Author Topic: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton  (Read 30388 times)

Offline Al Lewis

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Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« on: December 23, 2012, 08:04:57 PM »
Well I used the recipe from New England Cheese Making as it was the one I used for my first small stilton's seen here  As I did not use raw milk this time I added one pint of heavy cream to each two gallons of milk.  You can find the recipe here. I actually did this in two pots, one two gallon and one four gallon, as I didn't have a pot big enough to do it in one.  The most difficult thing was getting both pots, two different sizes, to the right temperature at the same time.  I watched both thermometers during initial warming and calculated the heat necessary for each to arrive at 86 F at the same time.  With that done the next step of removing the whey into the colanders was done in steps spooning out the small pot first.  Although both showed a clean break, this gave the larger pot a bit more time to set just in case.  All I can say at this point is "man that's a lot of curd!"
« Last Edit: January 05, 2013, 07:49:04 PM by Al Lewis »
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2012, 09:40:55 PM »
Well if anyone ever wondered how much 6 gallons of milk curd will fill up a 8" diameter by 7.5" high cylinder mold here it is.  Should be a pretty nice hunk of cheese by the time it settles down. After the first flip it was 5.5" high. ;D
« Last Edit: December 23, 2012, 09:48:37 PM by Al Lewis »
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bbracken677

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2012, 09:55:21 PM »
That's a lotta curd!  Little Miss Muffett would be pleased!   :)

Offline H-K-J

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2012, 11:10:29 PM »
Looks nice Al, got to get me another one going :)
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #4 on: December 24, 2012, 12:16:12 AM »
Thanks BB and H-K-J!  All that weight is really dressing the faces of this thing.  I should hardly have to do any smoothing at all!  Figure in four days I'll pull the mold.  Then we'll see how well the blue comes out. :D
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sofusryge

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #5 on: December 24, 2012, 06:43:26 AM »
Looks cool - The Tower of Power  8)

Looking forward to see it ripening.

Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #6 on: December 24, 2012, 04:13:10 PM »
Woke up to this this morning when I flipped it.  I keep rotating the mats 90 degrees each time I flip it and spin the mold a bit to stop those little bumps from forming.  Not a lot of whey in the pan this morning.  Expected more but this thing is still very heavy with whey and the mold is still tight.  May take a week before this one comes out of the mold.  Still the key word in cheese making is patience.  Keep telling myself that enough and maybe I'll get it one day. LOL
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mjr522

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #7 on: December 24, 2012, 05:33:54 PM »
Looking good--I like big cheeses.  I'm limited to 4 gallons right now, but sometime I'll make myself a bigger vat.  What do you use for your 6 gallons?

 :-[ Never mind, I get so caught up in pictures that I don't read very well sometimes...
« Last Edit: December 24, 2012, 05:46:22 PM by Mike Richards »

Offline H-K-J

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #8 on: December 24, 2012, 05:42:04 PM »
That looks great Al :P
I would love to get me a 32 to 34 qt vat, don't see it in the to near future :-\
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #9 on: December 24, 2012, 07:09:14 PM »
Well I found that the cheap place to get them is at home brewery stores and web sites.  Apparently they use the same stuff we do. :o
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #10 on: December 28, 2012, 04:31:10 AM »
Well I'm still flipping this thing and it's still tight in the mold so I'm estimating, at this point, it will be in the mold for a week.
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bbracken677

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #11 on: December 28, 2012, 01:57:01 PM »
Cool...you should be seeing some blue then before caving it! 

Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #12 on: December 28, 2012, 04:54:41 PM »
Sure hope so.  Once I can remove it from the mold it will sit for 5 days before going into the cave.   Here's the regimen I use from the recipe although I may not bandage it if it is solid enough to support it's weight at the sides. 

Turn several times in mold first hour then 2x@day for next few days.
After 3-5 days @ 70F remove mold and wrap in cloth for the next 5 days.
Then remove cloth and move to aging room 54-60F 85%RH
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #13 on: December 28, 2012, 05:34:16 PM »
BB you must be physic! LOL  Went downstairs to tend the cheese this morning and got a very pleasant surprise when I flipped the stilton.  This turned up overnight. Now that's a gorgeous color of blue.  ;D
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bbracken677

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Re: Finally Making My 6 Gallon Stilton
« Reply #14 on: December 28, 2012, 05:35:41 PM »
haha!  If the conditions are right, the blue doesn't take long to show up!