Death of a Cheezer

A number of weeks ago, I noticed that the metal coils in the cheezer shelf were no longer dripping condensation from the repeated cooling and thawing. My husband suspected the element had quit working, but since the temperature was staying relatively steady at 55 degrees, we pretended there wasn’t a problem.

But then last week the weather turned toasty, and I noticed the cheezer temp was creeping steadily upwards: 56, 57, 58… 

We gotta do something, I said. 

My husband agreed. 

Nothing happened.

So then I announced that I was no longer making cheese. “Until I have a place to put them, I’m taking a break,” I said. “I’ll skim the cream and make butter. The pigs will be happy for the milk.”

That got his attention – milking three cows to feed two pigs isn’t exactly my husband’s idea of a worthwhile endeavor – and within a couple days, he had located a second-hand upright freezer, the kind that has the cooling coils in the wall of the freezer (instead of in the shelving itself). 

He and my son shimmied the freezer (soon-to-be cheese cave) down into the basement and plugged it in. 

I scrubbed out the interior – it’s bigger than the one we had before! – and loaded it up with cheese. My husband plugged in the temperature controller and set it to turn on at 55°F and to shut off at 53°F (11-13°C).

This temperature controller is one that my husband ordered from ebay, but he says if he had to do it again, he’d buy an Inkbird temperature controller like this one (which is currently on sale for $35).

The humidity was still an issue, though. I really (really, really, really) want to make more natural-rind cheeses, but natural-rind cheeses take up more space, at least in the beginning, and the one place that seems to sorta work – my small cave upstairs – isn’t even at proper humidity levels (it hovers around 50%, I think) and is running out of space.

So then we ordered an Inkbird humidity controller ($44)…

… and a humidifier($8).

The Inkbird comes highly recommended, but I’m a little dubious about the humidifier. (How seriously can I take a tool that looks like a piece of candy?) Will it adequately humidify the whole space? Will the vapor cause condensation and dripping? Will the constant turning on and off trip the circuit?

puff-puff-puffing

And assuming all the various components do function as they should, will the cheeses actually age properly in the cave?

All this awaits to be seen.

But in the meantime, the cave is holding steady at about 81% humidity, and I’m back to making cheese.