A dry, crumbly Colby

[GlennK]

Well Constance, my first attempt at Colby (Ricki Carroll recipe) is 3 months old today.  She has been in my cheese cave with a humidity of ~75% and a constant 53F.  It did not turn out like a Colby.  It tastes more like a 3 year old cheddar.  It's crumbly, dry, and slightly acidic in taste.  What causes this?

I had the exact same problem with a farmhouse cheddar I tried last year.

So I waxed it back up and put it back in the cave.  I guess I'll see what happens to it in 3 more months. 

[Spoons]

Possibly over-acidified? Final cheese PH shouldn't be bellow 5.2 (cheese surface PH, not whey, according to Peter Dixon's Jack recipe)

[GlennK]

I always wonder about pH also. I need a meter.  In looking over the wiki here I'm thinking one issue may be too much rennet as I used 1/2 a tab of dry vegetable rennnet.

[Matthewcraig]

How long and at what pressure did you press it at and also how long did you leave it to air dry before waxing it?

[cowboycheese]

Check out this thread http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,12382.msg95641.html#msg95641

The Colby style is rather bland, has a high moisture content and doesn't age well. It is best consumed after several weeks of aging. Given that your batch is drier, it may age out better. Give it a try after another three months!

[GlennK]

How long and at what pressure did you press it at and also how long did you leave it to air dry before waxing it?

Ricki's recipe is;
20lbs for 20min
30lbs for 20min
40lbs for 60min
50lbs for12hours

I air-dryed it for 5 days before waxing.  Her recipe says "several days".

[GlennK]

Check out this thread http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,12382.msg95641.html#msg95641

The Colby style is rather bland, has a high moisture content and doesn't age well. It is best consumed after several weeks of aging. Given that your batch is drier, it may age out better. Give it a try after another three months!

She says 2-3 months.  I tasted it at 1 month after I had to cut out a small piece of surface mold and it was dry and crumbly at that point.  Interestingly, it tastes less sour (? acidic) now.  Maybe it will turn into something worth eating?

[Matthewcraig]

Well To me as long as it tastes nice it's a great cheese

[cowboycheese]

Ricky's page has this for aging Colby (after the brine step):
-----
Aging:

The cheese can now be waxed for aging. For details on waxing the details are here.

The cheese can then be placed into your aging space at 52-56F and 80-85% moisture.
The cheese can now be aged for 4-6 weeks and it will ready for your table.
------

Ready to eat after a month or month and 1/2. It doesn't age well beyond a few months.

If you wax it after drying you will limit moisture loss. However, I think the step you may have to perfect is how you apply your tablet rennet to that small recipe. There are many factors to consider though - milk quality, lactation cycle, type/strength of rennet, cultures, etc. Next time you might try and use slightly less of the culture packet (therefore less acid development) and less tablet rennet and use a flocculation multiplier of 3 to cut (use floc timing, not the "sit quiet" method) and maybe cut down on the pressing schedule. I don't have my make notes handy but I do remember hitting my pH marker after about 6 hours of total pressing for all my colby makes.

Good luck - keep good notes and you will perfect this in no time.

[Al Lewis]

If your cheese is waxed the relative humidity in the cave is irrelevant as the air doesn't contact it.  I made two colbys based on the same recipe you used and they both turned out like yours so odds are the recipe is wrong at some point or we both screwed up the same thing. LOL

[GlennK]

If your cheese is waxed the relative humidity in the cave is irrelevant as the air doesn't contact it.  I made two colbys based on the same recipe you used and they both turned out like yours so odds are the recipe is wrong at some point or we both screwed up the same thing. LOL

Bummer.   

[GlennK]

I think the step you may have to perfect is how you apply your tablet rennet to that small recipe... Next time you might try and use slightly less of the culture packet (therefore less acid development) and less tablet rennet and use a flocculation multiplier of 3 to cut (use floc timing, not the "sit quiet" method) and maybe cut down on the pressing schedule.

Good luck - keep good notes and you will perfect this in no time.

I may have to find a different recipe because in her "Cheesemaking Made Easy" she doesn't mention pH.

I found my make notes and I used 1/2 tab of rennet instead of the 1/4 she calls for - mistake number one
I also cooked the cooked the curd in 10 minutes, instead of 30 min.  - mistake number two (I think)

I've been experimenting with a way to cook my curds carefully, but I'm not there yet.

[Spoons]

The recipe I used has not failed me yet. It's a Monterey Jack recipe. Not sure, but I think its the same as colby. The final result is always a great tasting mild and moist cheese with a very flexible yet soft paste as you would expect from a colby or jack cheese.

Here's the overview of the recipe:
Bring to 88F
Add culture (I use MA011) and let ripen 40 minutes
Stir in additives: CaCl2 and Annato
Add coagulant and use x3.5 multiplier floc
cut into 1/2" cubes, rest 5 mins
Bring temp to 102F taking 45 minutes
Settle 15 minutes at 102F
Remove whey down to level of curd
Slowly Add 60F water until 86F. Keep stirring at 86F for 5-10 mins
Drain (PH usually around 6.4 right before drain, and 6.15 right after drain)
weigh the drained curd and add 2.75% salt. Mix well for 3.-5 minutes and let stand 5 minutes
press light at first and eventually raise the pressure to 3-5 PSI after the first hour. I usually press between 9-12 hours for this make (average at 5.3PH).
Airdry at 13C with 80% RH for about 5 days.
Seal and age at 10-12C.
Taste and texture are SUPERB at 7-8 weeks.