Colby/Jack

[jack]

I made this cheese yesterday using Caldwell's cool-water washed curd recipe. I used 2 gals., raw, morning milk and followed her instructions. It went well and hit the PH targets she gives. Should be a good cheese and I am looking forward to giving it a try in a couple of months. Jack

[JimSteel]

Nice job Jack.  Your cheese looks great.  Is your mould shaped that way, or did the strange shape just happen during pressing?  How are you planning to age it?

Welcome to the forum!

[Spoons]

Nice jack, Jack! and welcome to the boards.

Nice job Jack.  Your cheese looks great.  Is your mould shaped that way, or did the strange shape just happen during pressing? 

That looks like a gouda, maybe even a Kadova mould that wasnt filled enough. I`d say its probably the 1.5-2kg mould with 1kg worth of curd. Taking a guess here (high five if I'm right?) 

[jack]

Thanks guys. It is a Kadova mold, the cheese weighed 1lb 12oz after pressing. I vacuum bagged it and put it in the fridge/cave for a couple of months. This is my first time using the vacuum bag so we will see how that goes.

[JimSteel]

Be careful with those, I've had mixed results.  You might want to take it out and let it get some air every once in a while to prevent whey build up.  With a cheese that young, I would think it's inevitable, but maybe you'll have better luck than me.

[jwalker]

Looks good so far , I just made one of those myself , same recipe , 4 gallon make though , just coated it today.

I usually let mine air dry at room temp for a few days before coating/waxing.

Like Jim says , keep an eye on it , I too have had no luck with vacuum bagging , too wet , it's coating and/or waxing for me from now on.

Cheese on !

[Spoons]

I've had problems with weeping cheese in vac sealed bags as well. I still vac seal today, but I've had zero weeping problems since I made changes on my last 6 cheeses. My new process is:

1. I air-dry at near-cave temp (14-15C) with 75-85%RH. Usually 3-7 days. Until rind is relatively dry, but not "sandpaper" dry.
2. I then move the cheese to the cheese cave and cream wax 3 coatings. This process takes 6 days. Temp at this point 10C-12C with 70-80%RH
3. I let it age 1 to 3 weeks with only cream wax on. 10C-12C with 70-80%RH.
4. I bag it before I get too much of a rind. When I bag it and press the "vac+Seal", I interrupt it by prematurely pressing "seal" so the vac doesn't over-do it. 10C-12C, RH irrelevant.

No weeping since. I recently opened my first cheese using this process. It had no rind on it! It was a pepper jack cheese that has since mysteriously disappeared form the fridge 

 

[cowboycheese]

After making this a few times using the same recipe I've decided I'm going to wax or bag this after it is dried off. I'm only going to be aging for about 5 weeks max as aging beyond a month only dries it out with no flavor change (if not bagged or waxed). I've tried coating and letting it sit till "aged" and bagging. I'd rather have to not cut off the dried rind and waste the paste. All the people that like the mild longhorn flavor liked this recipe. Very popular.