Author Topic: New cheese  (Read 1720 times)

milkybar kid

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New cheese
« on: November 26, 2014, 01:58:13 PM »
hi, have just started making cheese over the last 2-3 weeks and have a few waxed, i have a lancashire which i have just gone to wax after about 6-7 days but have noticed blue mold in a few places, the temp is about 76f in my kitchen and the cheese seems pretty dry, i have scraped the blue off though i suppose it's on the cheese in places i cannot see as the cheese is not the tightest of knits. I have give it a quick wipe down with vineager, can i now wax it, or what else do i do? thanks.

Offline awakephd

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Re: New cheese
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2014, 03:24:46 PM »
Milkybar,

I have had success waxing cheeses after removing mold IF my wax is good and hot. Naturally, you don't want the wax hot enough to burst into flames--though that also will help to reduce the mold, it tends to have other unwanted side effects!--but you want it hotter than just-melted. The heat seems to cauterize any remaining mold spores, or at least that's my theory. :)

I keep my cheese wax in an old crock pot (ceramic slow cooker), and it seems to produce the perfect heat. It does take quite a while to completely melt the 6 or so pounds of wax, so I plug it in, turn it to high, and come back an hour or so later.

Good luck!

Andy
-- Andy

qdog1955

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Re: New cheese
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2014, 09:34:25 PM »
Check this out, on high temp waxing http://www.cheesemaking.com//WaxingCheese.html#Anchor-49575   ----I have experimented, heating cheese wax to 400 degrees ( out side ) and have not gotten a flash-----I wax my cheese at 240 degrees, I use an electric hot plate and a very heavy aluminum pot, so I feel pretty safe-----though always keep the proper fire extinguisher on hand just in case.
Qdog

milkybar kid

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Re: New cheese
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2014, 12:19:56 AM »
Thanks for the replies...I managed to get the wax smoking in the pan, turned it off for 2 mins whilst i brushed it on, it went on very thin as the wax was very runny whilst hot, got a second coat on, not so hot as to melt the first coat, and it seems to have done the job, missus don't mind as long as i don't burn us out as she loves the smell of wax and diesel....not together of course.

larmar

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Re: New cheese
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2014, 01:24:56 PM »
Hi, I still reading and learning and have a question concerning warming the milk. . .

Why do some recipes say to warm the milk to 185 degrees to kill any bacteria, then cool down the milk before adding culture, while other recipes say to just warm to 86 degrees and then add culture?

Wouldn't it make sense to warm all milk to 185 degrees to ensure only the desired culture is in the milk?

milkybar kid

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Re: New cheese
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2014, 10:02:22 PM »
Hello larmar, i hope this is the right answer, when told to heat to 185, that's because it would be raw milk straight from the cow. When told to heat to 86 that's because the milk is already pasturised and dosen't need a higher temp, unless your doing hard cheeses that require a slightly higher temp than your 86-90 degrees. I'm sure i'll be corrected if i'm wrong.

Stinky

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Re: New cheese
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2014, 10:08:33 PM »
Hi, I still reading and learning and have a question concerning warming the milk. . .

Why do some recipes say to warm the milk to 185 degrees to kill any bacteria, then cool down the milk before adding culture, while other recipes say to just warm to 86 degrees and then add culture?

Wouldn't it make sense to warm all milk to 185 degrees to ensure only the desired culture is in the milk?

If you're making cheese with storebought milk, that's completely unnecessary, as the milk has almost certainly been pasteurized already. And even with raw milk, you don't really need to do that if you're aging the cheese long enough.

Offline awakephd

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Re: New cheese
« Reply #7 on: December 08, 2014, 08:20:10 PM »
Larmar,

Heating the milk to 180 damages the proteins in the milk. Oddly, sometimes that is what you want to happen -- for example, when making yoghurt. But for the vast majority of cheese, you want the milk never to get anywhere near that hot. This is why ultrapasteurized milk is generally useless for making cheese. In fact, most people have to experiment with different brands of "regular pasteurized" milk to find one that works well for making cheese.

If you can find low temperature pasteurized milk, or even raw milk, you will get far better results -- or so I am told. I have not yet laid my hands on any such milk. However, that is about to change -- this week I am taking delivery of a couple of gallons of raw milk. It only cost $10/gallon ... !

Andy
-- Andy