Author Topic: Butterkase #1  (Read 13402 times)

bbracken677

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Butterkase #1
« on: August 23, 2012, 07:44:41 PM »
This is my first butterkase make. I am using (for the most part) Mary's take on Boofer's Butterkase recipe...of course I have to add my own little spin: Since I don't have FD (LL,LLC,LLD,LMC) , I will be using C101(LLC,LL) + LM 57(LM) + MD 89(LLD).  I am not sure how the proportionality will work out compared to FD.
For the Thermophilic in her recipe, I will be using Yogurt.
Otherwise, it should be pretty much the same. Hoping for similar results, since her butterkase looked so yummy! 


                                             Butterkase – 1st Make

1.   Sterilize all pots, tools and utensils
2.   Heat 2 gallons raw whole milk with 1 cup cream to 102F (pH before heating:6.7 cold) 
3.   Once 102F is reached add C101 and 1/8th tsp LM57 and MD89 along with 3 tablespoons yogurt (40 min innoc time depending on pH)(mixed yogurt with a 1/2 cup and 1/2 cup milk to reduce the lumpiness of it all)
4.   Once pH drops .1 add rennet  ½ tsp diluted in water (non-chlorinated, sterilized)
5.   Wait for floc, use x5 multiplier (my floc time was short...5 min x 5 = 25)
6.   Cut curds into 1 ½ inch pieces vertical cut only
7.   Let rest 10 minutes (maintaining heat)
8.   Cut curds into ¾ inch pieces…vertical and horizontal (my curd cutting skills are lacking...while stirring I stirred up some rather large chunks that I cut up with the spoon)
9.   Let rest 5 minutes
10.   Stir 20 minutes (first 5-7 minutes are “jiggling” not actually stirring)
11.   Let settle 15 minutes
12.   Remove whey to level of curds
13.   Pour in water (170-180F) to raise temp of curds to 108 using the 2 degree rule: raise temp no more than 2 degrees every 5 min …temper hot water with room temp water to achieve the results.
14.   Keep stirring the whole time temp is being raised.
15.   Let settle for 15 minutes
16.   Pour off whey and smoosh the curds down a bit in the pot to remove more whey to drain off (or: drain in a cheese cloth colander)
17.   Pile curds into hoop (mold)
18.   Press with 10lbs for 30 min.
19.   Flip, redress, press with 18 ½ lbs for 6 hours or more
20.   Into brine solution (16%) for 6 hours
21.   Air dry till nice and dry without cracking.

« Last Edit: August 24, 2012, 01:24:32 PM by bbracken677 »

JeffHamm

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2012, 08:01:35 PM »
OOoooo!  Looks good.  Make sure you include a photo once it's out of the press, and when you finally cut and taste it.  A cheese for your first Butterkase!

- Jeff

bbracken677

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2012, 08:06:16 PM »
Thanks! I certainly will!  I will actually wind up with 2 small cylinders from this make...I hope holding the 2nd half in the cooled whey will work...should I refrigerate it while it awaits pressing?

bbracken677

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2012, 08:37:01 PM »
Actually...I decided it might be best to stagger pressings...stage 1 on the first, then a partial stage 2, followed quickly by stage 1 on the 2nd with additional weight since the curds seem a bit more "developed" as they waited their turn.  Will complete stage 1 on the 2nd cheese and will do a partial stage 2, followed by a complete stage 2 on 1st cheese, finishing up with a complete stage 2 on cheese 2...   whew...say that 3 times really fast!

btw...ignore that beer bottle in the last picture....beer? what beer?   lol
« Last Edit: August 23, 2012, 08:56:21 PM by bbracken677 »

bbracken677

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2012, 01:18:36 AM »
Whew!  Next time I will make sure I have the proper size molds. Cycling 2 molds thru and trying to figure out the best way to approach the issue wasnt fun. I suspect I still have too much moisture left in the cheeses. In the photo below I already see some bulging.  Otherwise, they look like they will be cheese. haha

Everything went well, (up to pressing) except my floc time was short again using the recommended dosage of rennet....will have to reduce the dose next make.

Since I was cycling 2 molds in and out of the press, I decided to increase the weight from 18.5 lbs to almost 40, and shortened their stay so I could get both of them (supposedly) finished. I fear that I will regret that since it appears that there is more moisture left than would be desired.

I have put them back in their molds for further pressing....they still have whey to shed, apparently.



« Last Edit: August 24, 2012, 02:00:35 AM by bbracken677 »

Offline Boofer

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2012, 05:28:33 AM »
Yeoww! I got a crook in my neck looking at the pics. How about next time doing a 90 degree turn so they're straight with the world?

Yeah, I hadn't seen the beer bottle until you pointed it out. But there it was...lurking in the shadows. Cheesemaking lubrication, huh?

Why couldn't you press both cheeses at the same time?

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

bbracken677

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2012, 12:01:38 PM »

Why couldn't you press both cheeses at the same time?

-Boofer-


Umm...because I didnt think about it until about 10 PM...so I put them both on. Funny how that thought came to me just as I was dozing off.  The thought of stacking them didn't cross my mind at all until then.

They are resting in brine right now...will take a picture and post when they come out.

I will do the 90 degree thing, soon as I figure out how to do it  LOL

Offline Boofer

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2012, 01:10:32 PM »
I will do the 90 degree thing, soon as I figure out how to do it  LOL
If your current software can't handle it, here's some free, open-source software that can. It's "Paint.NET".

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

bbracken677

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #8 on: August 24, 2012, 01:27:14 PM »
Ha!  All I had to do was right click the pictures in the directory and choose clockwise or counter clockwise!   

So now I have triplets in the aging cave and twins soon to join them   haha

I really feel good about this make. I like the texture I am already seeing and the smell is very nice, and since re-pressing they are looking prettier! 



bbracken677

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #9 on: August 24, 2012, 03:29:06 PM »
Here is a pic of one of the "boys" ...first one out of the brine

Funny thing, in the pic he looks white as milk, but actually has a slight yellowish look.


Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #10 on: August 24, 2012, 04:32:26 PM »
Classic Butterkase uses just a thermo culture so heating to 102F is perfect. However, several people on the Forum have been adding Mesos to the mix. That's fine, but if you want much effect, 102F is too warm for the initial addition of Meso starter. That is near the upper level of it's temperature range and will seriously slow the bacteria down in the critical early stages of reproduction and acid production. 104F is a critical point where some Mesos will start to die. So if you are starting at 102F and then cooking even higher, the Mesos are not going to reproduce very much and there may not be much point in using them.

Every strain of bacteria has a range and a sweet spot and you can use that to control growth and acid production during a make. With a Meso, the sweet spot is going to be in the mid 80s say 85F to 88F. It's a bit paradoxical, but as you heat the milk, the bacteria will actually begin to slow down. When you get to 102F, much of the reproduction and acid production will be at a snail's pace.

When doing meso/thermo blends you need to give the meso time to do their thing before pumping things up to thermo range. Yes, the mesos will still die off during higher cooking temps, but the bacteria will release enzymes that are important for long term aging.

bbracken677

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #11 on: August 24, 2012, 05:00:19 PM »
For this make then, would it be appropriate to add the mesos at, say, 80F? Then while the milk slowly warms up to 102 they will have a chance to work?
I considered doing that....I was afraid of what that might do to the pH curve...was afraid that the pH would start to drop before reaching 102F...
Question 2 would be: if we did add at 80F and then slowly warmed to 102, would it cause problems if you didnt rennet until a .2 or .3 drop in pH?

JeffHamm

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #12 on: August 24, 2012, 05:53:41 PM »
Hi bbracken677,

I just warm to 35C, which is 95 F, and then ripen 40 minutes at that temperature.  After ripening, which gives the mesos time to grow and such, then raise the temperature to 104 (in your case) and go from there.  You might even want to ripen at 80 or 85, and then bring up the tempertures for later.  My next butterkase make, I'll probably ripen at 32, and let it go for an hour or even 90 minutes, as I'm pretty sure much of the meso's are history once the temperature is raised to 42.  I'll go for the 5x floc too. 

- Jeff

bbracken677

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #13 on: August 24, 2012, 06:09:27 PM »
Yeah...that sounds like a good approach. I can say that I can smell the buttery mesos in the most recent batch, so they didnt all die.

I did notice that once reaching 102, adding the thermo and mesos that it was almost 40 minutes exactly to rennet based on pH drop. As I recall my last butterkase consumption, there shouldnt be much acidity so sticking as close to the normal pH curve as possible would seem best.

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Butterkase #1
« Reply #14 on: August 24, 2012, 06:21:49 PM »
Rennet pH is very important and you cannot alter that just to allow the Mesos time to grow. I know this is simplistic, and although it may not be exactly technically correct, I look at it this way. When you add rennet you start trapping everything in the primordial cheese soup into the curd matrix. That means a certain quantity of bacteria and a certain level of acidity becomes a permanent (but ongoing) part of the curd. Once the curd is cut, there are internal and external forces and processes that continue to evolve. BUT you have established a starting point for what is actually IN the curd matrix and not in the whey. So if you add rennet when the pH is too low, you end up trapping more bacteria and more acid in the curd. This in turn effects calcium bonds, texture, etc, etc.

So, what to do. There are a couple of choices. 1 - add the meso early so it can activate and reproduce (for a while) at an optimal level. 2- you can lower your initial temperature to something more favorable for meso growth. The catch is that the lower temperature is not the sweet spot for thermos. When I do meso blends, I typically add mother culture to cold milk then add the thermos later. Bacteria double their population every 20 minutes, so by the time it is up to higher starting temps, the mesos will have increased significantly. You can also add more meso to start with to boost things, and while that may be a tempting solution, don't get carried away. Thermos, especially from dry culture, are generally much slower to begin acidifying, so the mesos can contribute significantly.

There are tons of trade offs when you make choices like these and what you do ultimately defines YOUR cheese. So you do things a certain way and if you like the results, do it that way again. ;)