Are we crazy? A new way to make cheese?

[Carolyn Tillie]

My boyfriend, Kevin, is a techno-nut (we run an Internet Service Provider company from our San Francisco apartment and tend to be cutting edge with our gadgets). Unfortunately, having to rent an apartment with a hideous electric stove takes its toll on our culinary abilities, including the ability to maintain moderately high temperatures in the initial cheese-making procedures.

In our recent rash of beer-making, we were using our wort chiller to bring the temperature down on a brewed mash of stout. If we are running cool water through the copper tubing to chill down beer, why couldn't we run warm water through the copper tubing to maintain an even temperature on our milk? Going a step further, he acquired a remote wireless digital thermometer so that while the warm water is keeping the milk at an event temperature, we can be notified (sitting in another room) if the temperature is changing at all.

We tried this today for the first time and with the exception of some water spillage (not paying attention to the overflow on the floor!), we seem to have great success. The proof, obviously, will be in the pudding <ahem>, I mean the cheese. In this case, a goat cheddar which we won't get to taste for another 12 weeks. I'll post pictures of the set-up in a day or so, but I'm curious if anyone else has ever seen anything like this...

[saucisson]

An interesting idea, were you recycling the warm water or running it to waste? My last cheese I kept warm on a winemakers heating mat!

Dave

[Rik vonTrense]

easiest way is to use a beer mat thermometer controlled.....wrap it around your milk bucket and it keeps the right temperatures,

[Carolyn Tillie]

easiest way is to use a beer mat thermometer controlled.....wrap it around your milk bucket and it keeps the right temperatures,

Rik - is this much different than a stove in that it is an external heat source? I'm curious if the center of the pot has the same temperature as the edges where the blanket is wrapped. I haven't seen one of these mats yet, but will investigate.