Author Topic: First Camembert: triple cream  (Read 16596 times)

bbracken677

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Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #30 on: August 22, 2012, 05:08:53 PM »
I have the environment down to 42F and 87 RH.....Should be fine. I had noticed that the very corners of the edge were getting softer, but not soft soft...just relatively softer than the center, which I felt was normal.   
Now I am thinking that I should lop off a piece to check it...the PC should grow back fine. Has that ever been done before without ruining the cheese?

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #31 on: August 22, 2012, 05:30:31 PM »
Leave them be.  They don't ripen properly if you start cutting into them, and the PC can often be very reluctant to regrow on the cut surface (so it's been said; I don't make cam's very often myself, and I do recall one thread where someone cut them in half and the mould grew back fine).  Still, it's best to leave them until you think they're ready (or just before you think they're ready) and then just open one for full consumption.  Then decide how much more time the others have, etc.  Little nibbles and repeated testing for these probably isn't the way to go.

- Jeff

bbracken677

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #32 on: August 22, 2012, 06:42:26 PM »
Darn....lol .... been dying for a taste. Brewers get to sample...why not cheesemakers?   

"The world just isnt fair!!   Not fair at all, I tell you!"  So says the first mouse to the cheese in the mousetrap to the 2nd mouse.

Thanks for the advice!  Will just have to *sigh* tough it out.

crazycacti

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #33 on: August 22, 2012, 07:50:04 PM »
Time to get another recipe on the go to take your focus off the cams methinks!

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #34 on: August 22, 2012, 08:01:23 PM »
Yah,

I suggest trying caerphilly.  It's a hard cheese of the cheddar variety, but ready in 3 weeks.  It has it's own flavour profile, with a fresh sour tang to it, so it's not bland like some other early cut cheeses.  It's also a fairly straight forward make.  You can find a number of different procedures, most in the "hard cheddared type list".

- Jeff

bbracken677

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #35 on: August 22, 2012, 08:06:16 PM »
Thanks!  I am working on a butterkase at the moment...but I have been considering making a caerphilly for an upcoming make. Also on the list is cheddar, colby and ...and...something else not coming to mind at the moment  : )

I have the raw milk to make the butterkase...awaiting delivery of the press today and will get started on that tomorrow. Then a few days later I may try my hand at the caerphilly.

Offline Boofer

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Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #36 on: August 23, 2012, 05:24:48 AM »
Thanks!  I am working on a butterkase at the moment...but I have been considering making a caerphilly for an upcoming make. Also on the list is cheddar, colby and ...and...something else not coming to mind at the moment  : )

I have the raw milk to make the butterkase...awaiting delivery of the press today and will get started on that tomorrow. Then a few days later I may try my hand at the caerphilly.
Yeah, keep them cheese rollin' out the door...!  :D

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

bbracken677

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #37 on: August 23, 2012, 01:42:56 PM »
Flipped the cheese today...they look pretty good. Looseness in the rind seems very minimal. The cheese is still very firm.

Temp 41F and RH 85%.


iratherfly

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #38 on: August 24, 2012, 08:54:30 PM »
Thanks Yoav!  I have reduced the temp to 42F....I was working yesterday to reduce the humidity and I am glad that 85% is a good number...I seemed to be able to achieve either 85 or 99....hitting a number in between was giving me fits lol...
Good, Good. Looks good too. I think you may have prevented skin slip just on time. We will see when you open it.

Normally you want it to be at 92% to 95% RH during the cave period to avoid rind slippage and ammoniation.  You want the cheese to sit atop a ripening mat that allows a lot of air to come in from the bottom and prevent the cheese from ever sitting in its own whey or suffocating the bottom rind.  For that, the mat itself should be elevated in the box on some type of grille or platform.

How do you know your moisture in your aging box is correct?
Here's an easy little no-RH-meter-needed guideline. Look at the lid of your aging box:
- If it's dry : Your environment is not moist enough.  Solution: Close the lid more or add moist paper towels to the bottom of the box.
- If it collects tiny moisture beads:  You are probably within the range of optimal humid conditions.
- If the water beads are large enough to form droplets: (or if you find drops of water that fell on your cheese from the lid). Your environment is overly moist. Solution: Open the lid a bit more.

As the cheese ages it dries and becomes more solid so you will gradually close the lid more and more to maintain the same exact RH. I hope this tip helps.

Regarding wrapping...I had read enough here on the forum to make me think I shouldnt go that route since I only had 3 cams and can keep them in the cave under conditions they need. I figured full aging in the cave until taking them to the regular fridge.
It feels that cheese needs 1-2 more weeks.  Keeping it cooler and drier is as effectively as wrapping it.  Flip it every 2-3 days and rub it lightly to flatten/pack/dense/thin/firm/elasticize the rind and redistribute mold spores throughout the surface.  The flipping allows both sides to breathe evenly and also helps with shifting the minerals evenly throughout the cheese. If your aging works well, you will see signs of geo streaks showing from underneath the white PC rind as you get close to grand opening day.

The cooler temperature we put it in slows down the Geo, but the PC should continue to develop, so they will catch up with one another. You can safely finish the entire aging in the fridge in my opinion. The cave already did its work.

I agree with JeffHamm, don't be tempted to taste it now. Your cheese may recover but will never be as good as it potentially can be and you get absolutely nothing out of it -it will taste horrible; tough, sour, chalky, weird. It will tell you absolutely nothing about how this cheese is doing and give you no clue to the final taste of the cheese. Let it ripen, wait for the surprise inside the packaging when it's time to open it!  It would be like picking from a tree a hard unripe fruit, take a bite from it and then leave it open for 2 weeks to ripen.  Allow that cheese tell you its story!

The best thing is to keep making cheese so in a few weeks you will always have something new to taste coming up.  Believe me, I know the pain of waiting for cheese. Don't everyone here have it?

bbracken677

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #39 on: August 24, 2012, 09:16:27 PM »
Thanks Iratherfly!  I have resisted the urge to taste (I cook alot, and always taste my creations in progress...seldom follow a recipe unless it is a first) as hard as it is...progressing on with the cheese making ... such fun!
As soon as I finish making one and it begins it's aging process I am ready to start the next one.  I like the research and learning as much as creating something.

And then there is always the antici.......




pation!

Bruce

iratherfly

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #40 on: August 29, 2012, 07:08:19 AM »
what's the next one?

bbracken677

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #41 on: August 29, 2012, 11:38:32 AM »
Made a colby yesterday, just havent posted notes and pics yet ....have plans for a tallegio, perhaps, in the next day or 2.

iratherfly

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #42 on: August 30, 2012, 05:26:50 AM »
Nice! Do share!

bbracken677

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #43 on: August 30, 2012, 07:43:55 PM »
Pics of the 2 unwrapped cams...the 3rd is wrapped up and in the fridge as a comparison.  Day 18.


iratherfly

  • Guest
Re: First Camembert: triple cream
« Reply #44 on: August 30, 2012, 08:14:38 PM »
Looks nice! ...a few more days!