Caerphilly 7 lb

[amiriliano]

Made this 7lb Caerphilly, intended for sale in 2 months. Looking good for now. Time will tell...

[awakephd]

7lbs. -- I'm envious! The largest cheese I've made was a bit under 6 lbs, and I had to use two pots. I'm curious about the make: Which recipe did you follow? Did you wind up with a good knit? (Not to be rude, but the first picture looks a little crumbly!) What was the max weight/pressure you used to press it, and what size of mold?

[Kern]

Amiriliano, a cheese for your efforts! 

I made a six pound Caerphilly late last April using 6 gallons of vat pasteurized cream top milk.  Info and "cheese porn" at http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,14584.msg110785.html#msg110785.  I had a bit of a problem with too rapid a pH drop.  The cheese turned out OK but not one of my favorites as it was a bit too tart for my taste.  I've got a bit of it left in a vacuum bag and should try it and see how it tastes now.  In fact, I'll do it in a few minutes and report back.

[Kern]

Ugh!  I just tasted my Caerphilly.  (See above).  The "foretaste" was fine, the paste had yellowed but the aftertaste was unpleasant with a lingering bitterness!    I've off to get a piece of chocolate to get rid of it.   

[scasnerkay]

How will you be selling it?? I have long thought that if I were to be able to do commercial that a caerphilly type would be on the list. I have made that variety of cheese more than any other, and it remains very popular among family and friends. I think I would want to give it a different name however!

[Kern]

Susan, where are you taking your Caerphillys to pH wise?

[scasnerkay]

I target 5.6 for salting. I will make a posting of the latest one I opened....

[amiriliano]

Sorry for the late response - been way.

@awake: I used 35lbs (haven't figured out the PSI) on a dutch press. I do think the knit is too loose and I am worried that it will crumble too much at 2 months. I think my mistake is in overcooking the curds. Caldwell recommends a dry curd but according to Little Green Cheese, they should be water. I think if I cooked them less, the knit would be tighter, although I wonder what that would do to the pressed pH and the final flavor profile.

Any thoughts?

[awakephd]

35 lbs at the cheese, or 35 lbs at the end of the lever? If the former, that seems way too little for a 7 lb cheese; if the latter, how much mechanical advantage does the press give?

[amiriliano]

Here's my press (a masterpiece by QDog!)

Lever arm length is 25"
The post that hangs down and presses on the follower (don't know the name) is positioned at 9.5" from the fulcrum.
I hang dumbbell weights at the tip of the lever arm.

It's been a long time since physics...

Thanks for helping

-Emi

[scasnerkay]

Looks like a gymnastics studio... How do you have a place to make cheese there?

[amiriliano]

Ha! So weird right?

First, sorry my photos are sideways.

So I'm not actually in a gymnasium, I'm in a kitchen whose wall is shared with a gym. The wall is glass. I have to work out of a commercial kitchen to be able to sell it.

[scasnerkay]

Your laws there must be more easy than ours in California if the only requirement is a commercial kitchen!! Lucky for you!

[amiriliano]

There's more. I had to get approved by the Pennsylvania department of Agriculture first and any milk I use is considered "raw" (even if I use pasteurized milk), unless I I pasteurize it on site. This means that any cheese I make must be aged a minimum of 60 days and have a moisture level of less than 32%

[awakephd]

Okay, your MA (mechanical advantage) = total lever length / fulcrum length = 25 / 9.5 = 2.63. So the amount of force applied to your cheese was 35 * 2.63 = 92 lbs. PSI depends on the surface area of the mold used. Let's say you used an 8" diameter mold; surface area = pi * r^2 = 3.14 * 16 = 50.27 square inches. So PSI = 92 / 50 = 1.84 PSI.

I have gotten a decent knit in Caerphilly with PSI in that vicinity, but that still seems on the low side to me ...