Earl and Linda Bombay

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    rlmrdl
    Participant

    Thank goodness, expertise and a kiwi flavour.

    We have been on our 10 acres at Bombay for a bit over 3 years and had some young beefies until August last year when they had reached 2 years and 450KG and were starting to chop up the ground too much. After a bit of messing about we finally acquired Tansy (7 year old Dexter) and her daughter Iris with her latest calf in tow. The cal went back to the breeder about 2 weeks ago and suddenly we had LOTS of milk which WAS the plan. But as usual, we had not quite grasped the scale of what we needed to do.

    The milk may or may not last a lot longer, we have zero experience in effectively milking and managing the flows, although Tansy and I are working well together and she is producing about 4-5 litres a day at the moment and we are making some cheddars, haloumi, paneer, yoghurt and so much ricotta that we are practically not using any butter on the sandwiches. If I can make it last through the winter I will be more than happy.

    We picked up some 5 litre containers from Arthur Holmes (BIG plug for those guys for preserves jars, lids etc) and a double door chiller off Trade Me which only needed a small top-up of gas to get going. It runs as high as 10C so I’m planning to use it both to store the milk in sealed jars and to age the cheese.

    We have hit our first snag with some moulds (pink, white, blueish – JAFA climate being what it is) and are busy brining the cheddars twice a day to keep them under control.

    Suggestions, critiques and ideas/warnings welcome.

    #2083 Reply
    johncheese
    Participant

    hi there.
    I’m no expert in the field of cheese making but I do try and cOver most subjects as they come up or as I experience myself.
    I don’t know what the shelf life is for raw milk and even though you may wish to store your milk I believe it would still finish as a yoghurt. It would just take longer. We are alwaYs advised to use the freshest of milk for cheese making.

    Your mould problem. I’m sure we all have problems with mould along our vast learning curve. You mentioned about continuous brining. I have just finished a cows milk Manchego named Hispanico and am trying to age it with a natural rind. The trick with this is to ensure the cheese is dried at room temperature for about two weeks before moving to your cave at about 10 to 15 deg C. During this time, wipe off mould daily and after the rind has begun to firm up ( 3-4 days) smear it will a little olive oil. This will help reduce the mould growth and also the daily removal of the little which still grows. Do this daily until put into your cave.
    If that does not work Try waxing the next batch. No oiling. Much safer and trustworthy outcome. Wish I had a Dexter 🙂

    Good luck John

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