Author Topic: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6  (Read 10871 times)

Offline Boofer

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Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« on: January 06, 2013, 04:08:57 PM »
I couldn't let this opportunity pass without making some effort to commemorate the event. Even though Beaufort #5 is still doing its thing in the cave network, in the interest of developing further Beaufort credentials, here comes #6. ;)

January 5, 2013

initial pH: 6.63
renneting pH: 6.50
pressing pH: 6.26
brining pH: 5.30

1 gallon Dungeness Valley Creamery whole raw milk
2 gallons Twin Brooks Creamery whole creamline milk
8 cubes Alp D mother culture, thawed in tepid water
1/16 tsp Propionic shermanii
1/32 tsp Holdbac LC
1/2 tsp CACL2 in 1/4 cup distilled water
1/16 tsp Renco dry calf rennet, dissolved in 1/4 cup chilled distilled water

5:55AM Brought milk to 90F, added Alp D, Holdbac, and PS.

7:45 Looking for .1 delta, added CACL2 and rennet at 6.50.

Floc'd in 12 minutes. Using 3X, initial cut to 1 inch made 24 minutes later.

Rested 5 minutes, then whisked to 1/4 inch.

Rested 10 minutes. Curds are settling, whey is rising. Even though the cream level is good and high, the level of butterfat that I normally see on the surface of the warm milk is not apparent. I attribute this to the freshness of the milk. Older milk has harder, more solid milkfat that doesn't incorporate as well into the milk. The raw milk had a pulldate of Jan11 and the creamline was Jan19. Jan16 was available on the shelf, but looking back towards the rear of the shelf I found Jan19. Rotating the stock. ;)

Began heating and gently stirring the curds to 110F within 40 minutes.

9:25 At pH 6.46, removed 1.5 gallons whey for whey-brine and pressing use.

Replaced removed whey with 122F water to sweeten the curds. Again, this changes this cheese as a true Beaufort, but I like the results better.

Continued to cook and stir the curds for 30 minutes, preventing matting.

Drained whey and hand-packed curds to prepared, warmed, Plyban-lined mould.

Added some of the removed whey to a smaller pot and submerged the filled mould. Placed this pot into the large double-boiler kettle which had a warm water bath. Moved the pot within the kettle to the press.

10:00 Pressed with 2.6 psi for 15 minutes.
10:15 Flipped, redressed and pressed with 2.6 psi for 15 minutes.
10:30 Flipped, redressed and pressed with 2.6 psi for 30 minutes.
11:00 Drained whey, flipped, redressed and pressed with 2.6 psi for 15 minutes.
12:45PM Flipped, undressed and pressed with 4.9 psi for 15 minutes.
1:00 pH 5.30. Out of press, weighed, and into whey-brine for 4 hours.
5:00 Flipped cheese in brine.
9:00 Removed cheese from whey-brine, dried, weighed and into minicave to air-dry.

Thank you, Santa, for bringing me my new digital scale. Most excellent! :)

This will air-dry for the rest of today and go into the cave tomorrow morning. After a week, I will begin washing with PLA & light brine.

My Beaufort #4 was very nice after 6 months affinage. I would like for this birthday edition to age out further and give me a very tasty reason to celebrate my next birthday. 8)

-Boofer-
« Last Edit: January 06, 2013, 04:30:18 PM by Boofer »
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Offline scasnerkay

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2013, 05:34:38 PM »
Happy Birthday! What a fun way to celebrate/commemorate!
Boofer I am trying to figure out what form I want to obtain for makes of 3 or 4 gallons. What form are you using? It seems to have a lot of holes. Have you been pressing naked!?!
Susan

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2013, 06:36:29 PM »
Happy Birthday Boofer!  And a cheese to you for the cheese to you from you to you.  :)

- Jeff

Offline Tiarella

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2013, 06:51:42 PM »
Happy Birthday to the king of nubbins!  Nice looking cheese and it does look like it's been streaking.  (running naked). A cheese to you on your birthday!!!!!!  Hope you eat a lot of cheese today. ^-^

Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2013, 09:01:41 PM »
Happy Birthday Boofer!!
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Offline Boofer

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2013, 02:53:01 AM »
Boofer I am trying to figure out what form I want to obtain for makes of 3 or 4 gallons. What form are you using? It seems to have a lot of holes. Have you been pressing naked!?!
You'll see at 12:45PM that I actually undress...my cheese. For those of you into it, I press naked. 8)
The holes are so small and numerous that the nubbins aren't as troublesome as in a regular Tomme mould.
It's a cheese mould I got from Yoav. Two of them actually. One fits inside the other to press. I've been using it in quite a few 3 gallon makes, but it should hold 4 gallons of curd quite nicely. Yes, there are a lot of tiny drain holes. Very nice. One of my favorite moulds.

Happy Birthday Boofer!  And a cheese to you for the cheese to you from you to you.  :)

- Jeff
I think I'm dizzy. :-\

Thanks Kathrin, Jeff, & Al. A nice day today.

-Boofer-
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Offline Boofer

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2013, 06:34:57 AM »
I started washing this cheese with PLA & brine four days in. Now, a week later, there is some Geo coming to the rind. The rind used to have a milkfat residue and was a little brine-repellent, but that is diminishing as the Geo sets forth. Good stuff. :)

-Boofer-
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Offline Schnecken Slayer

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2013, 08:36:50 AM »
I probably said it already. But that is an incredible looking cheese.
-Bill
One day I will add something here...

Offline Boofer

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2013, 02:22:12 PM »
Thank you, but it's still very young. I'm hoping that it approaches greatness (don't we all wish that for our cheeses? ;)) 12 months from now.

-Boofer-
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Offline Boofer

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2013, 04:33:32 PM »
I've been taking this out and just rubbing it every second or third day. There are some minor incursions on the the rind that I keep addressing with the rubdowns. So far...so good. ;)

-Boofer-
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Offline Tiarella

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2013, 04:57:29 PM »
Looks great, Boofer!  A cheese to you for your cheese massage skills.   ;D. You rubbing down with anything?  Brine?  Scented massage oils? 

Offline Boofer

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2013, 02:53:15 PM »
Looks great, Boofer!  A cheese to you for your cheese massage skills.   ;D. You rubbing down with anything?  Brine?  Scented massage oils?
Thanks, Kathrin.

No, the treatment I have been pursuing with this baby has been strictly rubbing, patting, scratching, and caressing :) the rind to address any glaring abnormalities. It sits in its minicave and perspires a bit so the temp is around 50F and the RH is around 85%. Matter-of-fact, I need to put a sensor in there with it to monitor it more closely.

I was thinking about the idea of the 12 month affinage and recalling the wonderful texture and flavor I got when I cut one of these hard cheeses earlier than that...like 6 months. I may just stick with that. I don't want this to be a hard & dry cheese. I want a nice sliceable cheese. I made one that did go out to 12 months and I really wasn't happy with the result. I realize my technique may have been at fault with the hard & dry cheese, but going out that long does press the odds. Whether a cheese is sealed (wax, cream coat, or vacuum) or natural will also affect whether the paste dries excessively also. My #4 was cream-coated which helped it to retain wonderful moisture to the paste while still allowing pretty much a natural rind since it was able to breathe a bit. Nice. :) Can you tell I'm hooked on cream coating (for some hard cheeses)? Thanks for the nudge, Herman.

With that in mind, I will probably open my Beaufort #5 in another month. That will be the sixth month.

-Boofer-
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Offline Tiarella

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2013, 04:08:30 PM »
You're welcome, Jim! It all sounds good although I think scented, or infused at least, oils have a place in cheese care.  I'm really enjoying the Caerphilly that got rubbed with Meyer lemon infused olive oil.  It's very yummy.  This scented massage oil joke is giving me some ideas now.  maybe my next olive oil rub will get some essential oil added.  (edible and food grade of course)

Offline Boofer

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #13 on: February 19, 2013, 01:04:08 AM »
I'm really enjoying the Caerphilly that got rubbed with Meyer lemon infused olive oil.  It's very yummy.
I like that idea. Not too strong, huh?

-Boofer-
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Offline Tiarella

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Re: Boofer's Beautiful (but humble) Birthday Beaufort #6
« Reply #14 on: February 19, 2013, 01:09:04 AM »
No, it's quite subtle and lovely.  Hey, check out the new snapshot thread in the lounge.