My first washed rind cheese

[scasnerkay]

Slow to this party....
I made this one almost a month ago, and am wondering if it is time to wrap it in paper, or if I can/should just keep washing it every few days. It wants to grow blue stuff, and white stuff, and a little black stuff, etc. Maybe there is a small bit of reddish starting to show...
Since I do not have official cheese paper, what are my alternatives if wrapping?

[Gregore]

Based on the make,sheet and expected goals , it looks,like a tomme of sorts with a washed rind , I assume that a 2 gallon make left you with a 1500 gram cheese or so

There for it should take at a minimum  of 1.5 months affinage  maybe more like 3 if you can keep it moist enough

Just so you know that the washing  of the rind on a larger cheese like this is usually to keep away all of the stuff that you said you want , so you need to decide soon wash or not.

My advice would be now that you have washed for so long already is to wash every time something shows up and make another cheese  to have a wild rind and do no washing on that one.

Also you do not need to wrap this cheese , just keep in the Tupperware type mini cave  to keep the humidity high enough to stop the outer rind from drying out.

Also as the acid level dropped more,than the recipe called for it might take longer for it to ripen , my first few tommes  were also the same and ended up with a gradient of ripeness  with the least ripe and more ,tangy sharpness near the center and a creamier more flavorful outside

[Gregore]

One thing I forgot to ask is , how tall is this cheese in relation to the width ?

The thicker the cheese the closer my advice will be , the thinner the cheese  the less my advice will hold  and the more likely that the inside will be gooey when it comes time to eat.

[scasnerkay]

Thanks Gregore -
The recipe came from the Caldwell book and is supposedly similar to the Cowgirl Creamery "Red Hawk" cheese.  I did not have any of the surface ripening culture to add to the milk, so I used some of a Red Hawk rind in the light brine for washing the cheese. Red Hawk form is fairly flat, with more surface area. I did the same with this one... It is about 1.5 inches tall (started closer to 2 inches) and 7 inches wide. I am looking for gooey in the middle when ripe.

The tommes I make I have done with wild rind or brushed rind or washed rind or even wine soaked... All good! Different form factor though. And different intent from this one.

Usually from 2 gallons I get closer to 2# wheel or about 900 grams! So yes I did get about 1300 grams - an exceptional yield for me from that much milk.

[Boofer]

Hi Susan. I'm confused about your make sheet.

It says the actual pressing pH was 5.47, but then I see "After overnight in cave pH read way too low at 5.15".

One of the things that I couldn't do without now is PLA. It appears in a lot of the cheeses I make, washed rind or otherwise. It is added to the milk and/or used in the affinage stage. It protects the rind and makes life much easier.   One of the problems with using rind scrapings from a commercial cheese for a rind-wash is that you may bring along a few more undesirables than you anticipated.

I have attached a number of articles written over the years from linuxboy(Pav), Alp, Francois, and iratherfly(Yoav). Probably more information than you need or want but pick through and find what appeals and works for you.

-Boofer-

[Stinky]

I'd just wash every week until it's got a nice firm impenetrable rind. If you're getting a good amount of blues, drop the humidity a bit.

Unless it's a stinky cheese, and then you can wrap it in wax paper and aluminum foil and stick it in the fridge if directions recommend.

[scasnerkay]

Thanks Boofer and Stinky! I am trying to make a gooey and stinky cheese here. And it is quite "fragrant" already! I set off on thie trial without the proper ripening starter to add to the milk, and I chose a cheese carefully to use for scraping. Caldwell mentions the caution about doing so, but I know that Cowgirl Creamery is pretty careful about their product! And so why not?!?
I will wrap in parchment and foil and see what happens.
Regarding the pH... I think the measurement taken in the morning was not accurate due to the cold temperature of the wheel. The reasons for leaving it in the cave were two fold - to bring it to the same temperature as the brine, before putting it into the brine, and because I wanted to start the brining at a time which was convenient so I could take it out of the brine at the proper time. (How's that for a confusing sentence?)

[Gregore]

Sorry I mis read your post I thought you said you wanted to grow the wild stuff, as apposed to "it "wanting to.

RedHawk it is a Mt Tam  a PC cheese that after 10 days is washed like a washed rind  then ripened for another 20 days or so.  It uses a form factor that is much different than what you did . I added a link for the correct molds if you want.  The RedHawk is more like 3 inches wide by 2.5 tall

So what you are making is closer to a largish reblochon and thus you  should read the post on same by   Iratherfly


When the edges start to round out and become soft to the touch it is ready to wrap and put in the fridge for the rest of its affinage , the larger size of your cheese should add another  week or 2 to the time to finish .

Also if the cheese is not kept  moist enough and or the curd was too dry and or the ph was to low to start the  edges might dry before they become soft and the center will have to become your guide for when to wrap and put in the fridge.

Also if you want to learn to make a washed rind cheese and become  a master at it then the  reblochon post by iratherfly  has got every thing needed  to get there , I spent the last year making only  2 cheese types and this was one of them , and every time I had a question the answer was always in the post already,  now that I can make this cheese in my sleep I am finding it so much easier trying other cheeses and understanding them


http://artisangeek.com/saint-marcellin-cheese-mould/

[scasnerkay]

Just checking the surface pH out of curiosity - and it is about 7.5 at 55 degrees. I had no idea the pH could be so high. I notice that the "skin" of the rind is fairly firm, but when I gently push on the edges of the cheese, there is a distinct softness to the paste under the rind...

[Stinky]

I'd wrap this up in wax paper and foil, and toss in the fridge now. Cut when you think it's soft enough by feel. You might have had it ripen too fast by leaving it out at 55 this long. If you try this again, put it in cold storage faster. I wouldn't be shocked if the bit close to the rind is oozy compared to the middle.

And the raised pH makes sense. The general process, as I understand it, is that yeasts use the lactate in the cheese up, raising the pH and allowing for optimum linens growth, which further raises the pH. Not completely sure on the specifics, but raising of the pH of the rind is a big part of the process. This also makes the cheese more susceptible to pathogenic organisms, which is why you have to be a bit more careful with this type of cheese.

[scasnerkay]

I think I will taste just a little bit of it when it is time to cut it!

[Stinky]

I think I will taste just a little bit of it when it is time to cut it!

I mean when you cut it is really your own judgement on how strong or soft you want it to be.