Author Topic: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas  (Read 3822 times)

Offline Al Lewis

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4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« on: November 17, 2013, 04:18:02 PM »
Decided it was time to do another Stilton-esque cheese in time for Christmas.  Used my own recipe this time just to see what I could come up with.
4 gallons of whole pasteurized milk
3 pint's of heavy cream
1/8 tsp Choozit MA11
1/8 tsp Flora Danica
1/16 tsp PR-PV
1 tsp. calcium chloride
1 tablet of vegetable rennet
3 tblspn salt

« Last Edit: November 18, 2013, 07:24:18 PM by Al Lewis »
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hoeklijn

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2013, 04:23:53 PM »
Mine is already in the cave for a while, I wanted to have it more matured. Washed the rind in the beginning every second day with a brine.
Pierced it twice and all holes are nicely filled with blue...


Offline Al Lewis

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2013, 04:26:12 PM »
Made sure to rehydrate the PR in some milk for 2 hours before use.  Also noticed something interesting when reviewing the New England Cheesemaker recipe I used in the past, there isn't any mention of CaCl.  Now they use raw milk to do theirs however, it would seem that being a site to instruct newbies they might mention it.  Anyway, I added the cultures and the PR to the milk and brought it up to 86F.  I then let it sit for 1 hour.  I realize everyone wants to know what the acidity, etc was however I just did this on time alone to try and come up with a reasonable blue recipe that was easy for people to make.  If it works then newcomers can use it to their advantage.  There are more than enough complicated makes on this site for Stilton and other blues.
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2013, 04:34:17 PM »
After adding the CaCl I waited 15 minutes and added the rennet.  I allowed the milk to set for 2 hours in order to get firm curd.  I then drained the curd in two colanders with cheese cloth.  These were then tied and hung while the whey drained for a further two hours.  I cut these into approx. 2 inch cubes and placed it into the mold which I flipped every hour for four hours.  It will now be flipped twice a day until it looks firm enough to take out of the mold.  Then it will be smoothed.
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2013, 04:34:48 PM »
Mine is already in the cave for a while, I wanted to have it more matured. Washed the rind in the beginning every second day with a brine.
Pierced it twice and all holes are nicely filled with blue...

Looking great Herman.
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Offline Schnecken Slayer

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2013, 07:22:41 PM »
It looks like you have a very nice knit already Al, If the sides look the same it should make smoothing a breeze.
-Bill
One day I will add something here...

Offline H-K-J

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #6 on: November 18, 2013, 03:59:27 PM »
Looks like a very nice start Al, what size mold are you using now? or maybe you are using the same one as before and I never noticed :-\
I see you used Darigold milk H/P, I have used this 3 times now (a Caerphilly yesterday) I never get a very good break using it and my curd shatters so bad its scary, I had a flock time of 20.5 min.,
longer than any make I had before.
anyway your  knit is lookin real good though 8)
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2013, 07:23:44 PM »
Thanks guys! It's the same mold, just a lot less curd. LOL ;D
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Offline Boofer

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2013, 03:17:02 PM »
Mine is already in the cave for a while, I wanted to have it more matured. Washed the rind in the beginning every second day with a brine.
Pierced it twice and all holes are nicely filled with blue...
Herman, that looks great!

I see you used Darigold milk H/P, I have used this 3 times now (a Caerphilly yesterday) I never get a very good break using it and my curd shatters so bad its scary, I had a flock time of 20.5 min.,
That really is scary. I wonder if anyone has success with P&H milk. My recent Saint Paulin almost didn't come together because of the sawdusty curds. I was so aggravated I almost pitched the lot.

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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #9 on: November 19, 2013, 07:48:08 PM »
Apart from using raw milk this is the best milk I have available right now.
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Offline H-K-J

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #10 on: November 19, 2013, 08:26:05 PM »
I can get raw 40 miles away, $7.+ a gallon or whole pasteurized, $5,75 a gallon or Derigold for half that,
and not working very steady, I wanted to try the least expensive just to see if I could get a decent cheese out of it :-\
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Offline Boofer

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #11 on: November 20, 2013, 02:33:24 PM »
Apart from using raw milk this is the best milk I have available right now.
Is there some reason you don't use the raw milk? I know the price here holds me off.

One of the things you can do is to compromise and add a bit of raw milk in with your P&H milk. The raw milk lends its qualities to the other milk and the result is an improved cheese in the end. I believe Dave Helmers has done this also with good results.

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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #12 on: November 20, 2013, 05:21:35 PM »
If this doesn't work I will go back to the raw milk.  I buy mine from Blackjack Valley Farms.  Great people and a great product. I had great results with it.  It is twice the price however and the point of this experiment is to see if I can make a decent blue with a dead simple recipe and easy to find ingredients. ;D
« Last Edit: November 23, 2013, 05:59:21 PM by Al Lewis »
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #13 on: November 23, 2013, 05:58:04 PM »
Well it's been a week now and things are looking really good.
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Geodyne

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Re: 4 Pound Blue for Christmas
« Reply #14 on: November 23, 2013, 08:32:04 PM »
Oh, now that's looking lovely. I made a stilton approximation yesterday, and I just hope mine turned out as well as that.