Author Topic: Can I make Feta?  (Read 5728 times)

Slemps

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Can I make Feta?
« on: July 25, 2013, 08:47:11 AM »
I think I may have been a bit hasty ordering some ingredients for Feta.

I'm in the UK and it seems a bit more tricky to get hold of the common ingredients mentioned in this brine aged section.

I have the following on its way:

OV100 DVI Culture
Calcium Chloride
Animal rennet

Can I make feta from these ingredients? The recipe I have in my book (Artisan Cheese Making at Home) asks for

Mild Lipase powder
Aroma B meso starter
Calcium Chloride
Rennet

I couldn't find any lipase or aroma b or MA4001 as mentioned in some topics here.

What do you think? I'm a bit confused as you can see!

Sam.

Offline Gürkan Yeniçeri

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2013, 09:55:34 AM »
Of course you can.

Use a liter of goat milk for lipase in your cow's milk. I usually do 6 litre cow's and 2 litres of goat's.

And your starter says

Quote
OV100 DVI Culture

Each sachet inoculates up to 400 litres of fresh milk, essentially for the manufacture of soft cheeses. They are particularly suited to the production of Brie, Camembert, Feta etc.

So you are good to go.


Slemps

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2013, 10:07:14 AM »
That's great thanks Gürkan.

That was the reason i bought the starter but I like a quite acidic Feta so wasn't sure about the lipase bit.

I will use the cow/goat proportions you suggest. Appreciated.

Sam.

Offline Gürkan Yeniçeri

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2013, 10:21:28 AM »
Oh also the brine for feta is important.

Do you have a recipe for the brine?

Use whey and 1/4 cup vinegar per liter of whey and about 10% salt is what I use.

If you have a pH meter, adjust the pH of brine to your cheese.

Slemps

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2013, 08:35:18 AM »
I hadn't looked for one yet but thanks I will try that.

I don't have a ph meter yet. I was planning to get one if my cheese making exploits take off.

When you say 10% salt, I presume you mean 10% salt solution? I normally use an 80% for my salmon so by my calculations I should need about 33g of salt per liter of whey.

Offline Gürkan Yeniçeri

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2013, 12:55:35 PM »
Sorry for the late reply.

10% salt is the ratio of salt in relation to water. We assume 1 litre of water is 1Kg and 1000 grams in weight. 100g salt for 1Kg of water is 10% salt solution.

Slemps

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2013, 06:14:56 PM »
Hi Gürkan,

Are you sure that's right? That would mean that 100% would be 1kg salt, 1kg water. In fact, you wouldn't be able to dissolve that much salt in that much water.

When smoking I use an 80% brine which is 266g per kg water. 100% would mean the solution is saturated and no more salt would dissolve. That would be about 330g.

By those numbers, you'd never be able to have a brine above 33% on your scale?

Sorry to double check but I don't want to break my cheese  :)

Sam.

JeffHamm

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2013, 12:01:29 AM »
100% would mean all salt, no water!

80% saturation means "80% of the way to complete saturation", which is around 80% of the way to a 26% solution (you can dissolve about 26g of salt in 74g of water, to make 100g of solution, 26g of which is salt, so 26%).  I've forgotten the exact maximum, but it is mid-20s, and it is also temperature dependent (more salt in hotter water).

Note, your 266g salt in 1000g water (1 liter), gives you 1266g of solution, 266g of which is salt, for about 21% solution.  With saturation of salt to water being about 26%, 21/26 is about 80% (80.8%), so you are about 80% saturation.

- Jeff

Slemps

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2013, 07:53:05 AM »
Ah, thanks Jeff! That makes sense!

So in fact, in Gürkan's example of 100g salt to 1000g water, you're actually getting a 9.09% solution because the total solution is 1100g (100/1100=9.09)?

For my 10% brine I should be dissolving 100g salt in 900g water?

jwalker

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2013, 12:23:06 PM »
Quote
100% would mean all salt, no water!

Or , it could mean 100% saturated !

I think Gurkans recipe is close enough for a brine.
One method is percentage by weight , the other is percentage by saturation.

For the saturation method , Technically , you would have to start with a saturated solution (which is considered 100% saturated) and adjust from there:

You want to heat up your water substantially above room temperature, but it's not necessary to boil it. After the water is fairly hot, turn off the fire and start adding salt with a teaspoon. Stir the water with a wooden spoon as you sprinkle in the salt. Keep on observing the water as you stir. When the water approaches 100% saturation, the salt crystals will no longer dissolve in the water and you'll see the crystals swirling around in the water. Let it sit for a few seconds and then check to see if the crystal can still be seen. If they have dissolved, then add a bit more salt until they remain as un dissolved crystals sitting at the bottom of the pan. Now the solution is 100% saturated and can't dissolve any more salt crystals.

If you measure out exactly one cup of the 100% master salt solution and add exactly one cup of distilled water to it, you now have a 50% solution of salt water. By adding the same amount of plain water to the 100% master salt solution, you have cut its concentration in half (1/2 = 0.5 = 50%). If you take 1/4 cup of the master salt solution and add 3/4 cup of distilled water to it, you now have a 25% salt water solution (1/4 =0.25 = 25%).

 Using a base of "100", it's relatively easy to measure out the exact percentage of salt water concentration that you want.
« Last Edit: July 29, 2013, 12:35:20 PM by jwalker »

Slemps

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #10 on: July 29, 2013, 01:46:32 PM »
That's a nice method jwalker.

I've always used the percentage by saturation in the past.

I managed to find a brine table for brine strengths using both methods. The version I found was US gallons and pounds.

The attached file has the US gallon and pound table, I also converted it to grams and litres and added a calculator to tell you how much salt to add to make your desired brine strength (all figures are for brine at a temperature of 15C (60F).

Take a look and let me know what you think.
Sam.

bobbymac29649

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #11 on: July 29, 2013, 03:04:00 PM »
I've always used yogurt as my starter when making Feta.  The first time I made it I used David Fankhauser's recipe. 
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Feta.htm

Plus, I figured the Greeks  more than likely had yogurt on hand to use as a starter.

Use your whey to make the brine.  I've had problems with the cheese melting when I don't use whey even if I've added Calcium Chloride.

It tastes terribly salty at first but mellows with time.  I had some in the back of the fridge that no one  would eat because it was too salty.  I wouldn't throw it out and just kept it in there.  2 1/2 years later it was amazing. 

JeffHamm

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #12 on: July 29, 2013, 06:43:15 PM »
Hi jwalker,

Yes, 100% could mean 100% saturation as well, which would be the 26% concentration solution.  I've got a section in the cheesetools.xls work book found here (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,8828.0.html) that allows you to enter values to calculate end saturation levels, or, conversely, to calculate how much salt is required to produce a desired concentation (where 26.47% is maximum concentration).  I haven't set it to "warn" you that a result would be beyond the maximum concentration though.  Your dilution method is a nice simple one too. 

- Jeff

Offline MacGruff

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #13 on: August 01, 2013, 12:24:14 AM »
It tastes terribly salty at first but mellows with time.  I had some in the back of the fridge that no one  would eat because it was too salty.  I wouldn't throw it out and just kept it in there.  2 1/2 years later it was amazing.

TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATER???????

Am I hallucinating? I would have thought it wouldn't last that long. Certainly, no cheese - of any kind - lasts that long in my house!!!

 >:D >:D >:D

bobbymac29649

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Re: Can I make Feta?
« Reply #14 on: August 01, 2013, 04:59:22 AM »
Yes, 2 1/2 years later!  I made it in the fall of 2010.  It got put in the back of the fridge and every time we'd clean out the fridge I'd want to hold onto it because "someone might eat it".  I finally decided to toss it but thought I'd give it a taste.   It was gone in no time.