Aging Cheese in Puna

[dayna]

I've been making a lot of "fresh" type goat cheeses lately.

Chevre, mozzarella, etc.

I'm wanting to venture into the second step of cheese difficulty. Short aged cheeses like Colby and Gouda.

Problem is that I have to age them for 4-6+ weeks at 52°-56° with an 80-85% humidity.

Suggestions for a low energy low cost solution?

Dayna

http://www.FarmingAloha.com
www.E-Z-Caps.com

[microage97]

Lava tube.

[csgray]

Traditionally cheeses have been cured in caves, so a lava tube would make sense, I wonder if an old refrigerator could be coaxed into staying in the right temperature/humidity range. Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes.

Carol

[kalakoa]

wonder if an old refrigerator could be coaxed into staying in the right temperature

Yes; at least one homebrewer has done exactly that, and on this island.

[topograph]

We age our cheddar and gouda in a wine fridge with a digital thermostat. Turned out pretty well on our first cheddar, still have a few months to go for the gouda.

[Peter Epperson]

There's a large lava tube at the back of my property. I used to make beer and wine there because it stayed pretty constantly between 67 and 68 degrees. The brew invariably tasted like a lava tube smells. Kinda moldy, dank and mysterious. It was a bit too mysterious for my tastes though and I quit that experiment. I would imagine cheese may have a similar reaction.

[fishenjim]

Hey Peter you may be on to something there. There was 140 microbrews available in the last Place I tended bar. Many of them tasted crappy to me I dont really drink much but have pretty good Knowledge of beer and wine and always taste new things. (Lava Tube Tripple Bock) dank and mysterious. Show a little lava tube under a volcano Pele waving some hops on the label and ship it to the mainland. bet you could get 50 bucks a case. I know distributers!

[dayna]

I think the lava tube won't work. But i'm going to keep my eye out for a small bar type fridge. And a solar panel and see if i can do something with that. it doesn't have to run all the time....

I'm excited to make more fancy cheese. Thanks for the advice. I sell/trade a lot of my fresh goats cheese and can't keep any around the house it goes so fast. I'm eager to see if the neighbors etc likes fancier cheeses as well!

Dayna

http://www.FarmingAloha.com
www.E-Z-Caps.com