I used Pav's recipe again with substitutions and notes indicated below. This was my first 6 gal. make (of anything), as I wanted to test a 8" deep full-size rectangular steam table pan and new cutter sized to the pan. Posting this in "cheese making equipment" as it does show some of our products.
Recipe and notes:6 gal. whole cows milk (low-temp pasteurized, non-homogenized)
3/8 tsp P. roqueforti
1½ tsp rennet
¾ tsp MM100 (substituting for Aroma B)
2 cups cream
4 tbs. salt
Pre-warmed milk in sink
Added 6 gal. milk + 2 cups cream to pan
Warmed milk to 86F; pH 6.4
Added ¾ tsp MM100 and 3/8 tsp P. roqueforti
Ripened 60 min.; pH 6.4
Added 1½ tsp CaCl diluted in 2/3 cup cool water
Added 1½ tsp single strength rennet diluted in 2/3 cup cool water
Surface gel in 10 min.; recipe calls for 4 x gel but first cut wasn't clean so I added another 10 mi.
Cut curd into 1" cubes with new prototype curd cutter*
Let curds rest / heal 10 min
Stirred very gently with spatula for 10 min. while curds were fragile
Continued stirring another 20 min.
Let curds settle until pH 6.0
Siphoned out most of whey
Pitched curds by tilting pan and moving curds to higher end of pan while removing collected whey at lower end-
Covered pan and let curds drain in pot for 6 hr. removing whey as needed (final pH 4.9)
Removed slab and milled into 3/4" cubes
Salted with 4 Tbs. non-iodized salt (1 Tbs. at a time between tossing curds)
Added milled curds to 6" dia. x 10" tall cylindrical clear polycarbonate mold
Flipped mold twice in one hour (should have been 4 times, see below)
Flipped every hour for two times (should have been 4 times, see below)
This is day 2 and curds will stay in mold for another 4-5 days flipping daily. As for my "missed flips" these were unforced errors. As you will see in pics one end has larger-sized crevices so I plan to put some added weight after next flip. Also, I had reserved some curds for "icing" but somehow they got into the cheese mold (sigh).
Additional notes:
1. While there were some issues with the 8" deep pan (my stirring spatula was way too short) it handled the 6+ gal. make very well.
2. Rectangular pans are great for allowing the whey to be poured out when pitching but a 6 gal. make is way too heavy. A simple siphon tube / pump works good using some plastic mesh to filter the curds.
3. The wide aspect ratio (length vs. width) of the pan lets you put a block under one end to drain the whey while "moving"curds to higher ground. Almost as good as a draining sack and a whole lot easier.
4. The 9" square curd cutter shown in the pics worked great and we plan to add it (along with the 8" deep pan) to our product line in the near future.
5. I chose to mill the curds by cutting rather than breaking because there was so darn much cheese! Much faster and I think it does encourage good crevice "gaps" compared to hand milling (as long as you remember to flip the mold as recommended).
6. Got ready for the 1st flip of the mold and realized how do you do this
?? My flat mat would just slip and I knew I would dump the thing and have half my curds on the floor. Ended up molding some plastic mesh into "lids" and while it was a quick fix it worked.
I'm thinking about wire-cutting about a quarter-inch from the "rough" end and use the residual for the final coating. Good idea or not??
