Wednesday, June 22, 2011

New Cheese 'Cave'

My wine cooler died. We don't drink wine, I used it for aging cheese.

I think the thermoelectric unit died, and it will cost a minimum of $30 to get it fixed. It only cost $30 so I'm not too thrilled about paying more to get it repaired.

So I am using Prion's dorm refrigerator. It took me a day to get the temperature stable at 50˚F, and I wasn't sure it would go that high. But it's been stable for about 8 hours now, so I think it will be okay.

An old Kenmore refrigerator--it cost $20. It's been a great dorm fridge for 2 years. Prion loves it because it is bigger than most dorm fridges! You can see that it has a piece of wood underneath, that's because it doesn't sit evenly on the floor. I don't know what piece is missing, but a board seems to work fine so we'll just go with it for a while.
Missing the bottom drawer, one of these days I'll find a plastic basket that will fit down there. I'm sure Prion can use it for fruits and vegies.
That's a thermometer in a jar of water. I can check the temperature of the water and know the temperature of the fridge before the door was opened.
The lone Gouda wrapped in a bandage so the crack heals. On the left is a plastic container with water and a sponge to keep the humidity higher in the fridge. I'm sure I'll have to defrost it more often, but that's okay, the Gouda likes the moisture.
I like the fridge shelves better than the wine cooler shelves. These are flat, the wine cooler shelves are wavy so the bottles don't roll around inside. The fridge is also alot larger than the wine cooler.

I think I'll be making a bunch more cheese this summer now that I have a bigger, better place to let it age!

And maybe I'll have to buy Prion a new fridge.

2 comments:

darius said...

Cool! I'm working on getting my first old refrigerator set up as a cave. Humidity concerns me, and I may try your sponge in a container idea.

TJ said...

I'm going to try to find a hygrometer just to see what the humidity is. I think I can find one at a home improvement store.

For now, I'll use the sponge.

Good luck with your fridge! Let me know if you can get it up to the right temperature.