Author Topic: Lactic Set Try #2: a learning curve!  (Read 1636 times)

DoctorCheese

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Lactic Set Try #2: a learning curve!
« on: March 10, 2017, 04:14:00 AM »
Hello cheesers. Learning how to make lactic set cheese has been a ton of fun! The main thing I learned is that trying to follow recipes is a complete crap shoot. Depending on the recipe you look at, the whole process is estimated to be anywhere from maybe 20 hours up to a week. Trying to be rigid to a recipe my first time (as you can see I only decided to share now that my second try succeeded) resulted in a complete and utter failure that, had I taken pictures, would have been worthy of the failure board. My second try seems to be producing a cheese of some kind that we will all have to wait with bated breath for the result of. Hopefully the geo and PC will begin to grow and add some structural integrity to my little blobs. Next time I will do a much longer pre-drain period and may wait even longer for the curds to set as hard as possible. Here is what I ended up doing for this batch.

  • Heat 1 gallon whole milk to 86F
  • Add 1/8th tsp flora danica, 3 ice cubes worth of buttermilk mother culture, 1 skewer tip p candidum, 1/2 skewer tip geotrichum, and 5 drops CaCl, let sit 5 minutes then mix in
  • Add 5 drops liquid rennet and stir vigorously for 1 minute then still milk
  • Wait 24 hours, spoon curd into cheesecloth lined strainer, hang to drain for abou 6 hours, then put curds in to molds
  • 12 hours later flip the molds. 24 hours total of mold time.
  • I then split the curd masses in half and began drying
  • Salt all sides, roughly 3/4 tsp per cheese.
  • I ended up having to dry them for about 36 hours and eventually got impatient
  • Coat in vegetable ash and am now aging them in aging containers at 50F

Stay tuned for pictures when the mold begins to grow.

Offline Gregore

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Re: Lactic Set Try #2: a learning curve!
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2017, 04:46:42 AM »
I to am playing with lactic ,

One thing I found is that the slower you can get the ph to drop the better the flavor of curd at the end . So les is better when it comes to starter , I also use a very slow one , it can take 8 hrs or more to drop below 6

Mine is so delicious after it is salted I am temped to just eat it all right then.

Also you need to get it as dry as possible even if it means wrapping it in cloth after it is out of the mold.
Or else you will get slip skin .

I generally go 24 hrs for the set , scoop into molds , 24 hrs in molds , then salt and 24 hrs wrapped in cloth and flipped a few times , I might even replace the cloth  more than once if it gets too wet.

I  suspect that with raw milk or goat milk the curd would not need the cloth


DoctorCheese

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Re: Lactic Set Try #2: a learning curve!
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2017, 08:38:37 PM »
I opened one of these today to give it a taste and it is really nice. The mold has not imparted much yet though so I am looking forward to the taste after another week.

Offline Andrew Marshallsay

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Re: Lactic Set Try #2: a learning curve!
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2017, 04:22:43 AM »
Nice looking cheese!
Have one from me.
- Andrew

Offline Gregore

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Re: Lactic Set Try #2: a learning curve!
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2017, 04:44:00 AM »
That is the nice thing about latic set , it taste good right from the start , and just gets better.

And the slower the acid curve the more flavor you pull from the milk .

a cheese  4 you

DoctorCheese

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Re: Lactic Set Try #2: a learning curve!
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2017, 11:26:24 PM »
3 of my 4 cheeses that I made never got a nice fluffy coat of PC but rather have patches of it and patches where there is only Geo growth. Could this be caused by a salt inconsistency or possibly too much moisture or maybe not enough ash? There is fluffy PC trying to grow all over my aging mats so I do not think its a humidity problem. Any ideas please? (The cheese tastes really good still but it doesn't have the mushroomy finish.)

Offline Gregore

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Re: Lactic Set Try #2: a learning curve!
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2017, 04:10:33 AM »
 Too acidic , followed by maybe too much surface moisture , or both combined

Or if it was too acid the ash is really good at raising ph , thus more ash in an area could cause what you seen by raising the ph there more and allowing faster PC growth .

That would be my guess.

Surface salting should even out rather quickly .

Also I feel that you get more mushroom of a flavor if the PC is allowed to grow with out patting down , but at the cost of a thicker rind