A bigger asiago - Dixon style

[scasnerkay]

I got to milk 2 days in a row! The first day I brought home 2.25 gallons, and the next day 3.5 gallons. Now the problem... what to cook it in? I used the Avantco Food Warmer, without an insert pan and had about 1/2 inch to spare.
The make was very straight forward. In fact the milk was easier to heat to target, and the cooking was easier to target, without the water between an insert pan and the food warmer. I had mostly given up on using the warmer due to the lag between heating the unit, then heating the water, then heating the milk, and then overshooting. I found it difficult to use and had gone to direct heat of the pan on the stove. Yes this means more stirring to avoid hot spots, but it has been working well for me. So now I will not throw the Avantco out, but will try this approach again.
The yield was great: 5.75 gallons, and a cheese of 6# 2oz!  My biggest cheese ever and a real beauty!
I think that a larger cheese will require a bit more aging time. What do others think?

[Kern]

Susan, glad to see that you are getting into tonnage!  Caldwell, among others, states that larger cheeses need more aging time.   I completed a 7# cheddar over the past weekend using six gallons of raw whole milk.  I get it all in a full size 8-inch steam table pan.  The yield seemed a bit high to me at 13% but then I checked to find that the milk comes from Jersey cows whose milk this time of year is at its peak level of protean and fat.  This one was my second 6 gallon cheese and I decided to spend the money and get a trier.  Artisan Geek had a nice one for about $70 and I'll start using this in a month or so on some 4 pound cheeses made in March.  I think that triers make sense considering that the milk costs about $7 per gallon making my larger cheeses cost about $42 each.  I'm not keen on cutting a big cheese in half just to see if its "done"!  Get a trier and sneak a peak.   

[scasnerkay]

I did ask Gianaclis directly, and she said yes that a larger cheese does need to age longer. This particular cheese was made in the style of asiago fresco - could be eaten at about 2 months (larger curd size, and higher cook temp). Sometimes with a cheese that is bigger I cut them in half and then vacuum the remainder to age longer. But this one I aim to try at about 6 months.

[Stinky]

I am quite excited for the future.

[qdog1955]

Susan----how hard is the cleanup without the insert pan? Do you think the plastic liners they sell for the inserts would work, or are they to fragile for cheese making-----to small without insert?
Qdog

[scasnerkay]

qdog - I have a 6 inch insert pan - if I had an 8 inch I think that would be the same volume as the warmer itself. Yes cleaning before and after was not fun. I extended the hose from the sink faucet and cleaned with cold water, dumped, then cleaned with hot soapy water, then dumped, then hot rinse. Living in California, trying to collect and save the water for the garden makes it more challenging. I don't know if a plastic liner would be the same size as the warmer without the insert...

[Mermaid]

Beautiful cheese!! AC4U! I make 20-25 pound wheels of cheese and a trier is very useful to sample the readiness of the cheese. I would age a 6 pound cheese 4-5 months for a fresh taste and 9-12 for a harder aged style

[scasnerkay]

Thank you for the suggestion Mermaid!
Where do you get so much milk from, and how often are you making cheese?

[John@PC]

Having used the Avantco pan warmer in the past I wouldn't risk a plastic liner.  The heating element on the bottom will more than likely melt the polyethylene and make a real mess.  If I did still have my Avantco to get maximum yield I would go with a 8" deep SS pan and put some water in there to distribute the heat.  Susan, you are the expert on using warmers for cheese making so what do you think? 

[Mermaid]

Live and work on a small dairy in exchange for milking cows in evening. I make cheese 2 times a week and yogurt once a week in winter and in summer yogurt 2-3 times a week and cheese once. Milking 8 jerseys now and more to calf in July!

[scasnerkay]

Mermaid, sounds like a dream. I have the urban dweller's mini version of the dream since I work on an educational farm usually one day a week, and milk the cow and the goat. If I am satisfied that everything was clean, I bring it home and make cheese. I have no true responsibility for the animals, I feed them and clean up after them, and I get "free" raw milk in exchange. Sweet deal, and good enough for now. Though your version sounds tempting!