Cheese making is a fun and rewarding hobby! It can take a bit of time to complete a recipe, and in my own experience there is a lot of trial and error. From what I have found Chevre is one of the easier and less time consuming recipes. There is no ageing time as there is with other cheeses and it has lots of uses! If someone was interested in beginning to learn how to make cheese I would say (in my opinion) this is probably the best place to start. A lot of the techniques that are involved in most traditional cheese recipes are employed here but this recipe is a little more forgiving than others.

Step 1: Gather the Necessary Equipment and Clean.

For this recipe you will need the following pieces of equipment.

A pot that can hold 1 gallon of liquid with some extra space.
Colander, A larger one is helpful but if you are creative and patient you can make a smaller one work too.
A good thermometer, I like to use one that can attach to the pot.
Ladle
Spatula
Cheese clothe or butter muslin
Misc. measuring devices

Once you have gathered everything it is important to clean everything very well. I like to place everything I can in the pot with a little water and boil it for 5-10 minutes. I also like to set up a place to place my utensils that has also been sanitized. For this I will use a plate I spray down with star-san, but white distilled vinegar will work as well. For equipment that cannot be boiled (like the thermometer) I spray them down with star-san or wipe them with vinegar.

By cleaning and sanitizing you are Lessening the chances of something contaminating your cheese. Contamination can cause off flavors and even ruin the entire batch. When making cheeses that are aged this can be very frustrating as you may not know you have a problem until you are a couple weeks or even months into the aging process.

Step 2: Gather Required Ingredients

There are not many ingredients required for this recipe but some of them can be tricky to find locally. I have had some luck at my local brewing store but for the most part I have had to order my cultures online. New England Cheese making is a good place to order from in my experience.

1 Gallon of goats milk. This is important, it needs to be as fresh as possible and it cannot be ultra-pasteurized. I live in an area where the only goats milk I can find is ultra-pasteurized. I have tried it and and it does not work! Standard pasteurized milk will work, you will also want to make sure that it is not homogenized. If using un-pasteurized milk do so at your own risk and make sure you know the dangers that can arise if not done properly.
1/8tsp of Flora Danica Cheese culture
1/8tsp of Calcium Chloride diluted in 1/8 cup cold unchlorinated water. This is optional but helps the milk coagulate when using pasteurized milk.
2 Drops of double strength rennet diluted in 1/8 cup cold unchlorinated water. I use vegetarian rennet but animal rennet should return the same result.
Salt. Cheese salt is probably the best salt to use for this but I use kosher. As long as the only ingredient listed is salt it should work.

It is really important to use unchlorinated water and pure salt. If your water has chlorine in it or if your salt contains iodine this can kill the cheese culture and the recipe will not work.

Step 3: Heat the Milk

Pour the milk into your pot, add the thermometer and heat, slowly! I like to give the milk a good shake before pouring to make sure any cream hasn't separated. Place on low heat and aim for a temperature of 86 Fahrenheit (30C), rushing this step can result in scorched milk. It is ok if your temperature goes a little over just turn off the heat and wait for it to come back down. If its too hot it will kill the culture. Once it reaches the desired temp (this took about 30-40 mins for me) remove from heat.

Step 4: Add the Culture

Sprinkle the culture on top of your milk and let it rehydrate for 3-5 minutes. After it has rehydrated use the ladle in an up and down motion to gently stir the culture into the milk for about 2-5 minuets or until you see no traces of the culture.

Some cheese calls for a ripening time after you add the culture, this is not necessary for chevre and will be done in later steps.

Step 5: Add Calcium Chloride

Again, this step is optional but highly recommended if using pasteurized milk. Mix your Calcium Chloride into an 1/8 cup water and mix them together. Once combined gently stir the mixture into your milk using the same up and down motion and let set for 5 minutes.

Step 6: Add Rennet

Add the two drops of rennet to the 1/8 cup water and stir to combine. Rennet is used to cause the milk to coagulate and separate into curds and whey. For some other simple cheese recipes this is done using an acid like lemon juice or vinegar. Chevre uses acid to coagulate the milk but it is produced by the cheese culture and the rennet just helps the curd set a little firmer. Other cheeses that don't rely on acid for the separation to occur require more rennet.

Gently stir the rennet mixture into your milk and stir with an up and down motion for no more than one minute. You want to make sure the rennet is evenly distributed but stirring for to long can interfere with the coagulation.

At the end of the one minute of stirring hold the ladle still to stop the milk from moving.

Remove your ladle and thermometer from the milk and place the lid on.

Usually within minutes of adding rennet you will start to notice the milk separating into curds and whey. With chevre since we are relying on acid to do this it will take more time to notice anything is happening. Let the pot sit at room temperature for about 12 hours to ripen. This may happen quicker or slower depending how warm/cold your house is.

I like to start mine on a Friday night and finish it up on Saturday.

Step 7: Check Your Curd

You will be able to tell when it is ready as it will have separated into curds and whey. The curd should also be pulling away from the sides of the pot. If it is not quite there just keep waiting, but it really shouldn't take to much longer than 12 hours.

Step 8: Cut the Curd

Using a knife cut the curd into roughly 1/2" columns. Some cheeses require you to cut diagonally as well to create cubes but that is not needed for chevre.

Step 9: Drain the Curd

Line your colander with cheese cloth and place it somewhere to drain. I like to place mine onto of another pot so I can collect the whey for other uses

Use the ladle to gently scoop the curd into the cheese cloth. If you are to rough with the curd you can break it and it may just drain right through the cheese cloth. If your curd has not formed properly this will also happed.

Once you have transferred the majority of the curd to the colander pour the remaining whey and curds in.

Tie the opposing corners of the cheese cloth together and place the handle of the ladle through the knots.

Hang the curds to drain, I do this in a larger pot to make sure they are not sitting in the drained whey. If the curds are sitting in the whey they will not drain properly.

Drain until the curds reach the desired thickness. This will take about another 6 hours, but will vary based on temps and curd size.

Step 10: Season and Enjoy!

Once the curd has reached the desired consistency dump it into a bowl, add salt, and stir to combine. The amount of salt is up to you but it will probably need about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp.

At this point the cheese is ready to eat, however the flavor will continue to improve as it ages. I like to keep it in the fridge for a least 24 more hours before I do anything with it.

Store your chèvre in an air tight container and it should last three weeks in the fridge or eight months in the freezer.

I typically just store mine in a Tupperware but if you want it to look fancier you can place it into saranwrap and roll it into a log. Once chilled it will firm up and hold the shape of the log.

Step 11: Uses for Your Chevre

There are many different uses and recipes for chevere. Some of my favorites are

On Cheeseburgers with arugula
On a bagel
I also like to make dips with it, I add some herbs like rosemary, thyme, and sage, a little olive oil, some mozzarella and parmesan and bake until melty .

Step 12: The Whey

There are many uses for the left over whey

Use it as a substitute for water in pasta dishes
Use it in hot chocolate
Use it as a culture
Drink it
In soups and stews
As a substitute for buttermilk (not as thick but will have the same tang)

Whey from cheeses that are coagulated with rennet can be used to make Ricotta, since this cheese relies on acidification you cannot make Ricotta from the left over whey.

Step 13: Troubleshooting

There are lots of things that can go wrong in cheese making, here are some that I have ran into.

Curds never really set
- With chevre this can be caused by two main factors
  - Bad milk - If your milk is ultra pasteurized I have found that the curd will not set.
  - Bad Culture - this cheese relies on the acidification from the culture to set the curd. If your culture is bad this may never fully happen
  - You can also try using more rennet, this will help the curd set firmer
Bubbly or frothy
- This is from contamination. Throw out the batch and try again. Make sure you sanitize well and use pasteurized milk.
Too sour
- Ripened to quick, try lowering your temps and adding less culture
Not tangy enough
- Let the cheese ripen longer on the counter, it will also continue to ripen in the fridge although slower.
Off tastes
- This is from contamination and could be from improper sanitation or from the milk itself

Step 14: Notes

Here are some things I have found while getting into cheese making.

Not every batch is going to work out, its a bummer, but don't get discouraged and try to learn from your mistakes!
It is very time consuming, Make sure you are patient and have the time before begging a project.
Leaving milk on the counter for hours or days at a time is a little unsettling, but this is how it has been done for a very long time. Make sure you keep every thing clean and use pasteurized milk. It can be done with unpasteurized milk but you introduce more risks.
There are many different recipes for the same cheese and one may work better for you than another
Take notes!
Research! I have book called Mastering Basic Cheesemaking by Gianaclis Caldwell and if you are interested in cheese making I highly recommend purchasing a copy! There are also many fantastic youtubers that have cheese making tutorials, my favorite is Gavin Webber