Hi,
Well, I've been watching so many wonderful blues being made I just had to try again. I've more or less followed Pav's make, but I added a bit of weight during the draining phase (5 kg) as H-J-K does. I didn't have time to give it the full 8 hours drain (kids to tend to, etc), but 6.5 hours with the weight I'm hoping will be enough. I should have started the make a bit earlier, but I mistimed things.
Anyway, I harvested some mould from Mainland Blue Vein (Mainland is a big company here in NZ, but their blue vein cheese is quite good, a bit on the mild side, but that makes it enjoyable for Genesta, who is only 6 but who has a wonderfully diverse palette). I'm hoping the resulting blue will likewise be acceptable.
The curds look good. As long as they hold together when they come out of the mould for smoothing, all should be good. I'm thinking I might put 2.5 kg on top for a day, just to simulate the sort of weight a full sized stilton would produce on the curds. Perhaps tomorrow I'll do that.
Anyway, will update as things progress. Oh, and this is my 70th cheese.
- Jeff
Stilton Approximation modified a bit from Pav (Linuxboy)’s make (Sunday, Nov 10, 2013)
11 L Milk, Budget standard 3.3 g fat/100 ml ; 3.2 g prot/100 ml
300 ml cream (37.0 g f/100 ; 2.2 g prot/100 ml) (total p:f ratio – 0.76:1)
Mold from Mainland Blue Vein cheese. (1/8th tsp scrapings maybe?)
6 ml Renco rennet
1 ice cubes Buttermilk
1 ice cube MW3
½ tsp 50% CaCl (put in milk before starting)
5.3 – 5.5 tsp Salt. Use around 2 tsp salt per gallon of milk (I used 5 tsp this make)
1 cup Distilled ice cold water, for diluting rennet.
Process
1) heat milk to 30 C with 2 ice cubes from start
2) add mould
3) Ripen 60-90 minutes until pH is 6.45 (time 8:40 –98:14 temp 29.9 – 30.4 C)
4) Add rennet (diluted in water) (time 8:14:00 floc time 9:31:30 17:30 4x = 70m 00 sec cut time 10:24)
5) Cut curd into 2.54 cm pieces heal 5-10 minutes (10:24-10:30 cut, 10:30-10:40 rest C; 29.5 C)
6) Stir 30 minutes to prevent matting (10:40 - 11:10 temp 31.3 – ??.? C;)
7) then stir intermittently for 30 minutes more (11:10 –11:40 temp ??.? – 29.7 C)
8) drain whey, cover, leave 8 hours or overnight (increase acidity) (left in lined colander on top of a pot, and placed 5 kg weight on top – wasn’t going to have 8 hours, closer to 6)
9) mill curds into smaller pieces (6:00 pm; a bit short on time; milled to thumbnail sized)
10) salt at 0.5 tsp/l
11) pack curds into mould (do not press)
12) turn mould every 15 minutes for 4 flips (flipped at 6:20, 6:35, 6:50, 7:05 pm)
13) flip mould every 30 minutes for 4 flips (flipped at 7:35, 8:05, 8:35, ?:??) (missed the 4th flip)
14) flip mould every hour 2-4 times (flipped at 6:00 am, ??:??, ?:??, ??:??)
15) Leave in the mould for 4 days to continue draining, flip 1-2 times a day (room temp) (Tuesday, day 2 in the mould, added 2.5 kg weight to emulate weight of full sized cheese. Can only do this when the open side is up; Wednesday, flipped cheese in mould, and put 2.5 kg weight on to press).
16) Remove from mould (may show some blue) and smooth (Did this Friday evening. Lots of blue. Weight 1402 g).
17) Place in cave and age 7-10 days
18) Pierce all over, vertical and horizontally (Pierced Nov 27, 2013; 1294g - rings top/bottom and 5 spot pattern on sides; very creamy)
19) Pierce after 3-4 weeks (Pierced ??, 2013; )
20) Pierce again at 4-6 weeks
21) Age minimum 60 days