Author Topic: My First Gouda  (Read 4814 times)

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
My First Gouda
« on: July 12, 2014, 11:50:39 PM »
My first Gouda.  This will be interesting as the recipe here with be a little of a collaboration of three recipes.  Several things I have noticed is the variance of recipes in both pressing times, Ph readings (which I have never used before and pressing times.  One detail from many commenters is that the finished cheese is better where a culture mix of a standard acidifier and in this case Saccos’ MO36R, with its mix and a little Floria Danica. So here is my interpretation of a Gouda .  Another bit of information that people might find confusing is my measures of culture.  I source my cultures from Green Living Australia (GLA) who distribute the Sacco range of cultures and when I say one dose – I mean the miniscule amount of this culture that is sufficient to acidify 10 litres of milk. I also use their mini spoon measures.  So for my culture for 10 litres of milk 1 dose = 1/64th teaspoon.  If I used the measures mentioned in the recipes I’d be using 80 litres of milk – wahoo !
 
10 Litres full cream – un-homogenised  Maleny Milk – I Love this stuff bit more expensive but worth every cent.
½ Dose of MO36R (same as MM100) – ½ a 1/64th Drop measure
½ Dose Flora Danica – as above
1/8th tsp(Dash) CaCl2
3 ½ mls GLA vege rennet 190 ICU – this flocs in 9-10 minutes.  I’ll be using the 3 time multiplier today.
Brine of 1 Kg Salt to 5 litres of water
Un-Chlorinated water heated to 80OC

The morning is cool so keeping the curds at the correct temperature will be paramount today.

Make notes, pictures and other comments throughout the day.
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !

Offline Andrew Marshallsay

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: South Australia
  • Posts: 822
  • Cheeses: 115
  • Default personal text
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2014, 02:54:48 AM »
Good luck!
- Andrew

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2014, 03:02:52 AM »
Well here we go... 
8:30 put the milk on to 10
8:46 20C
9:21 30C – taken off the heat to let the residual temperature of the water take it to the target of 32C. PH 6.8 on the DuoTest paper strip. 
9:40 At 32 degrees Add the cultures to a little milk to ‘wake them up’ and then added to the rest of the milk, stirring for 2 minutes and let sit for 10 minutes. Some say 30 minutes but the consensus is 10 minutes.
9:52 Add Rennet. Given the short ripening time the Floc set point will probably be quite a lot longer than 9-10 minute. I’m expecting roughly 15-20 minutes.  This will probably bring the rest time to close to an hour mentioned in most of the recipes.
Floc Time 11 minutes 30 second therefore from 9:52 + 32 minutes 10:24 check for clean break
Checked at 10:24 still a bit mushy so I’ll check in 5 minutes.
10:30 Cut curd into 1.5 cm cubes and gently stir for 10 minutes and then rest for 5 minutes.
Actually stirred for 15 minutes and letting rest for 5 to get the curds to sink a little more so I can beginning draining the whey.  By the time I got the water to 80OC it was more like 15 minutes resting.
Took out 5 Ladles of whey and could only get 4 in before the temp hit the recommended 33C.
Time 11:05 Stirred for 10 minutes at 33 and let the curds sink. Get water ready for the next temp.
Time 11:15 Remove whey to the  top of the curds and replace with hot water to 38C.
Removed a further 9 250ml Ladles of whey and managed to get 8 back in to reach the target temp of 38oC.
Stir frequently to prevent matting for 15 minutes at 38C. After 15 minutes let the curds rest in the whey for 30 minutes.
Time now  12:20 Time to pour off the whey and pour the curds into a cheese cloth lined colander.
Pressing under whey.  My press has a removable arm which makes this possible.
12:30 Pressing started
As the number and weights are another point of difference so I thought that Jim Wallace times and weights were good as this one won’t be aged out to more than 3-4 months.
My press has distance markers along the arm in 5 cm intervals allowing me great control over the weight on the cheese.  So my weights are as follows, given in pounds and converted to KG.
12:30 9lbs (11.61lbs) 1Kg @ 500 for 30 minutes.  Five minutes for fiddling with the press
1:05 16lbs (17.72lbs) 2 Kg @ 500 for 30 minutes
Coming up
25lbs(25.06lbs) 2kg @ 800 for 30 minutes
50lbs(51.94lbs) 4KG @ 950 overnight.
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2014, 03:40:51 AM »
Here are a few pictures
1. Getting ready .  My wife loves this bit as the kitchen gets a thorough cleaning.

 
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2014, 03:45:18 AM »
The rennet flocculation time surprised me, especially from the short ripening time.  The cooking times and temps were spot on 33 degrees for the first 38 degrees for the second.  the Curds looked nice and glossy.  I gave up on the pH strips as the colour difference at the top end was too difficult to determine.
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2014, 03:48:40 AM »
Finally the pressing.. I'll post images of the cheese but it looks amazing.  I have never had a good go at pressing under whey but this looks like working very well. 

Time to redress.

Stay tuned..
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #6 on: July 13, 2014, 04:00:27 AM »
Cheese flipped and redressed and the knit is very close and cheese is still warm. All in all a very productive day and I still have time for a movie and beer.  I'll post a few more images of the final pressing and then the waiting game ..  8)
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !

Spoons

  • Guest
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2014, 04:08:34 AM »
Nice pics!

About the final pressing, if you can get about 2psi, then you need not press more than 6-8 hours ( total pressing combined). Gouda can over-acidify easily. The final PH before brining should be around 5.40-5.45 (whey) or 5.25-5.3 (wheel, curd)

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2014, 04:28:37 AM »
I never could work out how I get what PSI I'm pressing at the cheese basket is 160 cm Dia. so How do I get to 2 PSI ? Any help would be great.
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !

Spoons

  • Guest
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #9 on: July 13, 2014, 04:43:29 AM »
Do you mean a 16cm diam? Remember, a PSI is a pound per square inch. It needs to be converted in LBS and in inches.

First you need to know the AREA of the surface of your mould.
A=pi x radius(squared)
so if your mould is 16cm (6") then
A= 3.14159 x (3x3)
A= 28.27

Now you divide the total weight pressing on the cheese by the area
Ex.:
50LBS / 28.27 = 1.77psi


BTW, when I said 2PSI, it doesn't HAVE to be 2PSI. I usually press 3.2 PSI on a gouda final press. with an ambient temp around 22-23C. That gives me a total pressing time of about 4 hours with great results.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2014, 04:52:34 AM by Spoons »

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #10 on: July 13, 2014, 05:14:30 AM »
Excellent - thanks..  works out at 57 pounds on my rig is 5 Kg @850mm.  - Image of the cheese at the last pressing got a bit of a cloth line at the top but all up looks pretty good.   I should be able to get it into brine before bed.. brine over night - a good day overall.
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #11 on: July 13, 2014, 10:04:22 PM »
As the clock ticked slowly past the 6 hour pressing mark and the night getting colder and the pH not dropping - probably due to temperature - I have deceided to let the Press overnight and go to bed where it's warmer.  In the morning I used the test strips and at least it showed that the whey was greater than 5.3 but less than 5.6 so I think this should work.  The cheese weight before brine 1550 grams with a very nice close knit. It is in the brine now and should be good to remove after work. Approx 12 hours. Maybe I should just do times and pressures and not bother with pH strips as I can't dissern the colour differences for small changes and to be quite frank couldn't be bothered to maintain another piece of equipment. - maybe when I start selling I will have to but for now simplicity is the key..
 ^-^
I'll add more images as this ages.

 - Mal
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #12 on: July 15, 2014, 12:53:19 AM »
So, I'm now confused after brining for 24 hours the cheese has has gaining 14 grams. Is this a problem for gouda style - I have read through others and brining and get the distinct feeling the cheese should have lost whey therefore weight.  Has the cheese absorbed too much salt ? I did make sure the pH of the brine was close to the cheese but with only pH strips that was a bit of artistic guess work.  The cheese is drying now and I ma not going to age it too long.  Any suggestion on what the outcome mght be ?

Thanks

-Mal
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !

Spoons

  • Guest
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #13 on: July 15, 2014, 01:06:46 AM »
14 grams is nothing to worry about. Your cheese should weigh around 1.17-1.2 kg, if you collected all the curds to make the wheel. I'm sure it will be fine. What temp did you brine? Some would say brining 24 hours for such a small wheel is a lot! But I've seen enough conflicting data on the subject online it's hard to tell what's what. Some references brine 3-4 hours per LBS (moslty the home cheese making references), others (mostly commercial references) triple that amount.

Offline OzzieCheese

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 1,507
  • Cheeses: 171
  • Sun-Grass-Cow-Milk-Cheese-Happiness
Re: My First Gouda
« Reply #14 on: July 15, 2014, 01:21:16 AM »
Sorry I forgot the weights
1550 out of the press - last press was 57lbs - (2 PSI) for 16 hours, pH measured by strips between 5.6 and 5.3 - closest I could get.
1554 Brined for 12 hours @ 8-10 Degrees C.
1564 Brined for a further 12 hours @ 8-10 Degrees C.
The outside of the cheese was not slimy so I think the pH of the brine was good.
Usually if one person asks a question then 10 are waiting for the answer - Please ask !