I’m going to be acquiring a fridge to use for aging.  Its a used one and will need a good cleaning first.  Which brings up a question:  Is it OK to use bleach to clean or will the fumes persist and affect the aging cheese?  Also, with the high humidity level, it would seem a good place for mold to grow on the fridge as well as the cheeses.  Is this a continuing matter of concern?

Here’s my experience….

I use an old freezer equipped with a thermostat bypass for aging wines and cheeses at 50 degrees F and 85% humidity.  I get NO mold on the freezer at all (after 3 years).

As for cleaning…bleach is fine but must be rinsed THOROUGHLY until no odor.

But if I were you (and I know I am not, but here goes anyway) I would clean it with soap and water and a scrub brush. Then spray with Star San or some other sanitizer.

So, it sounds like there may well be some residual odor from bleach.  I think I’ll opt for quatanary ammonia.  A good sanitizer and no odor.

where can I find out more about the temprature bypass thing-a-majiggee?

http://pivo.northernbrewer.com/nbstore/action/search-do?searchTerm=thermostat&x=22&y=16

I got one from New England Cheesemaking Supplies.

So I can buy a mini fridge and one of these thermostats and it will keep it at 50 degrees?

It says it can go up to 80F, do fridges have heating elements or does the thermostat do the heating? Just curious.

SAL

Does anyone who has a mini fridge wish they had a full sized?  I can see me filling up a mini in short order.

I got my thermostat from NECS.  Its made by Johnson Controls and you can set to the precise temp you want.

Hey Ben Gunn, I have a full sized fridge and it is STILL TO SMALL!!!. I knock out 2 x 2kg cheeses a weekend on the averaqge and as most are to age 4-6 months it quickly fills up. Ah well life could be worse, and have no cheeses maturing and no fridge.

Well thanks I am in the process of getting a full size frig without a freezer.  I looked at the smaller ones and thought I could fill them up before the first cheeses were mature.  I also age homemade dry Salami and would like to dedicate a shelf for that.  LOL - I may end up with 2 anyway.

SAL - 05 June 2008 09:56 PM

So I can buy a mini fridge and one of these thermostats and it will keep it at 50 degrees?

It says it can go up to 80F, do fridges have heating elements or does the thermostat do the heating? Just curious.

SAL

The thermostat does nothing more than turn the fridge ON when it is too warm until it gets to the temperature you want. It takes 2 mins to hook up.

Leeners has them as well.  Not a bad price.  I have the small cheese fridge and my shelves are getting full.  Gonna have to crack my first stirred curd cheddar before too long.  Maybe over the 4th.

I like the chest freezer idea.  I’m going to have to look into that.

It seems as if you were organized, which I am not, you could put your newest cheeses on top so that you could flip them more readily, and then move them to the bottom and have your cheeses that are close to ripening on top.

This hobby is a lot of maintenance.

You sound organized enough for me.  I plan on having a flip daily shelf, and a flip weekly shelf etc.

50 ppm bleach with hot water…let sit until air dried and it won’t stink of bleach.