Hi,
I was very pleased with how the curd formed up when I made a munster recently. It was much better than the curds I get when making brie and camembert. At the time I remember thinking I should replace the linens with PC and make a white mould version. Well, that day has come. I've made a morge from a small, 110g cam by Ornelle (a NZ cheese company). Anyway, I've increased the fat content, though it seems some of the cream has turned to butter in the bottles (the cream collects to the top and solidifies, so not really butter, but it doesn't come out). I'm waiting for it to floc now, and we're over the 15 minutes and finally floc'd after 20 minutes, though it still seemed weak. There was a lot of butter fat floating on the surface. So, things are under control and we'll see how it goes. I'm also hoping to make feijoa butter (feijoa's are also known as pineapple guavas in some places, and feijoa butter is like apple butter, only made with feijoa's - think really thick spiced jam or apple sauce). Could be a long day around the stove I think. But, according to the plan, this should be in the mould around 10 am, which means I should, in theory, have the feijoa butter in the jars around 1 or 2 ish.
Jeff’s Brie (adapted from Muenster - 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes) Sunday, Apr 13, 2014
5 Litres Silver Top (creamline 4% fat, 3.1% protein; 0.78:1 p:f ratio)
1 ice cube buttermilk; 1 ice cube crème fraiche
Small bit of cam rind in warm water (from Ornelle, 110g Cam)
¼ tsp CaCl2 in egg cup water
Rennet (0.8 mls 280 IMCU Calf rennet)
Salt
1) Add CaCl2 while setting up
2) Add culture and b.linens to milk and warm to 32 C (7:17 32.3 C)
3) Ripen 15 minutes (7:17 - 7:32 31.9 C)
4) Add rennet (7:32:00 floc time 7:52:00 = 20m 00s 4.5x floc = 90m 00s cut time 9:02:00) - note: floc was still quite weak.
5) Cut to 1.25 cm cubes (9:04 - 9:09)
6) Ensure temp is 32.0 C ( 29.2 C raised back to 32.3 C)
7) stir gently for 15 minutes (9:17 - 9:32)
8) Let curds settle, cover and rest 30 minutes (9:32 - 10:02)
9) Drain whey to level of curds, then gentle transfer curds to cloth lined colander (keep warm)
10) Drain 30 minutes (10:02 - 10:32)
11) Ladle soft curds into mould (no cheesecloth; but press them lightly to ensure they are spread evenly – used large coffee cup full of water) and drain 24 hours (flip several times over this period and remove any whey – keep cheese above the whey; a good curd (10:37 – flipped 11:26, fusing nicely – again 11:25 - 2:00 - 3:20 – 7:20 pm (and patted with paper towel before the night press, added a saucer on top of the coffee mug as well; looks very promising, though still a bit thick yet - 5:50 am – 5:48 pm – 868g 15.7 x 4.1 = 793 cm3 = 1.09 g/cm3)
12) If cheese still too soft to handle, continue to drain/flip for 6-7 hours more (??:?? - ??:??)
13) Sprinkle each face with ¼ tsp salt up to 1 tsp for larger cheese (6.25” tomme mould, used 1 tsp each face )
14) Place cheese in ripening container and ripen at 13 C, 85% humidity
15) Flip cheese daily, remove any whey until no more released (about 3 days; Munster was dry first day)
Sunday, Apr 20th, 2014: First sign of mould spotted today.