# buttermilk vs culture ??



## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

From the recipe sticky



> For any recipe you can use Buttermilk for Meso and Yogurt for Thermo at a rate of 1/4c per gallon of milk.


OK... so can you substitute culture for buttermilk?? Was looking at the Colby and Farm House Cheddar... frankly... it is a pain in the rear for me to make buttermilk ahead of time...

I am not ready to do this quite yet... working on dh for a press....


----------



## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

buttermilk cultures vary but most often have

Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and its biovariate diacetylactic.
Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris; 
Leuconostoc mesenteroides or lactis

It's similar to a FD culture or a MM100 culture. Inoculation rate varies with the cheese, but yes, you can use either DVI culture that's freeze dried or bulk starter in the form of buttermilk.


----------



## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Lynn for your first press simply get a piece of 6 inch PVC pipe, have a follower cut with a hole saw, in fact several is better if you don't fill up your molds, butter muslin from walmart and get a package of the plastic needle point canvas that lines my soap racks in the soap house, they are cheap, and make excellent draining mats. If you need followers cut or the PVC pipe cut just bring it over, although Lowes and Home Depot if you catch a nice person will cut them for you. Google.com fankhauser cheesemaking, ditch all the junket rennet talk but for farmstead cheese it is one of the best starts, think it teaches you the basics and the how to and whys...even then I fed alot of cheese to the dogs and chickens  I don't think the pour and stir cultures teach you some of the stuff you really need to know to succeed, unless you are going to follow recipes all the time and don't experiment. Then invest in a real press, until then use weights, and no a 10 pound hand weight is not the same as 10 pounds of pressure, don't over press your cheese. Vicki


----------



## lazydaisy67 (Sep 7, 2009)

Vicki, I just need to come visit you. I'd love to see how you've set up your soap house and goat barns and what-not and I could ask you questions till the goats come home!!!


----------



## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

Thank you! Still in prep mode... so much to do right now... getting ready to try my first batch of mozz...


----------



## kuwaha (Aug 22, 2009)

"Then invest in a real press"

I second that! I tried the cheap method - coffeee can mold, I made a wooden follower and then used bricks as weights - each brick weighs 5 lbs. sounds easy eh??? HA! How to get those weights to stay in place drove me nuts. I still remember the awful feeling laying in bed at night just about asleep... CRASH!! The last time the bricks landed right on my foot - thankfully hubby was in the room and ordered me to get a proper press


----------



## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

For a press, you can make an inexpensive version with heavy white plastic cutting board, threaded rod, end caps and wing nuts. Get a large board and cut it in half, drill holes in each corner of each piece and mount the rods in each corner of one piece. The second piece will fit on top of your mold and follower/s. You can buy molds with plastic followers such as a brie mold and make some wooden ones out of oak to goe on top of the plastic one. I also made molds from PVC pipe 4" and 6" and drilled drain holes at regular intervals around the pipe. I made followers out of the same cutting board material. For the PVC, cut at 6" or so and sand the ends well before using. A press like that will last a good long time until you can afford a different style. That is all I used until I opened the dairy.


----------

