Author Topic: Brew-Curds Cheddar  (Read 3328 times)

tnbquilt

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Brew-Curds Cheddar
« on: March 16, 2013, 04:46:05 PM »
Today I am making Brew-Curd Cheddar from Mary Karlin's book. It's cheddar cheese, but when you cube it up to salt it, you put it in a bowl and pour a beer over it and let it sit for 45 minutes, and then you salt it and press it. It also has a 1 hour cheddar time instead of a 2 hour cheddar time so that the cheddar flavor will be milder, so the beer flavor should be detectable. I hope it compliments the cheese well.

I am making a 4 gallon batch and I am going to split into 2 2lb cheeses. I am going to soak one in Lazy Magnolia's Southern Pecan nut brown ale, and the other one I am going to soak in Strawn Brewing Company's Amber Ale. Strawn is owned by some friends of mine. If it comes out well I will make some for them to have at their brewery tours and tastings that they have on Saturdays.

susanky

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Re: Brew-Curds Cheddar
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2013, 02:12:57 AM »
I've never heard of such a cheese!  Sounds very interesting... and delectable if it turns out.  Let us know how it goes!
Susan

tnbquilt

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Re: Brew-Curds Cheddar
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2013, 12:45:59 PM »
The recipe for this cheese was a bit different from my regular cheddar recipe. I should have used my cheddar recipe and soaked it in the beer, but I didn't, I used the one out of the book.

The big difference is the cooking time. Once the curd and whey reaches 102deg this recipe says to let sit undisturbed for 30 minutes. My cheddar recipe says to stir for 30 minutes and then let sit for 20 minutes.

I'm afraid this one is under cooked. I drained the curd when it said to, and the ph was 6.62. I think that's way high. While I was cheddaring it, the slab of curd was very soft, and it kept expelling a lot of whey. In my recipe the whey is expelled from the curd during the cooking period, but obviously not in this one. Every time I flipped the slab I had to drain off a lot of whey, and the be careful not to break the slab because it was so soft. I cheddared it for 2 hours instead of 1 like the recipe says because the curd did not have that cooked chicken texture that I am used to, but in the end it was still softer than usual.

I hope that the cheese is good, but I have a feeling that the ph level is too high. I didn't take the ph after I cheddared it, I was done with cheese making for the day at that point. I did take the ph level this morning, when I took them out of the press. One is 6.84 and the other one was 7.25. I don't think that taking the ph level after soaking it in beer is reliable. I soaked them in two different beers.

Only time will tell. That's the other thing in the recipe that is odd. It says it's good in 4 to 6 weeks. I don't understand cheddar being good that quick.

tnbquilt

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Re: Brew-Curds Cheddar
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2013, 01:32:44 PM »
Here is the pictures right out of the press. You can see the brown color of the beer around the curds. They look good. The one with the wrench beside it is the one that I soaked in Strawn Amber. The wrench is their bottle opener logo. I want to remember which cheese is which so I guess I'll have to put the wrench in the cave too.

Offline Boofer

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Re: Brew-Curds Cheddar
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2013, 03:12:00 PM »
Looking good, Tammy. Thank goodness you didn't have to embed the wrench in the cheese to remember it. :o

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

Offline Tiarella

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Re: Brew-Curds Cheddar
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2013, 08:00:59 PM »
Looking good, Tammy. Thank goodness you didn't have to embed the wrench in the cheese to remember it. :o

-Boofer-

Hmmm, sounds like a potential marketing gimmick for cheese.  Kind of like a Cracker Jacks prize you could advertise, "Find a Tool in every wheel!  Eat lots of cheese until you collect them all and have a full set of hand tools!!!".  I'm thinking no power tools at this time.....those batteries or cords don't do so well.  Large tools like joiners, planers and table saws are right out too!!   ;D

bbracken677

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Re: Brew-Curds Cheddar
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2013, 08:53:24 PM »
.....those batteries or cords don't do so well.

I bought a pack of batteries and then noticed the small print:

"Batteries not included"

tnbquilt

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Re: Brew-Curds Cheddar
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2013, 11:11:29 PM »
I'm afraid that the cheese is trash. Sitting on the counter to dry, it got shorter and wider at the bottom. Sure sign of high ph level, can't even hold it's shape. High PH, low acid development, under cooked, curd too soft, all the same thing.

It's funny that I have a good cheddar recipe, but I still thought that I would follow the recipe out of the book to make this cheese even though I thought that the 30 minute cook time was too short, I still tried it anyway. I thought that the recipe might be different because of the addition of the beer.

I've never seen such a soft cheddar cheese. It can't even support it's own weight.

Offline Boofer

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Re: Brew-Curds Cheddar
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2013, 01:28:33 PM »
Hey, Tammy, how about a picture for the family scrapbook? ;)

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