My First RAw Milk Cheedar and the New Kadova Moulds

[Cartierusm]

DeeJay, the anatto won't show like you think, so for a 5 gallon batch 10 drops or so should be plenty. It won't show until the curds starts forming and the whey gets drained away.

[wharris]

I have upped my anatto usage from about 4 drops to about 9 drops per gallon.  That gives me the shade of color i expect and the shade of std cheddar that you get at the store.

[DeejayDebi]

shoelessone-

the chafing pan setup is a double boiler configuration. The bottom has an electric heater in it to keep the food or in my case the curds warm. You just put water in the bottom, set a chaffin dish in it and adjust the temperature to what you want.


Dukester

I this recipe I did not pasterize the milk.

Pastuerizing is just bringing the milk up to about 167F degrees for about 30 seconds to kill the bad buggies that might be lurking in the milk. Then you have to cool the milk down before continuing or you'll kill your cultures and rennet.

Carter -

For the cheddar I wanted a bright orange color and the 25 drops seemed to do it. For other cheeses just a tint will do.

[BigCheese]

BTW I order moulds from Dary Connection they sell them in grams the 450 gram unit for $60 is the same one I got from Ullmers for $25 - better jump in there before they're gone!

I am trying to order some of these from ullmers, but the site says they are "8oz"(250 gram model) with 4" diameter and 3" height. Other sites say 4" diameter and 3" height is 1lb(450 gram model) so I do not know who is correct. Was this typo present when you bought yours and you can say whether or not it is the 450gram?

Thanks
Nitai

[BigCheese]

Oh well, I took the risk and ordered two of them anyway. I am so excited. At the risk of therm bumping up their prices I asked how he was able to sell them so incredibly cheap. He said he got them from a friend who's dairy never took off. Good for us.

[SANDQ]

Hey Debi, I know what you mean about raw milk!  I have only been attempting making cheddar for about 7 weeks now, and in no way claim to be experienced as you. I have my own goats, and use my own milk, in the 7 weeks, I have made 10 batches of cheese, 9 of which were from pasteuried milk, today, after reading threads on the site I used un pasteurised milk WHAT A DIFFERENCE!.My curds turned out like the pictures in my book, they were squeeky, when I bit them, they did what they should, I couldnt ask for more. I have to thank linuxboy for this and his lessons on the organic chemistry of milk and cheesemaking. I was sent a thread saying you know the Ph values of cheddar, as I plan to sell what I produce, I want to be consistant, can you enlighten me on my path to be an artisan. all the best  Quentin

[scubagirlwonder]

Oh well, I took the risk and ordered two of them anyway. I am so excited. At the risk of therm bumping up their prices I asked how he was able to sell them so incredibly cheap. He said he got them from a friend who's dairy never took off. Good for us.

I ordered two also! I figured that since my cave is narrow in width, these little moulds should produce just the right sized cheeses for me! Can't wait to try them out!

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Holly crap, these Ullmer's guys has got a lot of staff. I am ordering an 8 inch ss mold and 2 kadova ASAP.

[TroyG]

I ordered 10 of those molds a good while back and I can assure you they are the 1 pound molds.

I now have some 4 pound molds and will be getting 10 pound molds this year as we make more cheese.

[BigCheese]

I ordered 10 of those molds a good while back and I can assure you they are the 1 pound molds.

I now have some 4 pound molds and will be getting 10 pound molds this year as we make more cheese.

Good to know! Thanks. I envy your 4 pound molds. If you ever want to sell, shoot me a message.

[DeejayDebi]

the ones that are listed as 450 grams are about 1 pound molds. I've never seen any 250 gram molds but maybe they  do have them. One thing about these smaller molds you have to fill them or they won't press nice. The follower stops about 3/4 of the way down. They make great little cheeses though.

Don't buy the edam molds though they are really hard to balance and get a good press. Round balls don't stand up well. I thing you'd have to put them in a tube to keep them from tipping over to press right. I 've been thinking about getting a PVC tube to put them in to press.

[Alex]

I 've been thinking about getting a PVC tube to put them in to press.

That's an efficient idea

[DeejayDebi]

The trick is finding one they fit in fairly closely.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Deb,

Just cut a 2 inch tall ring out of 4"-6" PVC pipe to rest your Edam mold in.

[DeejayDebi]

Thanks Sailor - I tried the white plumbing PVC and the 6 inch is too small to fit the mold into and 8 inch is to big. I am wondering if the blue pipe has a bigger ID? I may tried slicing the 6 inch and wrapping it around the mold then putting it into the 8 inch pipe.  That might make it tighter. I have lot of the white stuff I use it to hold my 4 and 6 inch sausage casings as I stuff them by hand.