Cheddar Heaven

[OzzieCheese]

I have a few days off over Easter.  Time to de-stress and make cheese.  Nothing fancy just a traditional cheddar. This one will be a cloth bound and it will join the other Banded Amigos in the 'Cave'  The controls sheet I'll post closer to the end. Doing something just a little different and adding a little 1/4 dose of the MO 92 Thermo just to add a little push on the acidification curve. And add a little more Proteinase activity during aging.  I also managed to find the Maleny Milk pure cream and added 300 mls to the ten litres of Guernsey milk I normally use.

I'll post images along the way as well..

Catcha later

-- Mal 

[Spoons]

Same for me, Mal! I have yearly tradition on Good Friday. I call it ''Gouda Friday'' That's right, I'm going there

[OzzieCheese]

Oh I just cant beat that one.... 
One thing I found this time is that believe it or not I can believe my pH metre or the pH of 6.2-6.1 in the recipe from G.C's book is wrong.  Even with the extra thermo and a little extra Meso I could only reach mid 6.5.  The curd looks nice and it is draining and texturing well.  Oh well.  I made this before hand with a pH meter looks like I'll just have to go back to old way. Time and trust.

-- Mal 

[shaneb]

Sounds great guys. Looking forward to seeing the results. Good Friday seems like a great time for cheesemaking. I'm not religious, so for me it is a rather boring day with nothing open. I'll have to plan a make for next year.

Spoons - you'd better trademark "Gouda Friday".  I like it.

Shane

[Al Lewis]

I'll look forward to the make.  Lots of pictures of course!!!

[Danbo]

Have fun! :-)

[awakephd]

Does that make this Moldy Thursday?

[OzzieCheese]

got a bit busy today.. Sorry for the delay on the Cpawn.. 

[OzzieCheese]

Here's the promised Cheese porn !

1. The control Sheet.
2. Getting ready
3. ditto
4. Same milk new cream.
5. clean break
6. Just finished cooking

On the control sheet there is a point where I questioned the pH meter but I do feel that the expected pH at the end of cooking is a little off.  I think it only got down to 6.55 after 60 minutes stirring at 38 DegC.  The confirmation came in the next step..

[OzzieCheese]

The texturing stage confirmed that there was sufficient culture and that I could read a pH meter (I was starting to doubt myself there).  The Cheddaring went very well with the curd mass temperature maintained at 38 DegC throughout and the pH steadily dropped to 5.3 (5.29).   It all went to plan - nearly !!   It all got milled and salted and sent to the mold for pressing and, that's where it go a bit wonky.

Note the angle of the control box on the press and compare the distance from the top of the two uprights to the bottom.  I didn't notice until too late - like the next morning 

[OzzieCheese]

So we shall call it Wedgy !  It pressed a little tilted but I don't think that matters.  At 1.3Kg I think it's a good lookin cheese.  BTW the cheese is yellow due to a merest hint of annatto added but it didn't really need it - but it looks cute.

This will be air dried now for 3-4 days and then Cloth Bandaged - that should be a task in itself due to the shape. My planned aging is 12 months but you never know....

-- Mal

 

[qdog1955]

Ozzie,
  On the nutrition label------I see "energy" listed----can you explain this? I have never seen this on a U.S. product, must be a down under thing---by the way, that's a very nice wedgie
Qdog

[OzzieCheese]

Hi Q, yeah that's for the general public that like to count calories (Kilojoules Kj). Seeing as no one know how to convert kilojoules (Metric) into calories (Imperial) they just call it energy.

-- Mal 

[Al Lewis]

How to convert from kilojoules to calories
kJ to thermochemical calories
1 calth = 0.004184 kJ
1 kJ = 239.0057 calth

The energy in thermochemical calories E(calth) is equal to the energy in kilojoules E(kJ) times 239.0057:  E(cal) = E(kJ) × 239.0057

Beautiful wedgy!!!!

[OzzieCheese]

Thanks Al, sometimes I think that the labelling laws in Australia are so confusing as to basically useless.  I like the fat and protein content on my bottle but I'm sure we cheese heads and maybe the odd scientist read that. And for a laugh there is an allergy section on the label and guess what . . . . it states "Contains Milk" well duh ! it's milk !!.  Yes I know Soy and other emulsions call themselves milk as well but last time I looks there were no teats on beans !

sorry rant over - calm now - drinking my coffee and dreaming of cheese tomorrow - calm.......

-- Mal