Hello everyone. I’m new to the forum as well to cheesemaking in general. I purchased the Deluxe Cheese Kit from Leeners.com about a month ago and have been trying to learn as much as I can ever since. So far I’ve made cottage cheese and 2 wheels of farmhouse cheddar. The cottage cheese turned out okay and the 2 wheels of cheddar are still aging. As far as I can tell, Ricki Carroll’s book “Home Cheese Making” which I’m sure a lot of you have read, seems to be a good starting point. The biggest struggle for me so far has been cooking the curds by raising the temperature slowly by a few degrees at a time.  I guess it just takes some practice. At this point I’m really anxious to sample the first cheddar. I’m going to allow it to age 45 days even though the recipe says it can be consumed after 30 days. Anyone have any advice fo someone just starting out?

Welcome to the group, nice rodent
read all the posts then decide what u want to try and get your feet wet, wont learn till u try.

welcome, i advise you to start with soft fresh cheese, then go to semi-hard (with press) gradually..
start and make Neufchatel “An unripened soft rennet cheese, probably the easiest rennet cheese, a good first cheese for beginner cheese makers.  It does not require pressing or curing and is eaten fresh”.. then make cottage cheese, then u can go with others

Patience and a good supply of milk!

patience and deep understanding , reading and trials

Love your avatar!

I thought the rodent was appropriate!

Yup and hes as cute as a button Did u check out my picture on my website ?

That mouse looks pretty ominous….

LOL, it was a quicky modeling I did when I made the site.