My recipe, the short version
4 gallons of raw milk
heat 88d
2 pkts of C101 Meso culture, the one from Rickki Carrol, it was what I had that day
ripen 45 minutes
1 tablet vege rennett wait 45 min (the floc time was 12 minutes so that was a multiplier of 3.75.)
cut 1/2" cubes, heal 5 min
Heat to 102d over 35 minutes (I actually reached 105 and had to take the liner out of the roaster and spray it with cold water to get it back down to 102. It took me about 5 minutes)
cook 30 min, stirring, let sit 20 min
drain PH level 6.23
I cheddared it by putting it in the colander and setting the colander in the electric roaster. I flipped the whole curd every 15 minutes for 2 hours PH 5.45. I did not cut the curd into strips, and left it in the colander the whole time. This seemed to make the curd softer than the way I was doing it.
Milled to 1/2" pieces
salted with 2 tbs salt, toss, wait 5 minutes
add 2 tbs of salt, toss, wait 5 minutes
I pressed in (2) molds that were 4-1/2" round. I did 10lb for 15 min, 40 lb for 1 hour and 50lb for 12 hours.
I used the press in the pot method for the 15 minute and 1 hour press. I did not press under whey, I just put a little 115 degree water in the bottom of the pot, and I set my mold on something to hold it up off of the bottom so the water didn't touch the cheese. I wrapped a towel around the top. Sailor shared this method, and I love it. It doesn't even take much water, about 2 cups. I never pressed a cheddar right until I saw Boofer doing this, and he said that Sailor had posted it first.
The ph when I took it out of the press was 5.00
I love good notes!