Brining Edam

[Noel]

Today I'll brine the Edam I made yesterday.  IMO, our well water is too "rustic" to use for a brine, so what do you recommend instead?  Should I get some city tap water when I go into town this morning?  DI water?  Something else?

Also, cheesemaking.com suggests this brine recipe:
"A simple brine formula is :
- 1 Gallon of water to which is added 2.25 Lbs of Salt, 1tbs. Calcium Chloride (30% solution), and 1 tsp. white vinegar.
This will result in saturated brine at 5.2 pH, suitable for most cheeses."

This is the only brine recipe I've seen that calls for vinegar and calcium chloride--everybody else suggests a saturated salt solution.  Opinions?

[Stinky]

The cleaner the water, the better. You can boil it if you like?

But yes, for sure add vinegar and CaCl2. Vinegar adjusts the pH to that of the cheese, and CaCl adjusts the calcium levels. Otherwise calcium leeches out and lessens the structural integrity of the cheese.

[Noel]

Thanks, Stinky.  Per your advice, vinegar and CaCl2 were included in the brine. 

The Edam was pulled out to dry at 4:30 this morning.  The instructions say to air-dry for 2-3 days, until the cheese is "fairly dry to the touch", before waxing.  My Edam is already quite dry after only 5 hours.     Can I assume it's ready to be waxed, or is there another reason to let it sit out for days? 

Hopefully it won't turn out as tough as the Edam cannonballs used in a naval battle in 1841. 

[Kern]

Caldwell (Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking) calls for a 23% NaCl solution (essentially saturated) PLUS calcium chloride and vinegar.  Leave out the latter two and you can have problems with brining.  This is especially so with lighter brine used for long term aging (feta-type cheese).  Looking at some of the cheesemaking books and what gets left out of them (pH goals being the most important) I'd go with Caldwell's recommendation and use a teaspoon of calcium chloride and a teaspoon of vinegar for each gallon of brine.

If you are going to "dry" a cheese before waxing it then let it dry in the cheese cave (55F, 85% RH).  Letting it dry on the counter in the pantry can invite the growth of unwanted bacterial, etc. that thrive in higher temperatures - like coliform.

[Stinky]

Thanks, Stinky.  Per your advice, vinegar and CaCl2 were included in the brine. 

The Edam was pulled out to dry at 4:30 this morning.  The instructions say to air-dry for 2-3 days, until the cheese is "fairly dry to the touch", before waxing.  My Edam is already quite dry after only 5 hours.     Can I assume it's ready to be waxed, or is there another reason to let it sit out for days? 

Hopefully it won't turn out as tough as the Edam cannonballs used in a naval battle in 1841.

Let it sit out longer for sure. I asked Pav last night and he said to wax cheese when it's 20+ days old if at all possible. I'd put it in the cheese cave, and the day before waxing scrub it down with salt'n'vinegar.

[Noel]

Kern, in addition to the saturated NaCl solution with CaCl2 and vinegar  added, one source suggests adding a cup of whey per gallon of brine.  Her reasoning is that, like CaCl2, the calcium in the whey further reduces the Ca gradient between the cheese and the brine.  She said she reuses her brine, filtering it as needed and boiling it at the first sign of mold, slime, etc., and replenishing the salt as needed.  So I did add a cup of whey to the brine as well.  Is this a common practice?     

As for air-drying the cheese at room temperature, that's straight out of the Edam recipe from 200 Easy Homemade Cheeses by Debra Amrein-Boyes.  Her Goat’s Milk Gouda recipe likewise calls for a few days’ drying at RT.  It seems counter-intuitive to me, but as a beginner, what do I know?  Maybe the author figures that the 12-hour soak in heavy brine renders the cheese relatively impervious to dangerous bacterial growth?  Or that the application of molten wax will kill whatever might have begun growing on the cheese?  Does it have something to do with eye development?  Just guessing here.....   Anyway, since the consensus here seems to be that room temperature drying is a safety issue, I stuck the cheese in the cave for now.

Stinky, I’m confused.  Since the Edam is already dry, what might be gained by an extended drying time of days or weeks?  Wouldn't that produce enough of a rind that waxing would be kind of pointless?  And doesn't cheese continue to develop even under the wax anyway?  (And while I'm asking questions, who is Pav?)

[Stinky]

Stinky, I’m confused.  Since the Edam is already dry, what might be gained by an extended drying time of days or weeks?  Wouldn't that produce enough of a rind that waxing would be kind of pointless?  And doesn't cheese continue to develop even under the wax anyway?  (And while I'm asking questions, who is Pav?)

It's dry to the touch, but still releasing some moisture. If you wax it now, you're likely to have whey weep out inside the wax and ferment. Not fun. By letting it get a bit of rind, you're protecting it from that and giving it more time to stop giving off whey. You would still wax because it uses less room and you don't have to monitor humidity, as well as keeping the cheese from drying out as much. Pav is the resident expert. Also known as linuxboy. On hiatus right now in the forum.

If you air dry at room temperature, the cultures are more likely to produce CO2 and make mechanical holes. With washed curd cheeses in particular, it's best to dry in the cave. Air drying at RT will be less likely to give you mold than in the cave. Make sure to heat the wax up to 205º F, in a double boiler. This will make sure it's safer. Dipping is the best way at it, and put several coats on.

[Kern]

Stinky has got it right.  It is the yeast and bacteria within the cheese that can cause the problem with RT drying - not those alighting on the outside.  What gets on the outside will be the same whether or not it is in the cave as the cave air exchanges with the outside air whenever you open the door.  As far as drying goes we're not talking about "wet to touch" here.  It is the moisture the paste is expelling during the first week or two that will get trapped if you wax too early.

I've got the 200 Recipes book.  My gripe about it is that pH goals are never mentioned.  Cheese making is a fermentation process where lactic bacteria digest milk sugar (lactose) to produce lactic acid - a water soluble acid the development of which is easily measured with a pH meter.  All cheese need to have some residual lactose for the aging process to work properly.  Thus, the fermentation process is stopped before all the lactose is gone by cooling and the addition of salt.  If you press a cheese beyond this point you'll end up with something different than you expected and it is apt to be a bit dry, crumbly, and tart.  Complicating things is that the lactic acid production is temperature dependent:  A little warmer or cooler will make a difference that ONLY a pH meter will detect. 

I urge you to get Caldwell's book if you wish to become a serious student of cheese making.  Not only will you learn a lot but you'll also understand the "why" of things and have the ability to save a cheese make when something is happening a lot faster or slower than the recipe indicates.

[Boofer]

Caldwell (Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking) calls for a 23% NaCl solution (essentially saturated) PLUS calcium chloride and vinegar.  Leave out the latter two and you can have problems with brining.  This is especially so with lighter brine used for long term aging (feta-type cheese).  Looking at some of the cheesemaking books and what gets left out of them (pH goals being the most important) I'd go with Caldwell's recommendation and use a teaspoon of calcium chloride and a teaspoon of vinegar for each gallon of brine.

If you are going to "dry" a cheese before waxing it then let it dry in the cheese cave (55F, 85% RH).  Letting it dry on the counter in the pantry can invite the growth of unwanted bacterial, etc. that thrive in higher temperatures - like coliform.

I'm wondering how many folks recover some of their whey from their current make and just add salt to create whey-brine. It's already pH and calcium-balanced since the current curds came from it. That has been working well for me for many makes.

-Boofer-

[Noel]

Boofer, I wish I had thought of that!

Stinky and Kern, I appreciate the pointers, insights and explanations.  The omission of pH targets from online recipes and most home cheesemaking books explains why I didn't recognize how crucial the meter is.   I’ll see about getting the Caldwell book, as well as the pH meter Sweet Leaves Farm pointed out. 

[awakephd]

Boofer,

I know that using the whey as the brining fluid (just add salt) is a time-honored approach. I've always wondered about possible additional acidification of the whey before it is made into brine. I'm guessing you add the salt (and therefore stop any further development of pH) at the point when the whey reaches the desired pH -- ??

[qdog1955]

Awake----good question-----My whey is usually around 6 when I finish a cheese---to use on my blueberries, I need 4.5----so I have to let it sit at room temp a day or two-----but to save the whey for cheese, when do you salt and refrigerate? At what ph are we looking for to use as a brine?
Qdog

[Kern]

Dang qdog!  I use whey on my blueberry bushes too.  I capture it in gallon jugs and let them sit around for a couple of days and then pour it on the ground around the bushes.  I haven't bothered to check the pH but assume it must be in the 4.5-4.7 range.   

[Boofer]

Boofer,

I know that using the whey as the brining fluid (just add salt) is a time-honored approach. I've always wondered about possible additional acidification of the whey before it is made into brine. I'm guessing you add the salt (and therefore stop any further development of pH) at the point when the whey reaches the desired pH -- ??

There comes a time when I'm removing whey either to add water to wash the curds or to put them into the mould.... I will have rinsed out the containers (gallon jugs or bottles) in anticipation of filling them with the warm whey. It is important to use straight, undiluted whey, before wash water has been added, to ensure the identical pH and calcium levels as the cheese.

Most recipes call for draining the whey to some degree. I'm just taking advantage of that moment. I typically have only needed to prepare and use around a half gallon of whey-brine for up to a four gallon make. The cheese floats easily in that volume of liquid. The warm whey dissolves the salt fairly well and I put the brine container into the cave to cool down. When the cheese comes out of the press, it goes into the cool whey-brine and then back into the cave. Good stuff.

The measuring cup and funnel had been sanitized earlier with StarSan.

-Boofer-

[awakephd]

So I take it that blueberries like the acid from the whey? We have planted a couple of blueberry bushes ... sounds like I've found a new use for my whey!