Made a semi hard cheese~

[valley ranch]

Hi, I heated 2gallons or fresh natural Jersey milk slowly to 80 added lipase 1/3 tesp, and 1/4 teaspoon Paprika 1 teaspoon citric acid grains stirred in, at 88degrees added rennet.

Cut the curd small, in 20 mins heated curd to 104degrees 20min. Strained. Added couple tablesspoons salt & Nana {mint} Didn't have the press, down at the lower place. Used light weight, turned, added more weight, 4or5 turns.

I like the taste and texture, so might you.

[lovinglife]

That sounds interesting and rather easy to make!  I may have to give this a try.  So mint and paprika, that sounds interesting, I have fresh mint I think I will give this a try this weekend.  No aging for this cheese?

[valley ranch]

Lovinglife, Right No ageing. Well 48hours. Has a nice texture. I'm making a press to use when up here, I wasn't happy with pressing it the way I did, plus the final pressing I would like to have had a good deal more weight. I covered the the outside of the cheese with salt and more whey came out, had I had my press up here I would have gotten that out, in the final pressing both sides. The taste sharpen as it does age. it can be cut and some frozen if it is to sit too long in the fridge.

I make this with Raw milk. I use the crinkly mint Not spearmint.

If you make the type of cheese, please let me/us know how you liked it, the look of the round, the aroma, and the taste.

Thank you
Richard

[valley ranch]

Lovinglife, Looking at my first post, I didn't mention: 1/4 Teaspoon or less of Citric Acid grains, sprinkled and stirred in after lipase is in for a few min.

[awakephd]

Richard, in the recipe in the first post, you call for 1 tsp of citric acid ... ?

[valley ranch]

Hi awakephd, I measured by pouring citric acid not my hand, and guessed that it was a teaspoon, I later measured, when making a batch, and it was closer to 1/4 teaspoon.

I made the correction in the next reply. Let me correct the first post.

Sorry didn't mean to make a problem for you on your first ring. I'll see if I can correct the 1st post.

Richard

I made a press nothing fancy, but better that the little arbor press I had been using.

[awakephd]

Good work! That press will greatly expand the range of cheeses you can make. What is the MA (mechanical advantage) of the press? E.g., when you hang 8 lbs (1 gallon of water) from the end, what press weight do you get?

[valley ranch]

I haven't scaled the press yet, I'm guessing, just guessing, maybe 40lbs. What do you think?

[Duntov]

Very interesting recipe and spice combination.  AC4U for creativity!

[awakephd]

I haven't scaled the press yet, I'm guessing, just guessing, maybe 40lbs. What do you think?

The calculation is very easy - the ratio = distance from the pivot to the weight : distance from the pivot to the ram. In the picture it looks like about a 3:1 ratio, giving a 3:1 mechanical advantage, so 8 lbs of weight = 24 lbs of force on the cheese. Of course, estimating from a picture is subject to error.

My first press was a 3:1 ratio, and it served me well for quite a while. But instead of hanging jugs for the weight, I made it to accept the weights from a weight machine that I had; this let me put up to 50 lbs on the end, giving up to 150 lbs of force, helpful for making cheddars.

Since then I've made a "compound lever" press which has selectable MA from 2:1 all the way up to 24:1. The most I've tried using this press is 37.5 lbs applied to the end with the 24:1 ratio, giving 900 lbs of force at the cheese - that was to press a Cantal, which is notoriously difficult to get a good knit.

[almabts]

Thanks for sharing your experience. How long do you drain it? I drained mine for an hour, and the curds were much drier than in your picture. It still knit up pretty well when pressed, but I would like a jack to have a smoother surface. Now comes the hard part: waiting for it to age.

[valley ranch]

I try to drain the curd for good while, but an hour is all it gets most of the time. I break it up and salt the curd, that helps getting more moisture out.

We are at the lower ranch, 4300 ft, and much warmer, that makes a great difference in everything from start to finish. The curd set quicker and more solid, even the pressing is faster and of course when allowing the rind to form takes a shorter time.