish. Maybe starting with cheddar and moving on to some different cheese depending how it turns out. Anyone have any story's tips or tricks.

[Opa]

Some info.

http://www.cheesemaking.com/learn/fa...ese-maker.html

[The Elkster]

I've made cheese for a number of years. You won't want to start out with cheddar as its a little more advanced process and requires a significant press to get the proper curd knit. Best cheeses to start with would be feta and mozza. Move up to a Havarti or gouda then into the heavy press cheeses. You'll want to plan on getting a decent pH meter as acidity levels through the process is key.

Feta is super easy, delicious and the pH isn't such a big issue. Definitely the first one I would suggest. That reminds me I have to make some myself.

There is a supplier out of Airdrie that should be able to provide all the cultures and rennet etc. that you need.

http://www.danlac.com/

And a site with some recipes to get you started

http://www.cheesemaking.com/recipes/recipedetails.html

Have fun. There is plenty to learn and try.

[Johnny Huntnfish]

I've made mozza a few times and I've gotta say its one of those processes that I kind of wish I hadn't gone through. Its kinda like when I went to a meat processing facility that specialized in donair meat....I haven't been able to even look at a donair since.

But one word of advice is that its tough to find the proper milk. You need whole/raw milk to make the best cheese and its tough to find if you don't know a dairy farmer....or a hippy tree-hugger of some sort. I also found that liquid rennet works better than the tablets

[6x6x6]

Good sites to look at, I figured cheddar would be an easier cheese to start out with but maybe start with mozzarella not looking to make a lot just something to kill some time and settle idle hands while waiting.

[kingrat]

I thought about it, I seen Halfords had a bunch of do it yourself kits but haven't tried it yet, same thing I thought It would be kind of neat