Hello all from someone who finally made the step towards making my own cheese after promising myself to do it for years.
I don’t have big ambitions at this stage, just want to make nice tasty cheese to go with all the chutney the wife and I make from our allotment.

The subject refers to a website I ordered some equipment from. It was a cheese-making kit which was supposed to contain “everything you need to start you off”. It was just absolute junk, flimsy plastic rubbish, and, if I’d have bought the individual items from their website, it would have come to half the price. Not that everything was on their website, because some of the items were labeled as “Samples”.
I sent it all back and am still fighting to get the delivery charge back. I hate Ripoff merchants.

Needless to say, I’m a bit reluctant to get another starter kit, so I need to find out exactly what equipment I need to get started, and buy it all seperately from somewhere else. Things like cultures and whatnot - I just haven’t a clue.

If anyone can point me in the direction of a website that can be trusted, I’d be very appreciative.

Regards,

Unc.

Hey Phil,  good to have you aboard.  It took me a good while of promising to do it before I took the plunge as well.  Now, almost 100 cheeses later, I’m hooked on cheese making.  I’m sure you will be too.

I’ve never used a “kit”, preferring to order what I needed.  I did buy a commercial press at first; but it turned out to be less than adequate, so I ended up building my own.  I’d recommend the same for you.  As for suppliers, I’ve been using New England Cheese Supply, with good results.  I’m sure others have their own preferences.  All you need to make a basic cheese is starter, rennet, some canning salt from the grocery, a good thermometer and a pot big enough to hold the quantity of milk you want.

The biggie is going to be setting up a “cave,”  a place that you can age your cheese with the proper temp and humidity.  I use an old refrigerator with an external thermostat to regulate temp.  Others use wine coolers.  My very first cave was an ice chest.

Anyway, let us know what you have already and we can help to fill in the blanks.  Also, what kind of cheese are you going to be making?

Again, welcome to the forum.  Keep the questions coming and we’ll do what we can to keep you motivated.

Phil,
Where in the world are you located? That will make a difference in which supplier you should use.

Many thanks for your kind welcome. I’m based in Reading, England. I don’t know of any suppliers locally, so am more than happy to order from the internet - provided they don’t rip me off :( 

What I want to start with is just cheddar style cheese, although even that may be a tad ambitious for a first go. I tried to do some soft cheese some years ago but and separated the lumps from the runny stuff by using lemon juice. It was ‘orrible :bleugh:

As far as kit is concerned, I’m a blank canvas - I have precisely diddly - which is why I ordered the starter kit. I have a chest freezer in an outdoor shed for all the veg we grow, so could shoe-horn a small fridge into there as a “Cave” (nice expression!).

Uncle Phil - 13 January 2010 09:27 AM

Many thanks for your kind welcome. I’m based in Reading, England. I don’t know of any suppliers locally, so am more than happy to order from the internet - provided they don’t rip me off :(
What I want to start with is just cheddar style cheese, although even that may be a tad ambitious for a first go.

As you’re in the UK I would suggest you have a good look around the UK first. Buying from the US or Canada can be a very expensive proposition when it comes to shipping.
As to Cheddar. I first made a Farmhouse Cheddar, fairly simple, ready in 4 weeks and remarkably good eating.
So, I would Google UK, look for a supplier with a reputation and buy locally.
Just out of interest I did that and found on the very first hit. One hell of a site.Cheese UK

Welcome to the “club” Uncle Phil ,

I had very good experience with Steve Shapson, I’ve bought some cultures and lipaze from him, e-mailed him about shipping charges, surprisingly, he charged me a very symbolic and minimal amount for shipping to Israel.

Many thanks for your kind advice, but unfortunately, simply googling for cheesey commodities is where I came a cropper with the starter kit. Their website looked really good with lots of “country-style” offerings, but turned out to be a load of rubbish.

But I must admit, the website recommended by Newbie IS good – I already know them from buying allotment stuff from them. I never would have thought about looking there for cheesey things - although they don’t sell the equiment themselves.

I’ll have to make a list and then try to judge where to get the stuff from.

Alex - 13 January 2010 03:30 PM

Welcome to the “club” Uncle Phil ,

I had very good experience with Steve Shapson, I’ve bought some cultures and lipaze from him, e-mailed him about shipping charges, surprisingly, he charged me a very symbolic and minimal amount for shipping to Israel.

Thanks, Alex, I did see his website, but instantly discarded it as it was in the US. I’ll definitely contact him and see if I can order from him. He does seem rather sympathetic to the inexperienced cheesey-person.

Welcome Uncle Phil !!
best way to start is to catch up on all the posts on this website, that will give u a decent picture as to whats going on and problems people have had, and their adventures
Cultures,CacL and rennet are your main concerns. Decide what kind of cheese u would like to be mainly involved in.

Hey there- welcome!
This is a rather late reply to your original post, but it may still help… I’m a real penny-pincher so I try to do a lot with stuff I already have around the house, rather than buying special equipment. Before I bought any commercially made molds, I used yogurt containers and other sturdy plastic food-grade jars that I drilled small weep holes in. The more vertical sided the better. The hard part of that is finding something just right that works as a good follower (any idea, anyone?). I still use yogurt containers sometimes and they work just fine and are a nice cheap alternative to a $30 mold. I also ordered a commercially made press I found online (well, I think the guy makes them in his garage…) and was disappointed by it so returned it. I recommend staying away from spring-style presses, as they don’t deliver a constant pressure (someone please correct me if there’s a good version out there). After looking at a lot of homemade styles online, my sweetie ended up making me a press using wood scraps that I use basic weight plates on, and it works great. For a while I was stacking books and heavy bowls on the cheese, and not only did I break a number of dishes it didn’t come close to being enough weight for a cheese like cheddar, so work out a good press- I think that’s important.

You live in Reading- that’s cheese country, isn’t it? ***You are so lucky!*** I’d imagine you could ask around and rennet and starters would appear somewhere locally- it sounds like you may have that covered by now anyway. 

Have fun!
Bobbie