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Farmstead Cheese: Chalky, crumbly, and flavorless?

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gstone:
I made this cheese (the larger one on the bottom in the pic below) according to the Farmstead Cheese recipe at cheesemaking.com, as a four-gallon batch, from ordinary whole milk.  Since this was my first time sizing up from 1 and 2 gallon batches, I was extra cautious to follow the directions.  The only departure I made was to do a natural rind instead of waxing or wrapping. 

Yesterday was the 4-week mark, and I decided to try it out young.  If it was a hit, I could invest more time and money in making larger cheeses and aging some longer.

It looked great when I cut it in half. It looked a little moist across the surface of the cut, like a semi-soft cheese; it smelled mild but cheesy.  But when I took a bite I was shocked to find it very dry and chalky on the palate, with very little flavor at first, but giving way to a somewhat sharp-cheddar aftertaste.  For a moment I questioned whether I had salted it or not, but I know I did. 

Any ideas why this might be? Too much rennet, CaCl2, or culture?  Not enough?  Would this age out, maybe? Should I have waxed it after all?  I expect the yellow cheese behind it to be even worse, because it's the same recipe (except for color) and I know I stirred the curds a little dry on that one.

Gregore:
Chalky and crumbly usually means too low of acid curve before salting . Can you give a pic of inside ? It helps to see the texture .

AnnDee:
Very lovely looking cheeses, blue green orange and 'normal' looking yellow rind. How do you treat your rind? Do you use special yeast?

awakephd:
Could be other problems including the pH, but in my experience, cheddar just doesn't taste good until it has aged for 6 months or so. Since you've already cut it open, it may be hard to put it back together to continue aging, but you could vacuum-bag it and let it age out.

gstone:
I did just that.  I only took a small sliver, so it fit back together pretty well.  It's not technically a cheddar, though, since there's no cheddaring involved. It's as close as I've seen to "just a plain-old cheese".


--- Quote from: AnnDee on July 17, 2017, 08:10:48 AM ---Very lovely looking cheeses, blue green orange and 'normal' looking yellow rind. How do you treat your rind? Do you use special yeast?
--- End quote ---
Thank you.  All of the rind cultures are whatever was floating around wild in my cheese room, helped along by a variety of rinds I've saved from imported Tomme de Savoire, Comte, and so on, and cultivated their molds back into activity.  I was really stoked to get such a lively B. linens culture going, although my Fourme d'Ambert wouldn't have been my first choice of place for it. Still, that cheese turned out beautifully. 


--- Quote from: Gregore on July 17, 2017, 03:45:27 AM ---Chalky and crumbly usually means too low of acid curve before salting . Can you give a pic of inside? It helps to see the texture.
--- End quote ---
That could be.  I haven't actually been monitoring pH.  Here are some pics of the inside and rind.

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