Author Topic: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.  (Read 5196 times)

Stinky

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Re: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.
« Reply #15 on: July 31, 2015, 02:18:30 PM »
H'm. If you do Caerphilly, I'd stick with a stirred-crud version rather than cheddared until you gain more experience. But it's a great cheese for a starter. It's fast, so patience is not a huge issue, and pretty tasty. Might I also possibly recommend a Butterkäse or a Tomme?

 
hi Stinky (ps Qdog1955 sorry to be hijacking your thread :S i will try to move this convo to somewhere.. lol maybe my intro?) the caerphilly recipe i was looking at didnt seem to be complicated so im assuming its the stirred curd one. i went to the links you give and i love the simpliciy and the gorgeous look of that butterkase (how do you type that accent on the a?????) but was TOTALLY lost on the Tomme recipe :/ i notice that i gauge my "level" by how many words i need to look up definitions for and i was lost pretty early on with that one, hahaha!


If you'd like I can expand the Tomme recipe until it makes more sense to you.

Offline Boofer

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Re: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.
« Reply #16 on: July 31, 2015, 10:37:00 PM »
I'd stick with a stirred-crud version
Always looking for candidates for the family album. ;)

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Oolybooly

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Re: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.
« Reply #17 on: July 31, 2015, 11:17:37 PM »
H'm. If you do Caerphilly, I'd stick with a stirred-crud version rather than cheddared until you gain more experience. But it's a great cheese for a starter. It's fast, so patience is not a huge issue, and pretty tasty. Might I also possibly recommend a Butterkäse or a Tomme?

 
hi Stinky (ps Qdog1955 sorry to be hijacking your thread :S i will try to move this convo to somewhere.. lol maybe my intro?) the caerphilly recipe i was looking at didnt seem to be complicated so im assuming its the stirred curd one. i went to the links you give and i love the simpliciy and the gorgeous look of that butterkase (how do you type that accent on the a?????) but was TOTALLY lost on the Tomme recipe :/ i notice that i gauge my "level" by how many words i need to look up definitions for and i was lost pretty early on with that one, hahaha!


If you'd like I can expand the Tomme recipe until it makes more sense to you.



haha ok.. lets see.. these are the parts that i dont understand:

 i dont have a ph tester yet so not sure if it should only be done once i have one.

-"If needed, add CaCl2 diluted in cold water"  how does one know if its needed? is that when you have store bought milk? (which i will be doing)
- "Add .8 ml double strength rennet..."  nvm, just looked at mine and its double strength  O0
-"Wait for flocculation" what??
- "soak the cheesecloth in pH 5.2 whey beforehand" is this the same whey you pour off? or from a previous batch?
-"Press under own weight" does that mean no weight added or the equivalent of what it weighs?
-"Brine in fully saturated brine" i can look this up
-"Age 3-6 months at 50-55F, 85-92% RH (or higher if using special rind treatment or making a b linens variant). Natural or oil rubbed rind." how do you go about choosing which way?

-"To help with natural rind development, you can use Micodore, Mycoderm, Geo, b linens, Micrococci, etc or a complex surface culture mix like PLA from Danisco." all of them? how do you choose? preference? what are they? whyyyy???


as you can see, i know NOTHING and am pretty overwhelmed with all cultures/bacterias/words/calculations/methods/and crazy knowledge everyone seems to have :S




qdog1955

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Re: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.
« Reply #18 on: August 01, 2015, 08:50:07 AM »
I suggest you get ------Mary Karlin's book
Artisan Cheese Making at Home: Techniques & Recipes for Mastering World-Class Cheeses Hardcover – August 23, 2011
by Mary Karlin (Author), Ed Anderson (Author)
    She does a pretty good job of explaining the mysteries of making cheese and most of her recipes work well.
Qdog

amiriliano

  • Guest
Re: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.
« Reply #19 on: August 01, 2015, 02:24:44 PM »
My recent failure: tried a montasio - got distracted by kids and burned the milk. In a desperate attempt at rescuing, made halloumi out of curds. Learned a lesson: you can't get risk of burned flavors. Straight to trash! :o

Stinky

  • Guest
Re: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.
« Reply #20 on: August 01, 2015, 03:02:25 PM »


 
Quote
i dont have a ph tester yet so not sure if it should only be done once i have one.
You can do without. pH testing simply helps you hit targets and refine it, but not necessary when you're starting out.
Quote
-"If needed, add CaCl2 diluted in cold water"  how does one know if its needed? is that when you have store bought milk? (which i will be doing)
Use CaCl2. Try around 1/2 tsp. diluted in 1/4 cup water for 2 gallons.
Quote
- "Add .8 ml double strength rennet..."  nvm, just looked at mine and its double strength  O0
If you can't measure that amount, go for possibly 3/16 tsp. double strength
Quote
-"Wait for flocculation" what??
Flocculation is a more precise way of calculating when to cut. Rather than waiting for a certain amount of time and eyeballing when the curd is firm enough to cut, you sterilize a container beforehand, float it on top of the milk after renneting, and when it doesn't spin or move around when you tap it anymore is your base time. Example, the tupperware won't spin at 10 minutes. I'm making a cheddar cheese. I've done research, and cheddar often has a floc factor of 3.5x. So I'll multiply 10 by 3.5, get 35, and wait that long from initial renneting to cut the curds. It's not perfect, but better than waiting for a "clean cut" as a clean cut for one type of cheese is different than another. I'm not going to put all the information on floc factors here, you should be able to find nice articles written on it, though.
Quote
- "soak the cheesecloth in pH 5.2 whey beforehand" is this the same whey you pour off? or from a previous batch?
Just dunk it into your whey
Quote
-"Press under own weight" does that mean no weight added or the equivalent of what it weighs?
This would typically mean you would stack a few other Tommes on top of it, or light pressure. Basically, what it weighs is fine, and it means you don't have to stress out about presses and stuff.
Quote
-"Brine in fully saturated brine" i can look this up
Add salt to warm water until no more goes in
Quote
-"Age 3-6 months at 50-55F, 85-92% RH (or higher if using special rind treatment or making a b linens variant). Natural or oil rubbed rind." how do you go about choosing which way?
Depends which you prefer. You'll get more flavor going natural, but can't guarantee it'll be flavor you like. Oil  you would rub on after at least a week or two, maybe weekly or biweekly, just enough to lightly coat the surface, but there shouldn't be liquid oil. Imagine oiling wood. You do just as much as soaks in, and wipe any else off. This means the rind won't be as funky and you won't have to worry about that.
Quote
-"To help with natural rind development, you can use Micodore, Mycoderm, Geo, b linens, Micrococci, etc or a complex surface culture mix like PLA from Danisco." all of them? how do you choose? preference? what are they? whyyyy???
They're just things that you can inoculate the cheese with to get certain characteristics and/or keep wild molds from taking over. Not necessary at your stage.

Quote
as you can see, i know NOTHING and am pretty overwhelmed with all cultures/bacterias/words/calculations/methods/and crazy knowledge everyone seems to have :S
Just read around on the forum and you'll learn a lot. Also make sure to take notes of what happens during the process (mine usually has times on it, and just when i did what, and if i messed anything up) don't trust to memory. I can give you a little list of a few useful threads to read on here if you'd like.

And please ask if you have any more questions or if you'd like anything expanded on.

John@PC

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Re: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.
« Reply #21 on: August 02, 2015, 11:16:33 PM »
Kudo's (as well as a cheese) to you Stinky for you comments.  What a great example of good questions from Oolybooly and precise answers by you.  One could only wish we could get the same out of our politicians ::)

Stinky

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Re: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.
« Reply #22 on: August 02, 2015, 11:53:40 PM »
Kudo's (as well as a cheese) to you Stinky for you comments.  What a great example of good questions from Oolybooly and precise answers by you.  One could only wish we could get the same out of our politicians ::).

I learned from the masters. But really I want to improve my knowledge so that I can really answer more stuff well.

Thanks for the cheese, by the by.

Oolybooly

  • Guest
Re: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.
« Reply #23 on: August 03, 2015, 01:17:42 AM »
Kudo's (as well as a cheese) to you Stinky for you comments.  What a great example of good questions from Oolybooly and precise answers by you.  One could only wish we could get the same out of our politicians ::).

They were answered perfectly don't you think? Clear, thorough and very patient.. With added bonus of why! Thanks stinky :)

Stinky

  • Guest
Re: 35 cheeses---and the learning curve.
« Reply #24 on: August 03, 2015, 02:48:19 AM »
Kudo's (as well as a cheese) to you Stinky for you comments.  What a great example of good questions from Oolybooly and precise answers by you.  One could only wish we could get the same out of our politicians ::).

They were answered perfectly don't you think? Clear, thorough and very patient.. With added bonus of why! Thanks stinky :)

Cheers. :)