Made a 6 gallon Beaufort----3 gal. raw, 3gal. whole P/H milk mix-----this past weekend. This cheese just had a bad attitude right from the git-go. The recipe was based mostly on an old Sailor recipe, with a few changes----mostly brought about by the bad attitude. Did I mention the BAD ATTITUDE?
First---the curd wouldn't set-----after almost two hours, figuring I have nothing to lose-----added a tsp. of rennet in a 1/4 cup water. Waited another hour and finally got a set----not great, but better then nothing.
Proceeded with the make and all was well until the PH dropped from 6.28 to 4.87 in less then an hour, while in the press----was checking every hour, and all a sudden ZAP!!
Try to remove cheese cloth and it's welded to the cheese-----never had one stick that bad, and yes, cloth was soaked in vinegar and salt first.
Finally get cloth off without to much damage-----now what do I do? This cheese was supposed to sit for 24 hours before brining, but I'm thinking if the ph is already that low, maybe I should brine now----so I did. God only knows what this will end up like------wait and see.
Sorry, only have a couple pics of finished cheese. But there is a couple pics from the cheese family reunion-----that's Aunt Raclette on the left, and Uncle Gruyere in the back and that's cousin Beaufort on the right.
Qdog
