Author Topic: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental  (Read 3211 times)

Offline Al Lewis

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Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« on: November 11, 2017, 05:35:09 PM »
Trying to fill the cave and decided on making a 4 pound Emmental.  I used the same recipe as the 7 pound one I did a while back but used 1/2 of everything.  Why 1/2? Well when I made the 7 pound one it took 8 gallons of milk and this one took 4.  Anyway, here's a shot of the cheese after pressing. 
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2017, 05:38:34 PM »
Out of the press and straight into a 54°F, 18% saturated, brine.  The hockey puck is to keep the top of the cheese submerged.  It still floats with it on there.  So how do you keep it at 54°F.  Simple, put it into your cheese cave.  Mine, by the way, is finally starting to look healthy again.  Still have a ways to go to fill it.  Maybe 6 or so more wheels.
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Offline H-K-J

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2017, 06:14:04 PM »
Oh yes that looks much better li'll buddy ;)
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Offline Boofer

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2017, 08:04:53 AM »
How long will you brine it, Al?  Did you ever figure out how much PS to add? Seems like there was a trend at one time to keep adding more PS to get bigger eyes/holes.

Yeah, an alpine has been tugging at my sleeve for a while now. Which will it be...Maasdam, Goutaler, Emmental? Haven't done one in quite some time now.

By the way, I was always envious of that tall cave you've got. I mitigated it a bit when I got my freezerless Danby not so long ago. Pretty cool. :D

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timsumrall

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2017, 12:33:09 PM »
Emmental makes me drool. Good luck!
« Last Edit: November 12, 2017, 08:45:23 PM by Tim Sumrall »

Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2017, 03:58:17 PM »
How long will you brine it, Al?  Did you ever figure out how much PS to add? Seems like there was a trend at one time to keep adding more PS to get bigger eyes/holes.

Yeah, an alpine has been tugging at my sleeve for a while now. Which will it be...Maasdam, Goutaler, Emmental? Haven't done one in quite some time now.

By the way, I was always envious of that tall cave you've got. I mitigated it a bit when I got my freezerless Danby not so long ago. Pretty cool. :D

-Boofer-

Thanks Boofer. The cave is a new one.  15 cu ft I believe.  I brined this one for 6 hours.  Used 3/8 tspn of PR.  We'll see how that works out.  I believe my final conclusion was not the amount of PR but, the 80°F warm period that developed the holes.  I have a plan to carry that out on this one and to let the bottom bulge while doing it. ;D
« Last Edit: November 12, 2017, 04:46:24 PM by Al Lewis »
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Offline GortKlaatu

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2017, 04:23:36 PM »
Looks great.  Keep us posted.
I have an Emmental that is currently at 2 1/2 months.  I may crack it open at Christmas to taste it early and age the rest.

Somewhere, some long time ago, milk decided to reach toward immortality… and to call itself cheese.

timsumrall

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2017, 09:19:47 PM »
Just read through your 7 pounder.  Pure goodness. AC4U

You mentioned "cheese at least 4" thick". Did you get that this time? I can only handle 3 gallons plus maybe 1-2 pints and I have a 6" x 6" mold. They end up right at 2.5 inches.


Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2017, 02:22:33 AM »
This one is 2 inches. I wanted to try something different for the 80 degree period and it required that thickness.
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #9 on: November 16, 2017, 05:42:44 PM »
Well this one hasn't changed a bit which is good.  The cave, on the other hand, is filling up! ;D
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #10 on: November 17, 2017, 10:56:13 PM »
So how do you keep a cheese at 80°F for two days without heating an entire room or cabinet.  Simple, I placed mine into a sealed bag and am using my Sous-Vide to hold it to temp. You have to set the sous vide 5°F above the temp you want in the bag.  We'll see how it turns out.  May be a strange shaped cheese in the end but as long as it tastes good!! :P
« Last Edit: November 19, 2017, 07:13:06 PM by Al Lewis »
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Offline GortKlaatu

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #11 on: November 18, 2017, 02:40:11 AM »
AC4U for ingenuity!

Somewhere, some long time ago, milk decided to reach toward immortality… and to call itself cheese.

Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #12 on: November 18, 2017, 10:58:51 PM »
Thank you!  I don't get a lot of those these days but then, I really don't pay much attention to them. They are, however, vastly appreciated! ;D
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Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #13 on: November 19, 2017, 07:12:45 PM »
So after the 80° cycle I placed the bag into cool water to bring the cheese back to cave temp without sitting it on a flat surface.  Where it cools down I'll wax it and then age it.
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Offline Boofer

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Re: Making a Nice 4 pound Emmental
« Reply #14 on: November 19, 2017, 09:07:31 PM »
Interesting sous vide usage.

I can't recall now when or where I was informed about the temperature for the Warm Phase (by linuxboy or Francois), but it seemed to be in the mid 70's. I was told that too high and off flavor characteristics may appear. Maasdam calls for 3 weeks @ 64-72F/18-22C.

You referenced this 3 years ago:
I believe that the answer we are all looking for is that this cheese is made high in the mountains in Switzerland.  Low atmospheric pressure.  Bring it down near sea level and you will never get the same results.  Settle for what you get.
I wonder what the outcome would be if you vacuum-bagged the cheese before putting into the Warm Phase. This would have a similar effect, I believe, in going up to the Alps. Does that make sense? Certainly you'd want to have some level of vacuum just this side of sub-orbital. ;) 8)  As the cheese releases gas, it would mitigate the vacuum and swell the bag.

I've posted the attachments previously but thought since you were doing your Emmental that these might be relevant for new members who may not have seen them.

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