Author Topic: 3rd Pressed Cheese, Gouda with couple pics  (Read 2968 times)

rolsen99

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3rd Pressed Cheese, Gouda with couple pics
« on: December 10, 2012, 01:19:38 AM »
Had another open day, so decided to make another!  Hopefully this post will be better than my last mess  :'(

Time management was better this time, and temps were great!  This is my first time using non-homogenized milk.  It is pasteurized.  It's produced about 10 miles from my house.  I am satisfied, as finding good milk in the Detroit area is proving to be difficult.

Based on Tim Smith Artisan
2 G. Milk
1/4 tsp. meso
1/8 tsp. liquid veggie. rennet
6 C. water at 175 F.
20% brine

4:00 - Milk at 90 F. - Rehydrate culture for 5 mins
4:05 - Stir, Ripen for 10 mins. - Prepare rennet while waiting (lessons learned, better time mgmt.)
4:15 - Stir in rennet for 1 minute., set for 60 minutes.
5:15 - Clean break.....I think  :-\ , cut to 1/2" - Let rest 5 minutes.
5:21 - Draw off 1/3 whey.  Begin adding 175 F. water to achieve temp of 92 F.  Took 5 minutes and about 3.5 cups water.
5:26 - Let set 10 minutes, while stirring.
5:37 - Whey removed to level of curds.  Add 175 water until 100 F. is reached.  Didn't write down how much water.  Maintain for 15 mins stirring.  Let set 30 mins.
6:10 - Strain in colander lined with cheesecloth.

Press 20 mins at 20 pounds, flip and press 20 pounds for 12 hours, flip and press 20 pounds for 10 hours.  Brine at room temperature, 20% salinity, for 2.5 hours, flip and continue to brine for 2.5 hours.

Notes:  Everything went perfect according to recipe, temps and times were really good.  No PH meter, so I am blindly marching according to times.  I am guessing on the brine time, the book seemed low compared to the website recipes and posts.  Time will tell.

I plan to set out to dry briefly, then into the cave while washing with washing solution for 3 weeks.  Then vac-pac and age for ???

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great!

Tobiasrer

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Re: 3rd Pressed Cheese, Gouda with couple pics
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2012, 05:37:02 AM »
Looks good!
Keep at it!
Gouda was my second Cheese! Pretty happy with it, cut a little early but I have half still aging so will see what its like in a month!

rolsen99

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Re: 3rd Pressed Cheese, Gouda with couple pics
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2012, 01:25:14 PM »
Looks good!
Keep at it!
Gouda was my second Cheese! Pretty happy with it, cut a little early but I have half still aging so will see what its like in a month!

How early was "a little bit early"?  I plan on being patient, but not sure how long that will last :)

Tobiasrer

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Re: 3rd Pressed Cheese, Gouda with couple pics
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2012, 07:43:49 PM »
Well I cut it at 1 week. Was good! every one liked it, wasnt totaly Gouda flavoured, and I dont know if I washed the curd 100% right because it has sort of a sharp flavour. Hoping maybe aging helps but its edible and thats a win in my books!
I have 1/2 the gouda aging, a gruyere thats about 1 month now and some feta in a brine! I think I will try another Gouda again! The Guyere ages too long and I am constantly concerned about the molds growing on it.. I like know that NO molds are good then trying to decide which is good and which isnt as i do with the Gruyere.

JeffHamm

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Re: 3rd Pressed Cheese, Gouda with couple pics
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2012, 11:25:05 PM »
Hi rolsen99,

Looks like you got a good result.  I see you're not sure about the clean break, and all that.  Personally, I would suggest you search the forum and read about the floc method.  It's a pretty simple technique, and the short version of why, is this.  Basically, everytime you make a cheese the milk is different (different time of year, different cows, different feed, different pasturization technique, etc).  How your rennet and starters work with the milk will, therefore, also bit a bit different.  So, rather than waiting for a set amount of time , which implies the rennet/starter/milk combo is always working the same way, and checking for a clean break, which is a bit subjective anyway, you time the effects of the rennet on your milk.

At the time you add your rennet, note the time exactly (i.e. to the second; I usually wait for the time to read :00 seconds to make it easy).  Stir your rennet in as per usual, but then place on top of the milk a small plastic container (i.e. an individual serve yogurt cup - sterilized of course).  give it a light tap, and it will sail around the surface of the milk.  Every couple minutes, tap it and see what it does.  Eventually, as the rennet starts to thicken the milk, it won't sail quite so freely.  Now, tap every minute.  It will start to just shift and stop.  Check every 30 seconds, until you find the point in time when a light tap won't move the cup.  It just lurches a bit, but gets hauled back into place, like a cartoon character with their feet in acme glue.  When that happens, write down the time, and we call this the "floc time".

You are aiming to achieve a floc time of 10 to 15 minutes.  If it takes less than 10 minutes, then use less rennet next time.  If it takes more than 15, you could stand to use a bit more. 

For our examle, let's say it required 12 minutes to achieve flocculation.  Now, for gouda, you use a 3x multiplier, which just means multiply that 12 by 3 and you get 36 minutes.  So, you cut the curds at 36 minutes post rennet (not 36 minutes from floc, but 36 minutes from when you put the rennet in; floc is at the 1x mark - so you're already 12 minutes into it and just need to wait another 24 minutes).  At the calculated time you just cut the curds.  Don't worry about clean breaks, just cut.  See, if your rennet was working a bit more vigorously this time you might get a floc of 11 minutes, and cut at 33. 

Higher floc multipliers generally lead to a moister curd and shorter mutliplers generally lead to drier curds.  If you are sure you're going to long age a cheese, you might drop the multiplier a bit (i.e. 2.75x rather than 3x) and so forth.  There are tables people have put on the boards suggesting what multipliers to use for different types of cheese, but remember, these are starting points.  Adjust them to suit your tastes.  I've posted an excel book (cheesetools.xls) which has a page on it that is quite useful for determing the different times when using the floc method, and it can be found in the library on the site.

Anyway, it's not really hard to do, and if you search the boards you'll find more detailed explanations about why this works and why it is a good thing to get used to.  Of course, there are also a lot of people who go by clean break and they produce very good cheeses, so, it's not like it's manditory.  I like it, but I like this kind of thing.

- Jeff

Tobiasrer

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Re: 3rd Pressed Cheese, Gouda with couple pics
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2012, 11:39:10 PM »
Question Jeff, why do i need to count to the second?
I use your cheese tools with all my makes  (thanks its GREAT!!)
But I just use the clock on my stove and figure whats 59 seconds REALLY going to change?

Maybe a lot so I should ask LOL!

rolsen99

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Re: 3rd Pressed Cheese, Gouda with couple pics
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2012, 12:29:08 AM »
That makes perfect sense to me now Jeff. Thank you. I love how helpful everyone is on this forum.

JeffHamm

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Re: 3rd Pressed Cheese, Gouda with couple pics
« Reply #7 on: December 11, 2012, 06:06:31 PM »
Hi Tobiasrer,

You count to the seconds because it's fairly easy to do, and it gives you greater precision in your calculation and, therefore, should lead to greater consistancy and control over the make.  As I understand it, the gell time (how long it required for the little boat to stop moving after a tap) indicates how things are working for that make.  And that the time to cut in order to achieve the same moisture content and such is a simple function of this gell time (that's where the floc multiplier comes in).  12 min turns into 36 min with a 3x floc, but 12 min 30 sec becomes 37 min 30 seconds, so an extra minute and a half.  That may not seem like much, since starter amounts double every 20 minutes (I seem to recall that rate being presented on the forum here, but if I'm wrong, then ignor this bit) so 1.5 minutes means your starter is now at 1.053361 times the amount it was a minute and a half earlier.  The amount of starter will influence your acidity curves, and so forth.  (Note, I'm not even talking moisture retention, and other aspects). 

It's like keeping careful eye on the temperature, and not letting it creep over by a degree, which is also not very much but which influences starter growth, etc. 

The more precise you are with your measurements (amount of starter, amount of rennet, temperature, acidity) the more predictable your make becomes (in the sense that if you made a good one, you can replicate it, and if you made a dud, you can avoid it).  There will be things beyond your control, like what wild moulds show up, what the air temperature is, and such, but the finer you take your measurements the more sure you are of your make.  And, the more you can tweak what you do to see what effect it has in the end.

But most importantly, you measure to the second because when you tell people you have to do this they are even more impressed with you cheesemaking ability! ;)

- Jeff