Stinky's Butterkäse #1

[Stinky]

Made this on 3/5/15.

Ingredients:
2 gal. whole P/H milk
1/2 tsp CaCl2
1/8 tsp. Thermo B
1/8 tsp. MM100
1/2 tsp. calf rennet

8:04 Started heating milk
9:03 After raising it too high, it got to 96ºF, added cultures and CaCl
9:32 Added rennet, forgot to raise temperature to 108º first. Floc at 10
10:07 Cut curds, rest for 10
10:18 Raise to 108ºF, stirring
10:32 Reached 107ºF, rest for 5 minutes
10:37 Ladled off 1/3 of whey
10:46 Added the same amount of same temp. water.
11:32 Stopped stirring, started draining process
11:43 Started pressing with 10 lb.
Pressed for 6 1/2 hours, soaked in water for 20 minutes and brined for 2 hours

Plan to open it at a month.

It got a bit fluffy while I was gone last week, more on that later.

[Danbo]

Looks great! I look forward to hear how it tastes - how long do you plan on ageing? :-)

[Stinky]

I'll probably crack it at a month, I think. Just cos' aging it longer means more space is taken up in the cheese fridge for longer. You know.

[Danbo]

A month for a Buttercheese is actually enough for a mild version. Great fast ripening cheese! :-)

[Stinky]

That's what I figured. Also why I did a Caerphilly and a Tilsit.

[Stinky]

Been sort of egging on the linens with an occasional wash. I think the rind looks really cool. 

[Danbo]

It does! :-)

[Al Lewis]

So if I'm reading your make correctly you soaked this cheese in water for 20 hours prior to brining?

[Stinky]

So if I'm reading your make correctly you soaked this cheese in water for 20 hours prior to brining?

Ah sorry, I should correct that to 20 minutes. 20 is a bit vague, yes. 

[Al Lewis]

Is that normal for these?  Any particular temp?

[Stinky]

I was working off these slightly modified instructions:

Whole milk

MM100 and Thermo B

Warm  milk to 96°F 

Add starter stir and allow to ripen for 30 minutes. 

Raise heat to 107°F 

mix rennet with 1/4 cup of pure water 

3.5 floc

check for clean break then cut curd into 1/2 inch cubes. 

Allow curds to rest for 5 minutes then stir gently for 15 minutes. 

Allow curds to settle to the bottom then remove 1/3 of the whey. 

Replace whey with equal volume of water at 140°F, still wanting around 108?

Stir curds for about 45 minutes then drain into cloth line mold. 

Press lightly with 10 pounds of weight for 6 hours

Soak in plain water for about 20 minutes then brine in 1/2 gallon water and 2 cups of salt for 2 hours. 

Air dry and age at 50°F and RH of 80% for 1 to 2 months or more. 

[Al Lewis]

Cool!  Never heard of soaking in water.  Learn something new every day.

[Stinky]

I believe they do it with Havarti as well sometimes- the point is, I think, to leach out calcium and let it get moister as well? Not one hundred percent sure.

The pictures are what it looked like when I got back from Out Of Town. The lid had slipped shut, and mold had a long weekend off.

[awakephd]

Now if only my hair would grow like that ...

[JeffHamm]

I got developed a linens rind on a butterkase I made a few years ago.   http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,8540.0.html

the end result was very good, though the rind started to amoniate as I wasn't airing it out enough so the rind was removed when eating it.  Anyway, just to let you know, this works and you'll have a nice cheese in the end.

Looking forward to the grand opening.


- Jeff