Author Topic: Cheddar with the sous vide set up  (Read 1993 times)

Offline scasnerkay

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Cheddar with the sous vide set up
« on: January 05, 2018, 12:41:40 AM »
Used the sous vide device for heating the water/milk. Very easy and I like the idea of the more gentle heat. As seen in the image, the plastic container is not the best fit for this, and I may yet go ahead and order the Metro plastic tote mentioned in another posting. It worked pretty well, but the volume of water required is more than I want to heat up.
This was about 3.5 gallons of lovely jersey milk, and I used Kazu for a starter. A bit slow on the pH development during the make. Final cheese is about 4.5 pounds. Smells lovely.
Susan

Frodage4

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Re: Cheddar with the sous vide set up
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2018, 04:45:25 PM »
Hi Susan - you're my hero and always on the fore front! I'm looking to get the same type of sous vide setup, but need the pH meter too. What brand and model of pH meter do you recommend?

Offline scasnerkay

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Re: Cheddar with the sous vide set up
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2018, 05:39:31 AM »
You are too kind! I am only playing with ideas put out by others!
That cheese has now been vacuum sealed. Even though it had a good knit, after about 2 weeks I could see some cracking in between the curds. The other option would have been bandage wrapping, but this works well for me.

For the pH meter, I use the Extech Exstik 100, and have been very satisfied with it. It periodically needs a thorough cleaning, which is documented somewhere here on the forum. If I feel like the numbers are not what I expected, I will clean it, soak it in 4.0 solution for as long as I have time for, and recalibrate and check again. Fortunately most of the time I do not have to do that!
Susan

Frodage4

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Re: Cheddar with the sous vide set up
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2018, 05:49:32 AM »
Great! Thanks!

Offline pastpawn

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Re: Cheddar with the sous vide set up
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2018, 05:58:03 AM »
You are too kind! I am only playing with ideas put out by others!
That cheese has now been vacuum sealed. Even though it had a good knit, after about 2 weeks I could see some cracking in between the curds. The other option would have been bandage wrapping, but this works well for me.

For the pH meter, I use the Extech Exstik 100, and have been very satisfied with it. It periodically needs a thorough cleaning, which is documented somewhere here on the forum. If I feel like the numbers are not what I expected, I will clean it, soak it in 4.0 solution for as long as I have time for, and recalibrate and check again. Fortunately most of the time I do not have to do that!

I've used that same pH meter for several years.  Nothing but praise.  I use it for a lot of things (fish tank, beer, cheese, etc). 
- Andrew

Offline scasnerkay

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Re: Cheddar with the sous vide set up
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2019, 05:14:13 AM »
Too funny, I was just searching the forum for sous vide, because of another posting I was going to make, and I came across this one from almost 1.5 years ago. I did not remember that I had done this particular cheese with this format for the make.

So, an update on that cheese...
It was vacuum sealed for several months. Then I got a new "cave" with better humidity management, and more space. I took it out of its vacuum, and it spent another few months with exposure to the 90% humidity in the new cave.
I opened it in December of 2018 - almost 1 year old. It was awesome!! Somehow, I managed to re-seal half the cheese, and am trying to decide when to open that for another tasting. Maybe in December again??
Susan

Offline Susan38

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Re: Cheddar with the sous vide set up
« Reply #6 on: June 06, 2019, 04:22:42 PM »
Susan--I'm so glad you posted this, especially at this time.  I have been searching "cultures" off and on for the past few weeks and saw you have been working with kazu and others.  I'm glad to hear your cheddar using kazu is thus far having great results!

At some point soon I hope to post another, hopefully updated discussion pertaining to cultures...and when I do I'll have a few questions specific to your experiences so I hope you will join in as you have time.  However, searching and compiling info on cultures I'm finding to be a time-extensive task!  I will not hijack this thread further, and will post soon in the appropriate board.

Again, congrats on your kazu cheddar at this phase!  I especially appreciate updates, I think it's hard to remember (several months, a year later, or more) to follow up on things like that!

 --Another Susan (Susan38)

keju

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Re: Cheddar with the sous vide set up
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2019, 11:25:41 AM »
I have been using my Sous Vide machine to heat all of my milk. I simply drop the milk carton in to a sous vide bath in a cooler and leave it.
Also for yogurt I add the culture to the milk carton and drop the carton in to the sous vide bath in a cooler (Australians call them an Eski), overnight.
Your idea to do the double bath this way is genius, and will be my next level for second warming.
Many thanks.

The only problem is that I am often using my sous vide machine to do meat and sometimes the meat has to wait for the cheese LOOOL !
« Last Edit: August 27, 2019, 11:44:12 AM by keju »