Author Topic: My first Brie  (Read 12036 times)

JeffHamm

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My first Brie
« on: November 17, 2012, 10:30:26 PM »
Hi,

Vanessa asked if I could make some Brie, so we could give some to a friend in trade for some homemade beer.  Well, that sounds good to me.  I've made camembert before, and brie is essentially the same make, just bigger molds.  So, I followed the 200 easy homemade cheese book, though I added 30 minutes ripening time as I find my ice cubes seem to need time to propegate for best results.  Anyway, I've filled two 1/2 brie molds (20 cm diameter internal, about 10 cm high).  These have bottoms, unlike open hoop cam moulds, so I'm assuming they will drain quite a bit more slowly. 

Anyway, each of these cheeses will require a ripening box to themselves (they sort of fill my boxes), so I had to vac bag a few of my current hard cheeses.  That's fine, except they all have various mould/linens for rinds.  A big wash of the boxes, followed by a sterilization wash, another rinse, and finally, I decided to drain the cheeses into the boxes (shown in the photo).  This way, spores from the PC that are in the whey will, hopefully, dominate the local flora over any left over from my cleaning attempts.  It will be interesting when it comes time to flip these.  I've got some cross stitch mats to use, as long as I don't clutz out, I should be fine.  No guarentees there will be further photos though!

Brie (from 200 homemade cheese) Sunday, Nov 18, 2012: Barm 996, 67% humidity

8 Litres Homebrand Standard
4 ice cubes meso (4 fd)
¼ tsp CalCl (50%)
5.54 ml Renco Rennet (65 IMCU)
Section of rind from existing brie or cam (mashed about in boiled/cooled water – remove chunks)

1) add culture and warm to 31 C (8:20 ; 31.2 C)
2) add mold solution
3) Ripen 30 minutes (8:20 - 8:50; 30.1 C) – I added a ripening time
4) add CaCl and then add rennet (8:54:30 C; 30.1)
5) floc time = 9:06:30 = 12 m 00 s 6x mulitiplier = 72 m 00 sec = cut time of 10:06:30
6) cut into 2.5 cm cubes
7) let heal (5 minutes in book; go for 15 10:13 - 10:28)
8) stir very gently 10 minutes (10:33 - 10:43) or until curd starts to shrink a bit
9) let settle
10) remove whey (to level of curd – didn’t settle much, no whey removed)
11) ladel curds into to two ½ brie molds (10:49-11:16)  Filled both moulds
12) settle 2 hours, then flip
13) settle 2 hours, flip
14) flip every couple hours, then leave to drain overnight
15) sprinkle the top of each cheese with 1 tsp salt flip salt other side (1 tsp as well)
16) put in the ripening box (on chopsticks and mat) and flip daily (remove whey)
17) should see mould in a week, on about day 12-14, wrap and leave in cheese fridge another week
18) after 1 more week (week 3 from make) move to cold fridge for 4-6 weeks

JeffHamm

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2012, 03:08:51 AM »
Flipped it twice now, without major distaster.  The mats I have are just wide enough for these molds, so very tricky.  The surface is a bit uneven as the mats are soft, and sitting up on the chopsticks the curds still sagged between them.  I thought they would hold it level, but not quite.  Still, the curds have settled quite a bit.  Next flip session shouldn't be so bad. I'll put the mats on a board.

- Jeff

Offline H-K-J

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2012, 03:16:59 AM »
I didn't realize they are that moist of curd  :-\ they look grest :P
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JeffHamm

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2012, 05:22:14 AM »
The curds are cut after a 6x floc, then stirred for about 10 minutes.  There's a bit of settling time, but really, not much to force out the whey.  Then, you just ladel the curds into the moulds, so a lot of whey gets scooped up in the process.  The curds will settle down to about 1/3 to 1/4 height.  They're down to about a 1/3 now.  I'll let them drain until after work tomorrow, and will salt them and then into the cave.  If all goes well, there will be white mould in 7 to 10 days. 

- Jeff

Shazah

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2012, 05:59:06 AM »
Hi Jeff

Good luck with these.  They are really tricky to flip eh!  I ended up cutting my cross stitch matting into a slightly smaller circle and using a two step flip method which was so much easier in the end.  Up until that point I was thinking I would stick with Cams and not bother with all the anxiety of making the larger Brie.  I have mine ageing in the cold fridge with it due to be opened next weekend.  Depending on flavour and texture, I'll decide if I'm making them again.

I look forward to seeing your pics.

Tobiasrer

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #5 on: November 18, 2012, 06:09:43 AM »
Would love to see the product so far.
Brie is one of the fewmold rippened cheeses I would consider making. The idea of molded cheese has never appealed to me, but i wanna try baked brie, But also having the WRONG molds is my biggest concern!

Offline Schnecken Slayer

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2012, 07:36:21 AM »
When you flip it do you have a base to turn it over onto? ie like a press follower...
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Offline Tiarella

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2012, 12:30:36 PM »
Would love to see the product so far.
Brie is one of the fewmold rippened cheeses I would consider making. The idea of molded cheese has never appealed to me, but i wanna try baked brie, But also having the WRONG molds is my biggest concern!

The wrong mold has never been a problem for me.......except on a Shitake Mushroom Brie that has birch bark wrapped around it to hold it together.  That one has just started showing a little wild blue mold and I'm not quite sure what to do.  I posted a question but no one has answered yet.  I think this is only happening because of the Shitake mushroom crumbles and powder.  Otherwise the white PC mold will totally keep anything else from showing up.  You would probably have very good luck with Brie.  Hope you try it!   :)

JeffHamm

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #8 on: November 18, 2012, 05:56:16 PM »
Hi,

When the flip puts them back in the mould all is well.  Only the first time "upside down" was there a problem.  They were still very wet so had to sit up on the chopsticks to drain into the ripening boxes.  The next flip put them back in the mould.  Then, I was able to put the mat on the inside of the box lid, and put that over the mould, and flip.  This works a treat, and since the curds have drained quite a bit, the lids don't overflow and soak everything.  The curds have reduced to about 1/4 or so?  One of them has a crack, where the curds don't seem to have knitted together (probably an accident during one of the flips), but as it still has a few hours to go, I'm hoping they will fuse a bit.  The other seems fine so far. 

Anyway, these will go in the cave this evening (after salting) sitting on the lids with the main body of the box sitting on top like a dome.  This will make the daily flipping of them easier (I hope). 

- Jeff

Offline H-K-J

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #9 on: November 18, 2012, 06:29:05 PM »
Hope that one knits together for you, it still looks really nice :P
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JeffHamm

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #10 on: November 18, 2012, 08:51:37 PM »
Thanks, but I'm sure it will be all right.  If it doesn't heal, it will just mold over and form a long skinny piece.  That may ripen faster than the rest because it will come in from the sides more, but the bulk of the cheese will be fine. 

- Jeff

JeffHamm

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #11 on: November 19, 2012, 07:04:19 PM »
I salted both sides (1 tsp each face) last night and moved them to the cave.  Then flipped these this morning.  Still a lot of whey coming out, but not overflowing the lid, which is acting as the floor for easy cheese access.  The chopsticks overlaid with the mat are keeping the downside flat too, so that's good.  The crack seems to have healed a bit, so it's fusing somewhat.  Also, it doesn't go through to the other side, so it's not like a separate piece just yet.  Anyway, will have to work on the humidity levels, which could be tricky, but so far these look really promising.  It's been a long time since I've made a pc ripened cheese, apart from the semi-lactics which are a different beast, so hopefully I can get a decent result. 

- Jeff

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #12 on: November 19, 2012, 11:24:08 PM »
Hey, if this works out for you, I might give Brie a try. They look good so far.

Really, a 6x floc? Is that something you knew or read about or something you just winged?

I'm really curious to see how this proceeds. I've never done a Cam or a Brie.

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Tobiasrer

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #13 on: November 19, 2012, 11:27:50 PM »
I found a PDF on a thread here some where that shows a floc mult for different styles and 6 sounds right from what I read on it. You want a nice moist creamy texture, so longer floc is my understanding?

bbracken677

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Re: My first Brie
« Reply #14 on: November 20, 2012, 01:32:24 AM »
Yes... the longer flocc results in higher moisture as does cutting in larger curd pieces or not cutting at all (such as the traditional camembert method)...and normally a cheese like this will be formed immediately after cutting (with a rest) and not cooked or stirred or any of the other procedures for removing whey. Typically you leave the curds in the form until they have lost enough whey to be reduced to 1/3 it's original height.