My Époisses Style

[OzzieCheese]

Hi All you Turophiles !!

Today I'm going back to the Wash Rind cheese.  I have made this before and now I know what I can expect I can make a few adjustments.  I'll post the make sheet when I'm done but suffice to sat this is an adaptation of Jos Vulto's Ouleout.  The cheese is showcased in Gianaclis Caldwells' book - Mastering Artisan Cheese. I have made several adjustments seeing as I'm not using Raw milk and I don't have access to the cultures he listed so the mistakes are all mine and so are the assumptions.

This one uses the Maleny Milk I always have
10 Lts
Pinch (1/16 tsp) of MM100
1 Drop(1/64 tsp) of MA4001,
1 Drop Geotrichum candidum ,
a 10 litre "Greenliving Australia dose of B.Linens Tad(1/4 tsp) and
1 Drop (1/64 tsp)  Mot92 (sacco)
2 mls of rennet (200 IMCU)

time to culture - I'll be back shortly

Heat the milk slowly to 32 DegC
Add Calcium Chloride 1/4 tsp diluted in 1/4 cup of non - chlorinated water

Ripen for 1.5 - 2 hours to give an initial drop in pH of .13.  This is where I'm up to at the moment.

Back soon.

[OzzieCheese]

I'll add the sheet soon but for those not wanting to wait for 6 weeks to see the expected end result - this is the one I made earlier last year.
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,14981.0.html

[OzzieCheese]

After 90 minutes the pH is 6.60 so, another 30 minutes should get me there.

Here is the make sheet I'm following.  The Affinage section still needs work but the last one took 12 weeks which is probably a bit slow.  We'll see how this goes.  Truth be known anything that turns nice and gooey with a punchy smell and I'll be happy.

Mal

[Rain Frances]

Hi OzzieCheese!

I can't wait to see pictures! I've never made a Wash Rind cheese, but I did have to look up the image to know what kind of cheese that was! Oh, and thanks for teaching me a new word, I'm definitely a turophile!

Rain

[Andrew Marshallsay]

Hi Mal. I will be watching this one with interest.
There is something very special about a good washed rind cheese.

[OzzieCheese]

Well,  its been a week and I have been very slack in not updating my Cheese make - Bad Mal !!

So here is how the make proceeded.  I attach a few photos as well.

[OzzieCheese]

Yes - I need a name for this one...  Its a bit of mixture.

1.  Of course the first one is my playground - Cleaned, not sterilised... Its cheese not surgery!
2.  After the long curd set and the column cut the curds were amazingly delicate - so treat this like soap bubble that you don't want to break
3.  These are the 2 form I'm going to shape them in - as you'll see later I didn't do to good a job here.
4.  What you cant see at the moment is a separator in the middle of the curds.  I don't this to make two cheeses at once. - I get to play with the washing and ripening with two !!

[OzzieCheese]

1.  I drop a 1 kg Weigh on the molds to help the whey leave the cheese - I don't want the pH to drop too low otherwise the ripening goes a bit funny and the outside ripen before the inside gets time to go gooey.
2.  As you can see here I was a little off in my guessing what 1/2 the curds should have been.
3.  The smaller one with ripen a bit sooner than the fatter one.  And the larger one is a bit lopsided - thick at one end and thinish at the other.  Oh Well - its cheese.
4-5.  After Brining in 16% for 1 hour

I'll post as they mature as well.

--Mal

[Andrew Marshallsay]

Looking good so far.
The idea of making two cheeses in one mould and using the follower as a separator is an interesting one. I hadn't heard of that before.
Of course, you don't want them both ripening at the same time. Perhaps you should have claimed that as part of the plan.

[OzzieCheese]

I remember seeing the two cheese from 1 form somewhere either SBS or other foodie type show. Of course, it was a much larger cheese drained as one and then split.  I'm borrowing off that though, I do need to get my proportions right. 

Been washing now for a week and some details that I have noticed.

1.  Getting a real nice smell up and going - still maturing @ 10DegC
2.  As you wash the cheese it gets slippery but, not slimy (if that makes sense) and it doesn't transfer to your hands.  Its really weird ....
3.  GC is getting established already and I even have some nice 'Brain wrinkles" developing.

Going the start Brandy washing next week - I'm going to start 1 next week and the other the week after - just to see what happens.

Ah It's cheese...

--Mal

[Al Lewis]

I loved making this cheese.  Also loved eating it although the wife did complain about the smell. LOL  Good luck with your buddy!! 

[OzzieCheese]

Al !!! - long time no hear.  Hope you are well.  The cheeses are in their third week and lookin guuud.  They too have been banished outside. They are starting to soften, a bit early but I've dropped the temp.  Next week is the Brandy wash so, I'm looking forward to a nice change in smell and funk.

-- Mal

[Andrew Marshallsay]

Bring them back inside! Embrace the pong!

[OzzieCheese]

haha..  Oh I wish but, no.  The smaller (thinner) cheese has already gone soft so I'm seeing in real time what the extra cream ripening. The cream really does retard the softening process, mind you it is only an inch thick so it's sort of expected.  The larger one is riping faster as well.

I'll see if I cant load some photos this morning.

-- Mal

[Fritz]

Looking good Mal, thanks for all the great insight I've received from you...
If I may draw further from your experience.. you were saying that adding extra cream to surface ripened (and your washed rind) cheeses actually makes it LESS runny? Did I catch that right? I'm a fan of gooy cams, and haven't really got that consistency lately, coincidently coinciding with my efforts of making my "triple cream" versions... is this my issue? Any info is greatly appreciated.

PS happy 117th birthday... you don't look a day over 95 ..... what? ... am I the only one that reads the upcoming birthday notices? Lol