Hi guys,
I was planning on making a brie tonight but got sidetracked and was unable to get started. After giving it some thought I have decided that I wasn’t really set up to do a brie (the wrong type of molds) so instead I plan on doing a camembert.
From what I gather, the differnce between a camembert and a brie is basically the size. Also I"ve read that some add b. linens to their brie where this is not acceptable in a camembert.
I made 6 perforated molds tonight which are 5” tall x 4” diameter. I plan on trying a two gallon batch tomorrow morning. I’m considering adding a drop of b.linens to half of the curds to make some odd shaped brie but I’m not sure I want to do this.
Regardless of what I choose to do, this should be a great learning experience. I’ve never tried a camembert or a brie so it should be a blast.
I also plan on making a three gallon swiss tomorrow afternoon. It looks as it it will only take about 3 to 3-1/2 hours before the camembert goes into the molds and then it’s just giving them a periodic flip. Although I enjoy every aspect of cheesemaking, this is not enough excitement for me on a Saturday.
By the time I get the swiss in the mold I should have a fairly full day of cheesemaking fun. I’m getting excited just thinking about it (yeah, I’m a bit of a geek).
I also might make a trip to town to get what I need for a larger 8” hard cheese mold. I figure with an 8” mold I can do at least a 5 gallon batch if not 6. If I fill the mold I’m planning on making this will give me an 8-1/4” wheel that is about 3” - 4” tall. That should make one heck of a good swiss or cheddar.
I’m starting to think my wife is getting a little edgy about what I’ve been spending on this hobby. Over the past two weeks I’ve bought 2 wine fridges…..three seperate orders of cultures, aroma molds, equipment and supplies to make a few different pressing molds. That’s not to mention about 6 gallons of milk a week.
She does love the cheese I make (and obviously likes me a little bit as well) so she’s not saying anything at the moment. She did however give me a wifely look when I mentioned that I would like to buy a PH meter sometime in the future. 
All in all I think she’s happy that I have something to occupy my time during the winter months. Besides, it’s much less expensive than when I took up astronomy as a hobby. She nearly had a cow when I started talking about a backyard observatory to go along with my scope, collection of eyepieces and charting books.
Oh, that reminds me of something else…..
Anyone who is even mildly interested in astronomy should check out the website called Heavens above. If you do a google search for it, it will come up first on the list. You can enter in your location and then select different celestial objects to view. It gives you the best times to view these objects over a 10 day period. Lately I’ve been amazed at the international space station. Although it travels much too quickly to follow with a telescope, just watching it cross the sky is quite a treat. From the time that it rises in the southwest sky to the time that it sets in the northeast sky, only about 4 minutes have passed. It really is quite an impressive site to see.
Even if you don’t have a scope the ISS is impressive to the naked eye. Also you can get quite a view of Jupiter and Venus right now with a decent set of binoculars. As you can probably tell, my screeen name is related to my love of astronomy more than my need for individual, personal space.
Okay, literary diarreah has hit me once again. I’ll shut up now.
Dave
