Author Topic: Failures I have known  (Read 39546 times)

reg

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #105 on: June 15, 2016, 12:04:01 PM »
Boofer, looking forward to seeing and hearing more about this cheese.

Offline Tiarella

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #106 on: June 15, 2016, 03:19:28 PM »
Oh Kathrin, I've missed you!  :(

I'm sorry for your Lyme trouble, but looking forward to more delightful postings from you.

I've laid off posting the past year and just tried to keep my hand in now and then. Still working to improve my interpretation of some favored cheese styles. Practice, practice, practice.... ;)

I'm looking forward to opening a Pont l'Eveque this Friday. Beyond that is yet another trial in the mix.

-Boofer-


I think I visited the forum at some point and looked for you and saw you were on hiatus and immediately left because it wasn't the same without you!!   ;D  I'm glad you'll be doing some cheese-making at least. Send me a message if you want to catch me up on life.  I think when I have milk to spare I'll start with soft white rind cheeses including some more shiitake Brie.  I'd like to get capable of nailing that every time I try it.  Not sure it's a possible goal but I'm going for it until it's no fun.  -Kathrin

Duntov

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #107 on: July 09, 2016, 01:30:43 AM »
This a is 2fer report.  First was my first Camembert with store bought P/H milk.  I didn't read the part about moving to a cooler fridge after the white mold was developed.  It over-ripened and tasted bitter with a smell of ammonia.  I have since done another with fresh raw milk and got it into a cooler fridge for aging.  It turned out great.

My second failure was a 4 gallon Stilton type blue cheese.  I had multiple problems including too much condensation in the cave that kept the rind wet for weeks.  I also am embarrassed to say that I left it out of the cave overnight in a 90 F plus garage.  The once beutiful rind turned dark brown and the internal blue mold ceased developing and turned a grey/tan color.  The taste was bitter followed by a chalky dryness.  I am now in progress with two more batches.  One with PH milk and one with full cream raw milk.



« Last Edit: July 09, 2016, 10:21:39 PM by Duntov »

Offline Boofer

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #108 on: July 09, 2016, 07:04:38 PM »
Nice pics, John.  :)

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

tashad

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #109 on: January 10, 2017, 04:35:44 AM »
My first attempt at butterkase didn't come out quote right. I knew fairly soon that it was softer than I should be, and it just kept getting softer and softer. At least I can say that it's uniformly ripened all the way through, lol. It's very bland. I cut into it a couple of weeks ago, and at the time it was so bland that I was calling it my "nothing cheese", it has a bit more flavor now. The rind is more flavorful, but it's developed some mold and I don't know how to wash it off now that the cheese is open and oozing. The pics don't really show the ooze because I tidied it a bit before I took them. My mom and her friends have a lot of faith in me. In spite of the fact that this is all wrong, and they've never heard of reblochon, they ate both with no hesitation. :) One thing I can say about this cheese, it sure is smooth and glossy!

Offline Danbo

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #110 on: January 10, 2017, 06:08:54 AM »
That's a soft buttercheese... ;-)

Kaesfrau

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #111 on: January 11, 2017, 01:16:01 PM »
Boofer,
Thanks for sharing, some made me laugh out loud-  as I've done something similar.  I will have to dig out my first pictures of an attempt at muenster like cheese that we dubbed the big blue monster.

The other thing i Will share, after spending time making cheese in my kitchen, I've move to a small vat (75 gal) and "forgot" where the drain was when wheying off.  I did think about something warm on my pantleg until my boot was filled with whey.  :o

Everyone here has been great about the learning process.
Kaesfrau

Offline Lancer99

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #112 on: April 30, 2020, 08:43:10 PM »
Here's one for ya, Boofer.

I'm calling it MSD (Massive Stilton Disaster), my worst failure yet.

I followed the recipe in Ms. Karlin’s book (not that I am in any way blaming her), and things went okay. I overcooked the curds, and had to press them @ 10 lbs. overnight, whereas the recipe doesn’t call for any pressing.

Clue #1: It didn’t look right. That didn’t especially bother me — some of my cheeses don’t look like they do in the photos, but turn out fine.



Clue #2: It STANK. I hadn’t noticed this when it was in my “cheese vault,” but it definitely did not smell good.

Clue #3: When I went to brush it, a piece broke off, and inside was what?



Cut it open:





Not sure what that is. Possibly cheese mites? I have quite a heavy infestation of them.



But, you ask, how did it taste?

. . . are you kidding?  Straight into the trash, then my knife, cutting board and hands carefully washed  :)

They can't all be winners!

-L

Offline Andrew Marshallsay

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #113 on: May 01, 2020, 10:16:26 AM »
Quite spectacular, Lancer.
I take it that you don't subscribe to the theory that the uglier a cheese looks, the better it's going to taste.
- Andrew

Offline MacGruff

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #114 on: May 01, 2020, 11:34:14 AM »
Wow, Lancer, that is quite a ... umm ... cheese?

You call it a Stilton, yet I do not see any streaks of blue? Those orange portions, not eaten by the mites, look pretty good to me though!

Offline Mornduk

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #115 on: December 23, 2020, 06:27:25 PM »
This is not quite spectacular, but was a good humbling exercise (and the only failure I have pictures about).

A few months ago I opened a gallon mason jar of raw milk and found some dirt caught up in the lid. I knew the milk was most probably damned, because I always shake it vigorously before opening to get that Jersey fat back into the milk. But somehow, maybe because at that point it had been a long time since I had lost a cheese to contamination, I wasn't too concerned. I filtered the milk twice through sanitized muslin cloth, then pasteurized it at 150F for 30 mins, mixed it with the rest of the milk and continued my cheesemaking... renetted, cut, cooked, pressed, brined, air dried, and got it to the cave.

Next time I opened the cave I could see small bubbles had popped out and completely covered the outside rind (you can see them if you zoom in the image). I had to take a picture to remind me next time confidence tried to override common sense.




not_ally

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #116 on: December 24, 2020, 04:53:18 AM »
Ooh, scary.  I was grossed out when I posted one like that and Bantams told me it was coliform.  So far, apart from that one, I've only had one that *looks* terrible, which is the fun part of this thread.  My poor scalded-frozen cams.  They looked fine on the outside (although hard as a rock) but pretty awful on the inside once I'd hacked them open a month later. I wish I'd taken a picture of their grizzled little innards.

Offline Lancer99

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Re: Failures I have known
« Reply #117 on: January 17, 2021, 11:27:57 PM »
This is the third Parmesan I made, now just past its one-year anniversary.  The second one was also a disaster.  I've made a couple of Romanos that were fine, and my first Parmesan was fine too.  Grrr.

Red on the outside is not good:


Nor on the inside:




But, you ask, how did it taste?  Gingerly I ate a bit of the non-red part, so horrible I spat it out, the rest quickly binned.

They can't all be successes!

-L
« Last Edit: January 17, 2021, 11:39:15 PM by Lancer99 »