new on here

[kellyson111]

I'm new to the SMF, and a wannabe cheese maker. I absolutely LOVE smoked cheese, especially cheddar. I would really enjoy making an old fashioned "Hoop" cheddar and smoking it.

Any advice on kits, equipment, how-to books or websites, etc?

 

[negolien]

Nope no advice but wanted to throw out a welcome.

 

[TNJAKE]

Welcome from Tennessee. LoydB is a cheese maker

 

[JLeonard]

Welcome from Mississippi!

Jim

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to SMF!
Glad to have you join us!
Al

 

[tbern]

welcome to the forum from Minnesota, enjoy your time here!

 

[LoydB]

I’ll do a cheese brain dump when I’m not typing on an iPad. Welcome aboard!

 

[pushok2018]

Welcome to the forum from California!

 

[DougE]

Welcome from Kentucky! And yeah, LoydB will hook you up.

 

[912smoker]

Welcome to SMF from SE GA!

Keith

 

[four20]

Welcome to the group. Im not going to camment on the cheese because the only cheese I have been able to make thus far grows between my toes.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Welcome from Middle TN!

 

[DougE]

Welcome to the group. Im not going to camment on the cheese because the only cheese I have been able to make thus far grows between my toes.

Kinda sounds like fromunda cheese, but it comes from a little higher up on the body.

 

[LoydB]

Ok, here goes.

• If you do Facebook, join the 'Learn to Make Cheese Group'.
• On YouTube, subscribe to Gavin Webber. This is where I learned 90% of everything I know. https://www.youtube.com/c/GavinWebber
• If you can source raw milk locally (has to be directly from the dairy, I get mine at a Farmer's Market), it's worth it. If young children or immunocompromised people will be eating it, do a low-temp pasteurization.
• If you are using regular store bought milk, try and find some that's pasteurized but not homogenized, and plan on adding Calcium Chloride to replace some of the Calcium lost in the commercial process.
• If you like Indian food at all, homemade paneer is a great place to start, and requires nothing but some cheesecloth. https://www.chefkunalkapur.com/recipe/make-paneer-at-home/
• On the subject of cheesecloth, get some decent butter muslin. The weak, wide-weave stuff you get as generic cheesecloth sucks.
• After paneer, do some mozzerella. https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/30-minute-mozzarella-recipe-no-microwave
• If you want to continue, start with this kit - but get some liquid rennet to go with it, rennet tablets suck (that's my personal opinion anyway): https://cheesemaking.com/collections/cheese-kits/products/basic-cheese-making-kit

This should get you through the first few months. If you want to get really serious about it after that, start a new thread in the Cheesemaking forum here and we can talk about my hard-earned lessons about what molds you need and which ones will just collect dust...