cheese cave questions

This question from a fellow farmer:

It's been fun to see your building updates on the blog - thanks for sharing those with everyone! We are currently building (a blessed opportunity after a fire in our decrepit home that was on the lovely farm we acquired last year). We remember seeing in one of Justin Rhodes' YouTube videos awhile back that you had a basement cheese cave. Do you plan to build another in this new home? What are some tips for keeping humidity high enough and temperature low enough? We have always used an old refrigerator that we hacked the controls of with an InkBird, along with polycarbonate chafing pans with colander drainers from Webstaurant Store (learned from David Asher after attending one of his week-long classes). But we would love a larger, more natural approach.... underground with wooden shelves. We were able to age 12 large wheels of delicious Tomme last year in our refrigerator cave, which our family of 8 devoured in three months time. Clearly we need more capacity! 

Any ideas or suggestions you can throw our way - much appreciated! Or just tell us what you are doing, that's always helpful too! 

Great to hear from you!  It sounds like you already have some great experience.  

The cave didn't get destroyed in the fire, fortunately - the top floor of the house burned, the ground floor and basement flooded, but the cave could withstand that.  We're rebuilding the house right over the cave.

Originally we simply built a cabinet of cement board and earth-sheltered it in the dirt-walled dugout cellar under the east end of our house.  Not ideal - while the door was insulated, the cabinet was not buried far enough to take full advantage of geothermal low temps.  Additionally, the house is on a south-facing slope, and the south wall of the basement is a walk-out - that is, it's exposed - so we only get about half the earth-sheltering we might otherwise experience.  Nevertheless, we learned several things:  one, that this cabinet would hold at just about 75% humidity all year long; two, that it would stay in the 55 degree range from September to May/June; and three, that warm cheeses do fine, they just age faster/differently (we had to trim the rind, and we had to trim more).  If what you are after is delicious milk solids in native forms, this works.  The present cheese cave is brick, and goes back into the hill about eight feet; it also stayed right at 75% humidity.  I can't tell you how long it stays cool because once the house was gone we had rain leaking in, and won't be using the cave until next year.  Produces some lovely cheeses.

We have aged in a refrigerator set in the 40's with good results, too; cheeses are less picky than the people who make/buy/eat them.

I'd love to hear how things go for you!