Gooey & Sinful... Fifth Edition

[Boofer]

Reblochon #5

It has been a while since I last did a Reblochon (July 29, 2012) so I figured I'd get into it again.

make started May 8, 2015

initial pH: 6.78

2 gallons Dungeness Valley whole raw milk
1/8 tsp MM100
1/16 tsp TA-61
1/16 tsp LH-100
1/32 tsp ARN
1/16 tsp dry calf rennet in 1/4 cup cool distilled water

Brought milk to 95F.
Stirred in cultures.
Allowed to ripen, looking for a .1 delta in pH.
Added rennet at pH 6.65.
Using a 4x floc factor, flocculation occurred in 8 minutes.
24 minutes later, curds were cut to 2 inch.
Rested 5 minutes, then whisked to 1/2 inch size.
Rested 5 minutes.
Gently stirred curds, maintaining 95F.
At pH 6.50, drained ~1 gallon whey.
Spooned curds to two sanitized Plyban-lined Reblochon forms.
Pressing on both forms with a 10 pound weight. (Ideally, 3 pounds per form is the standard.)
Draped a clean towel over pressing to maintain some warmth.
After 30 minutes, flipped & rewrapped, continued pressing as before.
After 60 minutes, flipped & rewrapped, continued pressing as before.
After 1 hour 45 minutes, pH 5.44, so cheeses moved to whey-brine.
Cheeses brined for 3 hours.
Out of brine, dried, weighed...into minicave and into cave.

-Boofer-

[Boofer]

Getting some light Geo dusting. Wiped with brine.

Moved wheels to prepared spruce board.

-Boofer-

[IllinoisCheeseHead]

Very nice   ACFU

Where did you purchase the cheese cloths?.  They are reusable right?

Thanks

[Boofer]

Plastic cheesecloth...no lint...sticks less...smoother rind knit.

Thanks for the cheese, IllinoisCheeseHead.

-Boofer-

[Tiarella]

hey Boofer!!  Good to know the cheese world is still turning and you're making Reblochon. 

I'm making my first tomme in quite a while so I'm visiting the forum during all the bits of waiting. I finally have milk again so I guess I'll get to hang out with you all again. I'm glad about that.

Here's a cheese to you for all your careful cheesemaking.

[Boofer]

Good to see you're still doing your thing, Kathrin. I've been a little restrained over the past year and didn't make any cheeses for six months. This year I have managed to craft six cheeses. I'd like to find a way to make five more this year and reach my centennial point, but that will be a challenge. The important thing is that this cheese-making is still fun...and delicious!

I have tried to tamp down my postings, not wanting to saturate the forum, but trying to lend any guidance I may have to offer.  

Thanks for the cheese. How are your kids? Any new ones this year?

Looking forward to seeing your Tomme efforts.

-Boofer-

[OzzieCheese]

Boofer you're back !!  Finally.  Your insights are always insightful (ha made a funny  )

-- Mal

[Boofer]

Boofer you're back !!  Finally.  Your insights are always insightful (ha made a funny  )

-- Mal

Oh, Mal, you missed me.

Was I ever really gone?

-Boofer-

[Tiarella]

Good to see you're still doing your thing, Kathrin. I've been a little restrained over the past year and didn't make any cheeses for six months. This year I have managed to craft six cheeses. I'd like to find a way to make five more this year and reach my centennial point, but that will be a challenge. The important thing is that this cheese-making is still fun...and delicious!

I have tried to tamp down my postings, not wanting to saturate the forum, but trying to lend any guidance I may have to offer.  

Thanks for the cheese. How are your kids? Any new ones this year?

Looking forward to seeing your Tomme efforts.

-Boofer-

I can't believe I am just now seeing your response!  Notification must have gotten lost in my email problems. I have a BIG smile on my face from "hearing" your response.  SO good to "see" you again!!  I'd be jumping up and down if I wasn't experiencing inertia and laziness on this early misty morning. Yes, birthing season struck and gave us 6 goat kids and 7 lambs. Had very difficult births with me needing to reach in and intangle kids, find missing legs, etc. also assisted at a nearby farm's first birthing season and their bid has were all difficult ones also. The amount of snow we had meant less exercise for all the pregnant ones and that had some cascading metabolic impacts leading to low available calcium and without enough calcium a uterus can't have effective contractions. We had two doelings born dead....no clear reason, perhaps early separation of placenta.  Happy to have 6 kids that are healthy and happy. Names this year are Marika, Tucker, Spencer, Wesley, Gideon, and one little girl who needs a new name because her first name, Isadora, isn't a perfect fit. (That's 4 boys and 2 girls.  With the two that died it's a perfect 50/50 gender balance).     
For lambs we've got 3 ewe lambs and 4 ram lambs. I'm glad to have boys since we eat them and I'm trying to lower my flock numbers even more than last year. I got down, through sales, to 5 ewes and the 2 rams for breeding. 4 ewes gave birth to 7 healthy lambs and all are doing well. Some are climb in my lap friendly. I'll post some photos in the lounge soon.
I had hoped with my new breed of goat to be swimming in milk but they are all first fresheners and their babies are taking a lot of the milk so it's going to be small cheese batches for a while longer.
Sorry for the book size of my response!  

[awakephd]

Kathrin (or is it Kathryn?),

Do you milk the sheep? (I know you milk the goats.) I confess utter ignorance: I assume there are breeds of sheep that are better for milking than others ... ?

[Tiarella]

My true, non-cheesey name is spelled Kathrin but all spellings of this name are pronounced the same so I don't get my undies in a bunch when alternate spellings are used.

I have not been milking my sheep but the udders on them are as big as my goats and I've milked them to syringe feed at-risk lambs and found them easy to milk. I like to reserve their milk for their babies since they have twins usually and the little suckers (pun intended although not premeditated) grow really fast. The sheep are a cross of Soay (small, self-shedding sheep) and Icelandic (hardy and meatier). I think I have something written about the breed on my website.  Www.sovereignhillfarm.com.  Not completely done yet but some pretty photos, including cheese photos. I think you can milk any breed of sheep but some have been selected for better production and then there's the lamb issue......feed them something else or have sheep that produce more than enough for the lambs and you.

[hoeklijn]

Good to see you're back in production Boofer! Unfortunately Reblochon is banned from my house by the family. Apparently the BL was developing too well....
AC4U for the story...

[Tiarella]

Andy, here's a photo of the udder of my ewe Aurora.

[LoftyNotions]

Always gooey, always sinful. Have another cheese Boofer.

Larry

[Boofer]

Kathrin, reading your post about the rams, my mind dredged up "ram-a-lam-a-ding-dong". Boy am I old.

Thanks, guys. Just trying to keep the caves filled.

The wheels got "washed" this morning with a light brine. I put that in quotes because they are just getting moistened and schmiered...not truly washed as in to remove a linens coating. There is a definite linens color along with the light Geo dusting. I expect to wrap these and put them in the big fridge shortly.

-Boofer-