I plan on making another caerphilly next week both to have something to eat relatively quickly and to practice techniques and improve this particular cheese. I'm going to try a cheddared make this time with this recipe that I stole from Jeff Hamm. Sounds like he had pretty good results. Only real mod I'll make is the starter since I don't make cultured starters. The information I'm really looking for is recommended pH targets for this make to turn out a somewhat creamier result than my last one which was a little chalkier than I thought it should have been. Thoughts on the effects of moving the targets slightly either way would be appreciated as well since I'm really trying to wrap my head around this whole cheese making thing. I also want an excuse to play with my new extech 110 pH meter. Recipe is:
11L Home Brand Standard milk
½ tsp 50% CaCl.
Calf rennet to achieve 15 min floc
2.5 tlbs salt (and more for salting during pressing)
1) Warm to 320C, 3 ice cubes mesophillic culture (Flora Dancia) : 11:40 (right on)
2) Ripen 60 min (target time 12:40) Time: 12:40 3) add ½ tsp CaCl in egg cup water
4) Time 12:44:00 Temp 31.0 0C, add rennet (0.66 ml, in water), stir
What pH should I look at here? -.1, -.2?5) Floc time 12:56:30 so 12 min 30 sec, 3x floc so wait 37 min 30 sec (40 min by recipe) Target cut time: 1:21:30
6) 1:21:30 Cut into 6mm cubes. v.good curd
7) Rest 10 minutes to heal (start 1:29-1:39)
Raise temp to 33 over 10 minutes (reached 33 at 1:55, starting temp was 30.0 ish)
9) Stir for 40 min with curds at 330C (Start time: 1:55-2:35; temp continued up to 35.5C)
2:35-2:40 : Pitch and drain after 5 minutes (temp is 34.0? 0C)
Believe this is the next pH target....what pH?10) 2:40 drain in cheese cloth for 5-10 minutes to form curd cake (press lightly if necessary; ie 2 litre milk jug filled with water placed on top of follower on top of cheese cloth “bag” of curds in colander)
11) 3:10 : cut into 1 inch slices, stacked (in the pot; in sink with warm water)
12) Flipped stack every 10 minutes over 30 minutes (so flip at 3:20 and 3:30)
What pH?13) Milled into thumbnail size bits (start ?:??)
14) Added 2.5 tbls of salt
15) Pressing in the pot under 10 kg (4:10-4:20). (10 minutes; warm water in sink; 0.72 PSI)
16) Flip, salt, and re-dress
17) Press in the pot under 15Kg (4:20-4:40) (10 minutes; 1.08 PSI – went 20 minutes)
18) Flip, salt, and re-dress
19) Press in the pot under 25.0 kg (20 min) (?:??-?:?? 1.79 PSI) didn’t record time
20) Flip, salt, and re-dress
21) Press overnight under 35.2 kg. (starting at ?:??pm; 2.53 PSI – 7:13 am) didn’t record start time
Is there a particular pH to stop pressing for a salted cheese like this?thanks in advance for any advice.
Mike