Author Topic: My first all P/H make  (Read 3298 times)

Spellogue

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My first all P/H make
« on: March 02, 2014, 09:38:59 PM »

To date I've made all of my cheeses with raw goat milk.  I've stretched my late season raw goat milk with store bought pasteurized/homogenized cow's milk for blended milk cheeses in a few makes in the past, but never much more than 1/3 P/H.

My goats haven't freshened yet and, with a late winter cheesemaking bug, I decided to go with an all P/H cow's milk make.  Too lazy/busy to source some local black market raw cow's milk, and too cheap to spring for commercial cream-line, I brought home some dated, low-end drugstore brand milk.  I figured if it goes pear-shaped on me I'm only out $4.

I started on a rendition of  chaource Friday night.  So far I'm happy with the results. 

I used 3/16 tsp CaCl, which I've never done with my raw.  Anticipating a sloppy mess of curd I predrained most of the curd in cheesecloth for an hour before transferring to two 3-1/4 inch tube molds.  I also filled two small pyramid molds with curd that I didn't predrain. The yield was better than I'd expected.  The curd was tender, but didn't shatter.  The whey wasn't milky at all.  Predraining probably wasn't necessary.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and I have several weeks and stages to go before I can claim success, but with a good starting trajectory this make is showing promise.  My biggest challenge now will be to get these babies to bloom.  The PC I used is over 2years old.  I have some Fresh SAM to mist them if I don't see any velvet forming within a week.

Just thought I'd make this post to share my infantile positive results with cheapie P/H milk.  Having come into it with low expectations I can say I'm quite pleased so far. I'm sure I'll use P/H again when trying new cheeses or when I'm in a pinch for raw milk.

jwalker

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Re: My first all P/H make
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2014, 10:03:18 PM »
I'm sure many here would disagree with me , but I feel one can make not only a decent cheese , but a very good cheese with P/H milk.

Sometime one just has to make do with what they can get , and actually it is quite an art to do so , just like some of the cheeses that were originally made with skim milk , after all the good stuff had been made into butter or sold as cream , some very good cheeses came as a result of using what was left available.

As the Italians say "the art of arrangiarsi" or making do with what one has.

I get to Idaho and buy low temp or even raw milk when I can , but in Canada , it's almost impossible to get raw milk , unless you know someone , and the only two batches I ever made from local raw milk that was given to me here , both went bad , I'm guessing they weren't handled properly from the beginning , so sometimes , raw milk can be just a much as a negative as P/H.

The reason this post intrigued me , is because I have had a lot of problems with curd shatter or not coagulating at all with milk that has been over processed , one of the techniques I have developed , is using very hot water added to the milk if the curd doesn't set properly ,after adding hot tap water , it usually sets up right away and sinks like it should , and the whey clears up as well.

Sure it may change the profile of the cheese slightly , but so far it has saved a lot of makes for me and produce some very nice cheeses , especially the washed rind and mold ripened cheeses.

So I would say to anyone who only has access to P/H milk , don't let that deter you , it's just another obstacle you have to learn to work around.

I'm sure yours will turn out good as well. ;D

Another positive: It's really satisfying when one turns out exceptionally well , and you only paid $1.50 per gallon for the milk. :o




Spoons

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Re: My first all P/H make
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2014, 04:02:07 PM »
Another positive: It's really satisfying when one turns out exceptionally well , and you only paid $1.50 per gallon for the milk. :o

That's where you caught my attention. lol.

A 11%-12% yield cheese costs me about $10.50 per pound when I buy unhomogenized heavy cream mixed with 0% milk. I do it this way exclusively, but I'd like to try and see if there's a cheese on my regular roster that would still be very good with P/H milk so I could reduce my cost from time to time. Maybe a washed curd jack?

jwalker

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Re: My first all P/H make
« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2014, 04:50:31 PM »
Another positive: It's really satisfying when one turns out exceptionally well , and you only paid $1.50 per gallon for the milk. :o


That's where you caught my attention. lol.

A 11%-12% yield cheese costs me about $10.50 per pound when I buy unhomogenized heavy cream mixed with 0% milk. I do it this way exclusively, but I'd like to try and see if there's a cheese on my regular roster that would still be very good with P/H milk so I could reduce my cost from time to time. Maybe a washed curd jack?



This MAKE here is a real good one in my experience , it calls for "rice sized curds" , which is about all I end up with when using local P/H milk.

Spellogue

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Re: My first all P/H make
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2014, 07:43:08 AM »
Glad to know you've seen good results in these firmer alpine style cheeses using P/H milk.  I'll likely try one this upcoming season.  I can see myself blending raw and P/H for these larger makes as well. 

The chaource is progressing on schedule.  Now adequately dried I moved them straight into the fridge.   I'm thinking I'll spritz them with PC SAM I'm the a.m. rather than trust that the older PC I used in the vat was viable. 

I recall reading somewhere on the forum that lactic coagulated cheeses were good candidates for using P/H milk.  That's why I decided on a Chaource for my first foray into an all P/H make.  Not to mention that it looked like a relatively simple process, and I just love bloomies.

graysalchemy

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Re: My first all P/H make
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2014, 09:38:37 AM »
I use normal supermarket P/H milk as that is all we can get really here in the UK.

I manage to make cheese with it, it tastes fine but then I am a beginner and anything I make myself is going to taste great IMHO  ;) ;)

John@PC

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Re: My first all P/H make
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2014, 11:37:30 PM »
Here's a thumbnail of my experience after (closing in on) 100 cheeses of many types.  I used regular P/H milk pretty much for the first year with good results.  I then started using a low-temp pasteurized / non- homogenized milk (LTP/NH?) for a period with very good results.  When a source of raw milk became available I used it for several makes but was not real happy with the results.  Now I use the LTP/NH milk (only $1 more than P/H) because it gives consistent results and firmer curds.  That said I wouldn't hesitate going back to Pet milk when it goes on sale here for $2.39/ gal.  Just avoid ulta-pasturized ANYTHING like the plague!

Spellogue

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Re: My first all P/H make
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2014, 04:58:08 PM »
They've finally started to bloom. A full three weeks into the aging but they're getting velvety now.  My temp and especially my humidity were a bit low,  but they are coming along,  at least i dont think I'll have to worry about a slipskin at this rate.  Given my unscientific and half-panicked method, I can't be certain if the PC ABL I used in the vat is viable, since I also spritzed with PC SAM. 

Yes, they are a bit craggy, I suspect that was from the unnecessary predraining step.  I probably should have gone straight to the molds.  I took two quick photos after petting them.