# Small batches of cheese?



## chandasue (Mar 30, 2010)

Hi there! New to the forum. I'm milking a nigerian dwarf and getting a little over a quart/day from her. We keep drinking the milk so the most I manage to save up at a time is at most a half gallon. Has anyone tried making cheese in smaller batches since most recipes call for at least a gallon of milk? For example, can I just use half a packet of starter and save the other half for another batch later? Or does that not turn out so good? Just thought I'd ask before I start experimenting.
 Chanda


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

Yep, quantities in cheesemaking are roughly proportional and you can adjust them as necessary for the milk volume. What kind of cheese do you want to make?


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

How about some lemon cheese, it is only lemon juice added to your warmed milk, and then once it coagulates, you strain it, and have more or less cream cheese, just salt or spice as you like and enjoy it. And there is no starter.

You could also purchase plain yogurt at the grocery, add it to a quart of warm milk, then let it set up into a quart of yogurt, strain it through cheese cloth, and you have yogurt cheese, another soft cheese, add salt and any spices if you like.


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## Bernice (Apr 2, 2009)

Pav is right, most recipes call for specific porportions. I tried that before and it didn't work as well. But.......MaryAnn has some great alternative ideas that would work.


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

Making hard cheeses in small batches is harder unless you have exact measurements, but not impossible. You'd need to measure out something like .1 grams of culture, and .2-.3 ml of rennet for a hard cheese. Easier to make a chevre, just dump in a little culture, and wait, and drain.


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## Ozark Lady (Mar 21, 2010)

You need to learn to crawl, before you walk, it is a good idea to make soft cheeses and get familiar with them, then move up to mozzarella, again, getting familiar with the processes. Then move on into the hard cheeses.


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## chandasue (Mar 30, 2010)

I was just planning on making some chevre or fromage blanc. I'm quite new to making cheese, I've only made soft cheese with store bought milk, but I'd like to avoid that if I can since it sort of defeats the purpose of having goats. :rofl I completely forgot about lemon and yogurt cheese so perhaps I'll try that too.  I was hoping smaller quantities would work for mozzarella and hard cheeses but I'll probably wait until she's at peak lactation and hopefully have a little more milk to work with for those. Thanks for the suggestions everyone!


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