I was thinking that as well.  I may not let the Colby that I am doing tonight ripen quite as long before adding the rennet.  I hope to be pressing it by 9:00 p.m. this evening.  Air dry tomorrow, culture a Stilton for Sunday.  I have a nice wedge of Stilton in the fridge. 

Neil, to culture, sterilize the jar, warm the milk to room temp, blend the Stilton rind in milk and add to the jar of room temp milk and seal?

Cheers.

What i do is, boiling water in mason jar, drain, add milk and culture in jar and leave overnight on kitchen counter (as long as its not hot, 70-75F max). Real scientific LOL

Great, I will be doing that this weekend.

Is one of the spring form cake pans sufficient for the curds from 1 gallon of milk, or should I do two gallons?

Also, I am not sure that I understood your reply to my question about the heavy cream.  All that I can seem to find is Ultra pasteurized cream.  Will this work as the cream?  Even the half and half is ultra p’d.

Depends on the size of the spring form, mine is 9” and u need at least 3 galls or u just have the thickness of a pancake LOL. Cream, hmm, have to find one that is not UP, other wise hope for the best, make sure CaCl is used. even look at whipping cream and see how much its processed.

My cake form is a 9” as well.  I just did the Colby last night using 2 gallons and thought that that was a lot of curd to deal with.  Everything went well though.  In the press this morning.  I used 8 drops of the coloring, and still do not see a perceptible color change.  The recipe calls for 2 drops per gallon and I doubled it.  Does the cheese yellow as it ages, or should I see the yellow in the mold?  Maybe I just need to add more.

I did use the animal rennet from HCS and it did curd the cheese much quicker than the vegetable rennet that I had been using.  It still took about 2 hours to get a clean break however.  I used 1/2 tsp as the recipe in Rickie’s book called for.  It said that I should obtain a clean break in 30 to 45 minutes.  I have a feeling that nothing is etched in stone in cheese making.  Too many variables.

Taking the Colby out of the press at noon, then air drying for a few days.  Have been taking pictures, and will get around to uploading at some time.

Cheers.

Thats why u cant follow things exact, Too many Variables, thats why practice, practice, practice is so important so u get the feel for it and know whats best for u. I know how it feels first starting out, confusion and wondering how it will turn out, if it does. if wee all used natural milk it would be a dif story, they all do it dif pending on were u live and the countries laws in processing milk.

I guess that is the conclusion that I am coming too as well.  I think that my next cheddar will get 8 drops per gallon.  Maybe on Sunday.  Then a Monterey Jack and Colby mix to make a Cojack.  Once those are in the aging fridge I will move on to bloomed cheeses.  Probably a Gorgonzola to start.

Good Luck, i find the bloomed cheese the easiest, thats one of the reason I started with them.

You can eat the bloomed cheeses earlier as well can’t you?  That is the only drawback, is waiting for hard cheeses to age properly.  Once you have a rotation all is good, but til then…off to the store for some extra sharp cheddar.  :}

Yup, as little as 2 months. Actually Im starting Brie 5 right now, milk pre heating as i type.