Author Topic: short acidification time before renneting cheddar - result?  (Read 1340 times)

serano

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short acidification time before renneting cheddar - result?
« on: January 10, 2014, 03:06:11 AM »
Hi all,

long time browser here, but first post so be gentle.

I had a special moment when making a farmhouse style cheddar (only my 2nd cheese make).

I managed to "ignore" the instructions to wait 45 minutes after adding culture before adding rennet. 

My cheese had only had 15 minutes of "rehydration time" using M100 before a stir through of the culture then rennet was added.

I waited an hour and still didn't have a clean break, it was close but not quite there.  Cut curds regardless and was very cautious stirring while heating.

Pressed per recommended specs. Final knit seemed fine but the cheese was very soft and moister than expected.  During drying house temp hit 35C (humidty 10% approx) and when i got home the cheese had a small crack that was leaking whey.

It has been drying in the cheese cave @ 15C for 3 days now and is looking good.  Crack was stoppered with butter.

What can i expect this cheese to turn out like?  Assuming a 2 month aging time?

List of mistakes:

Minimal acidification time
Long  time before cutting
extreme temp and low humidity during day 1 drying
cracked shell
now drying at lower than room temp

Spoons

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Re: short acidification time before renneting cheddar - result?
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2014, 03:50:50 AM »
Hi Serano!
Welcome to cheese making! don't worry about mistakes, it's part of the game.

15 minutes for rehydration is a bit long. If you managed to stir and wait 5 minutes before adding rennet, then you might be ok. Some recipes (such as Caldwell's) only require 5 minutes of ripening. I`m not sure you`ll get proper acidification though. Only time will tell.

Long time before cutting happens. It just means you may need to adjust your rennet quantity as rennet looses potency after a while (especially liquid rennet). Check out the forum for something called "flocculation Method". It takes the guessing out of proper coagulation time.

Air drying at 35C and 10%RH is really not optimal. In reality you should be closer to 12-16C with 70-80%RH with some air exchange but no air current (wind). Most Home-Recipe books will suggest air drying at room temp for convenience as 12-16C is hard to achieve at home. Your low RH% explains the crack that appeared after 1 day of drying; the rind dried much quicker than the paste. By putting it in your cave, you probably saved it! Nice one  ;) just keep an eye on RH and try to keep it above 60% while air drying.

If you open your cheese at 2 months, you be disappointed. 2 months is a bit young for a cheddar as it`s still under developed.

This is all I`ve got. Maybe someone more experienced has more in depth insights. Hope it helps though.


serano

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Re: short acidification time before renneting cheddar - result?
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2014, 04:02:11 AM »
Thanks for the welcome spoons.

The info regarding drying air drying is great.  I just assumed that room temp (20-25C approx per most book recipes) was required for proper drying before aging.  Everything from now on will dry in the wine fridge at the right temp and humidity.

I actually was using the flocc method for this cheese, but after 30 minutes my bowl was still free floating.  I gave up on the flocc at this point, removed the bowl and was so close to tossing the batch.  Thankfully a last minute decision may have kept me in a cheese.

This recipe had no cheddaring process and suggests an early opening time?  Basic process was heat curds to 38C over 30 mins, drain in cheesecloth for an hour, mill to walnut size , press.

I'm not sure if the lack of cheddaring (and so an increase in whey content?) means i can open earlier?

Spoons

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Re: short acidification time before renneting cheddar - result?
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2014, 04:16:37 AM »
Basic process was heat curds to 38C over 30 mins, drain in cheesecloth for an hour, mill to walnut size , press.

Was there a step in the recipe that tells you to keep the curds under whey for 30-45 minutes (stirring constantly, or occasionally) after the '38C over 30Mins' step? If not, then I fear the curds weren`t properly cooked. One very important step in cheese making is the ability to assess the texture of the curd. This is one that I`m only starting to grasp. Different types of cheese require different texture to acertain if the cooking is done. If a curd is under cooked, the cheese will expel a lot of whey and make a dryer cheese.

serano

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Re: short acidification time before renneting cheddar - result?
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2014, 07:32:34 AM »
yup, i needed to heat to 38C over 30 minutes constantly stirring, then 5 minutes with no stirring.

To be honest, if anything im expecting an overly moist cheese rather than a dry one :S