Construction Progress of Underground Cheese Aging Cave
Many of you have heard or read about our cheese aging cave. A bridge leading to the hillside was the first stage of construction. Then we needed a big hole in the ground. Since our hills are solid rock we had to have the area blasted to break up the rock for removal. 40 - 3"+ holes were drilled and filled with explosives and detonated in succession. The whole hillside lifted up and after the dust settled there was lots of exposed chunks of rock.
The action was recorded and takes a few minutes to load if you have a fast connection.
The pictures below show the work to build our cheese aging cave. It is a big undertaking but the completed structure will hold all the cheese we could possibly ever make and it will age in the old traditional way. At the back of the cave are two rooms - one will be for hard cheeses, Parker and Tanasi Tomme, maybe some cheddar. The smaller room on the right will hold bloomy rind cheese, Cave Spring. There is also a brine room for feta. Check here to see the changes...
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Future bridge leading to cheese cave site
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Setting forms to fill with concrete
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Walls poured and roadbed back filled
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Excavating the site after blasting
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Some of the rocks were very large
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Unloading rocks - many dump truck loads
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Forming floor for underground cheese aging cave
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Perimeter form boards
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Jim at entrance to cave
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Foundation layout with plastic sheeting and rebar
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Entrance walkway
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31 yards of concrete for the floor
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Exterior form for walls, interior door bucks in place
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Door buck for entrance door
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Metal forms set up for the outside walls
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Forms at the entrance to cave
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Forms show the interior walls and rooms
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Concrete being pumped into the forms
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Cave entrance
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Concrete forms removed
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Cave walls and doors
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Entrance - working on the support for ceiling
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Plywood will cover ceiling to support concrete
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Inside tunnel toward entrance
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Perimeter form & steel reinforcing for ceiling
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Two layers of rebar for strength
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Ceiling almost done - one more truck - 38 yards
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Air Intake
Thin wall plastic pipe is attached to the exterior walls that will collect cool fresh air to bring into the cave for air exchange. The intake is the vertical pipe on the right. When the back filling is complete the pipe and walls will all be underground.
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Exterior Fresh Air
The 1100 linear feet of pipe will collect approximately 300 cu. feet of cool air. When small duct fans are turned on, ammonia and other gases from the cheese aging process will be exhausted as fresh air is gently brought in.
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Dumping gravel and spreading with the tractor
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31 dump truck loads of gravel to fill around the cave
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A layer of dirt will seal the surface
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Cave Entrance
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Rack of cheeses in aging room
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Our cheese gaurdian keeps watch on visitors
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