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, 2013initial 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.
-Boofer-