Finally in Production

I finally started production. I made my first legal batch of cheese about a month ago. Here a few pictures of the process. I'll let the pictures tell the story, hoping they speak fro themselves.

Passed NYS inspection!

Last Friday I passed the NYS inspection. This was the easy part. Now comes the real challenge, making cheese and bringing it to market. But before I can start, I have to resolve a issue with the vat and I have also decided to first take a trip to Switzerland and check out some cheese. When I come back, I'll jump in that vat.

Leaky Vat

It has been a long time since I posted anything. Lots of thing have happened in the creamery, I could have written a lot and posted a lot of pictures about all the developments. In fact, the creamery is almost done. Next week I will have a final inspection from the inspectors of Agriculture and Markets of NYS. This should be not more than a formality since they were over just last week. I had asked for them to come for a preliminary final inspection so they could tell me what I needed to change or add to finalize the setup. I didn't have to change anything, I just had to get a few things. They wanted to see the milk cans I will be using to collect the milk in. I had just ordered them the previous week and they would be arriving in a few days or so. Beside this they wanted to see some cleaning supplies, brine tanks and a spring on the toilet door. All this is easily done by next Friday.

Although they had already seen it before, they wanted to see the vat again, especially the inside. But I had turned it upside down. Early in the week I had ran water for the first time into the jacket. And lo and behold, it leaked like a sieve. I was bumped out even though I had anticipated this. The vat had been sitting dry for such a long time and I suspected that the wood had shrunk and had lost its ability to hold water. I tried not to worry too much. I remembered from when I was young we had wooden rain barrels. When they arrived they would hardly hold any water but after being soaked for a few days, they would be waterproof.
I sent an email with some pictures to the fabricator in the Netherlands. It being late in the day at this side of the Ocean, I didn't expect a reply until next morning. And indeed as I expected, the maker suspected the wood to have shrunk after such a long period of sitting dry. He recommended turning the vat upside down and pouring water on the bottom. The underside of the wood was not sealed so the wood could absorb the water and the wood would swell.
It has been sitting upside down for several days and it seems that the water has done the trick. The floor under the vat stays dry and the film of water on the vat isn't decreasing. Next week I will turn it back on its feet again. Ready to be inspected.

Moved The Vat

Finally I have moved the vat from its storage into the cheese making room. The floors are done, the walls are ready and I have doors. I also bought some large sinks on Ebay. I am very excited, the creamery starts to crystallize and it looks like I might be making cheese within the for see able future. I even submitted the paperwork with the state.
Their is still much to do however. The electricity needs to be installed, the plumbing for the water has to be put in and the various heating systems have to be installed. Their is quite a bit painting to be done and other miscellaneous touch up work. And than there is the cave. The cooling installation has arrived but I haven't had time to install it yet so that has replaced the vat in the storage. I also have to built the shelving units for the cave. I have been thinking about how to do this efficiently and cost effectively. I haven't come up with a design yet and whether to use wood, metal or a combination for the structural elements. The aging shelves however will be wood. Luckily my inspector has given me that allowance.

Cheese Vat

For a while I have been looking for a cheese vat for the the creamery I am building. I have contacted several makers of cheese making equipment and received as many quotes. As I am planning to make raw milk cheese, I don't need a vat pasteurizer. This lowers the initial investment but a new 150 to 200 gallon round cheese vat costs anywhere in the range of 15-to 20,000 dollar, a major investment. These cheese vats are triple walled and have an insulated outer wall. Hot or cold water circulate in the jacket of the vat. This is done by means of a spray pipe for indirectly cooling or heating the product. These vats last forever and have a high resale value. However, I would rather spend less an buy a used vat. But they are hard to come by, hence the high resale value.

I have located a used cheese vat in the Netherlands. The construction is slightly different. Instead of an insulated stainless steel wall, the outer wall is made of wood. The wood used is Teak which was traditionally used in Holland to built cheese vats. Wood has been banned as a material to make cheese in a long time ago but it is perfectly adequate as a insulating material for the outer wall for a modern cheese vat. In fact, because of the wood these vats hold the temperature better than triple wall stainless steel vats. The wood is treated with a two part food safe lacquer and thus made impervious, a concern my local dairy inspector had. Including shipping to the United States it will only be about a third of the price of a new vat, a major savings. But the vat is a larger than I would have liked. It has capacity of 240 gallon and the minimum filling is one third. This means the smallest batch I can make in this vat is 80 gallon. As I am planning to collect the milk in cans from farmers, it will be a lot of hauling. A 100 pounds a a full can will be back breaking work to fill up the entire vat. But I really like the look of this vat as well as the price.