Author Topic: Manchego #4 (and trying out new circulator with clear pans)  (Read 2419 times)

John@PC

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Manchego #4 (and trying out new circulator with clear pans)
« on: January 02, 2015, 04:05:51 PM »
One of our forum members (Eric) talked me into trying a heater / circulator for sous vide (have a venison tenderloin cooking right now) :) .   Even though I'm not a big fan of water-baths and very happy with my pans and griddle I wanted to try it for cheese making because with the circulator you can use clear polycarbonate food pans and thought it interesting to "see what's going on" under the whey.

I used Caldwell's recipe (pg. 254) but since this is more of an equipment review I'll avoid the make details except for the "pressing under whey" stage.

Impressions:
1) The Anova circulator is a quality product and highly rated.  Easy to set up and use, and gives very accurate control of water-bath temperature. 

2) The polycarb pans are way cool 8)!  Aside from the clarity the heat transfer rate is lower than SS so there is some insulation value there (good for SV but not so great for a double-boiler setup).  Being able to see the curds is nice, but you do give up being able to use the pans for putting on a stove for sterilizing.

3) Since this was my first time using this set-up it took awhile to learn how to set the water-bath temp to get the correct milk temperature and especially to control the rate of heat rise during scalding.  I picked a cheese that had to have the curds cooked for this reason.  Those of you that use water baths could probably do this in your sleep, and next time I should hit my marks better.

4) All that said I probably will go back to the griddle / pan for cheese and use the circulator for Sous Vide with the clear pans (which are a great combination for SV).   It's probably because I'm used to the idiosyncrasies of griddle heating and control, and there's less equipment to deal with.  I definitely will try the circulator again since I have it.

I did do a different style of pressing under whey.  This was a 1/2 size pan so I cut a piece of plastic mesh to fit the bottom, and when it came time to pitch I put the mesh in with an acrylic egg-crate tray cut to size over it.  Set my cylinder mold on top and added a couple of bricks for about 20 mi.  I was able to turn out the "loaf" very nicely, cut into 1" cubes and pack the mold.  I had to up the pressure more because of the openings, but everything closed up nicely.

Finally, while the 1/2 size, 8" deep pan handled the 2 gal. make fine the milk level was just a bit higher than my square curd cutter, so the 2/3 x 6" deep SS is a better fit for me.

I have the cheese in brine now but will post a picture as soon as it comes out. (picture added)
« Last Edit: January 02, 2015, 08:08:07 PM by John@PC »

Spoons

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Re: Manchego #4 (and trying out new circulator with clear pans)
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2015, 06:37:49 PM »
I love the see thru look! I'll give it a try next time I make a 2 gallon batch. People who give cheese making classes might like this type of setup. It's agreat way to show the transformation and the process of making cheese.

From my experience with this type of setup, the cooking stage is best done in 3 steps. I don't have my notes but it's something like:

1. bring vat to 95F in 20 minutes (do this by setting circulator to 100F)
2. once the 1st 20 minutes are up, bring vat to102F in 20 minutes (do this by setting the vat to 108F)
3. once the last 20 minutes are up, set the circulator to 103F and add cold water to the bath to immediately bring water temp to 103F.

The numbers are off since I don't have my notes, but you get the gist of it.

BTW, if you ever make a parm, you can cook a few steaks at the same time... LMAO!!! Redefining the term ''Steak & cheese''  ;D

A cheese for you, John, for trying something new!

John@PC

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Re: Manchego #4 (and trying out new circulator with clear pans)
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2015, 08:17:39 PM »
It's interesting that there is less than 10 deg. difference between curd cooking for a parm (125F or so) and a medium rare steak cooked SV (135F).  So if I followed your guidelines I could put the steak in the water bath and use the 10 deg. differential to my advantage :).  Seriously, thanks for the cheese, the temperature guidelines and the tip about adding the cold water if needed.

John@PC

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Re: Manchego #4 (and trying out new circulator with clear pans)
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2015, 05:08:10 PM »
11 days now so time for a coconut oil with sweet smoked paprika bath.  This time I poured a heavier coating on one side, let it harden, rubbed the sides and did the other side.  Nice thick coating.  Plan to cut in a couple of months.

Offline Danbo

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Re: Manchego #4 (and trying out new circulator with clear pans)
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2015, 07:23:37 PM »
Sounds delicious! :-)