Stilton curds too dry

[nym]

I've made a Stilton style cheese a few times with some success using Gavin Webber's recipe from the internet, but having got Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking for Christmas, I thought that I would try the Caldwell recipe instead.
The make went pretty much to plan. The coagulation time was about 50 minutes so only a little too fast (Caldwell specifies 60 minutes). The recipe then specifies to sit 'curd bundles' in the whey for a couple of hours 'at which point the pH should be around 6.36'. I've only got pH strips to check this but they confirmed that the pH was around 6.2-6.4 so I was reasonably happy at this stage. The 'curd bundles' are then removed from the whey and left to drain until they reach a pH of 4.8-4.6. The recipe says that this may take up to 7 hours at 31-32 degrees.
In my case this meant leaving the curd overnight and the temperature would certainly have dropped well below 31 degrees despite my best efforts. After about 10 hours in total the pH strips seemed to indicate that the pH of the whey might have dropped to around the required range.
But when I opened up the curd bundles and packed the mould I could see that the curd was much drier than it had been when I used the old recipe and after two days of turning it's clear that the cheese is not knitting together as it should. I'm wondering if it will actually hold together when it's time to remove it from the mould and I'm definitely going to have problems when I try to rub it up.
So what might have caused the curd to become so dry? I followed the recipe pretty much exactly except for the extended ripening time which I assumed was due to the cool overnight temperature. It would be particularly nice to hear from someone else who has followed the Caldwell recipe. Any tips for ageing the cheese? On the plus side, there will at least be plenty of cavities for the blue to grow in 
Thanks for any help.

[Mandalay]

nym,  Hoping you get some interaction here, as I am very much wanting to make the Stilton Cheese. 

[pastpawn]

I've made a Stilton style cheese a few times with some success using Gavin Webber's recipe from the internet, but having got Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking for Christmas, I thought that I would try the Caldwell recipe instead.
The make went pretty much to plan. The coagulation time was about 50 minutes so only a little too fast (Caldwell specifies 60 minutes). The recipe then specifies to sit 'curd bundles' in the whey for a couple of hours 'at which point the pH should be around 6.36'. I've only got pH strips to check this but they confirmed that the pH was around 6.2-6.4 so I was reasonably happy at this stage. The 'curd bundles' are then removed from the whey and left to drain until they reach a pH of 4.8-4.6. The recipe says that this may take up to 7 hours at 31-32 degrees.
In my case this meant leaving the curd overnight and the temperature would certainly have dropped well below 31 degrees despite my best efforts. After about 10 hours in total the pH strips seemed to indicate that the pH of the whey might have dropped to around the required range.
But when I opened up the curd bundles and packed the mould I could see that the curd was much drier than it had been when I used the old recipe and after two days of turning it's clear that the cheese is not knitting together as it should. I'm wondering if it will actually hold together when it's time to remove it from the mould and I'm definitely going to have problems when I try to rub it up.
So what might have caused the curd to become so dry? I followed the recipe pretty much exactly except for the extended ripening time which I assumed was due to the cool overnight temperature. It would be particularly nice to hear from someone else who has followed the Caldwell recipe. Any tips for ageing the cheese? On the plus side, there will at least be plenty of cavities for the blue to grow in 
Thanks for any help.

I've made that recipe a few times.  It does start out as fairly dry curds.  It works out. 

The idea, I'm sure, is to have those interstitial spaces in which the PR will grow and form the characteristic veining.  At first, the cheese will seem like a bunch of chunks ready to fall apart.  Mine was pretty ugly!  But as it developed, it did get a little softer.  Rubbing down was tricky at first - I just held the cheese like a potter and used my thumbs to roughly smooth the sides.  First time it was stilly craggy, but as the cultures softened the cheese over the first couple of weeks, and after successive rubbings, it was mostly smooth at the end.  The resulting product was really, really good, so if your experience is the same you'll be happy. 

Coincidentally, I have a blue in the cave right now that I pressed a bit.  This formed a nice uniform wheel.  Once this one blued over I pierced it, but I don't know what's going inside yet.  Another month and we'll see how that experiment turned out.

[pastpawn]

nym,  Hoping you get some interaction here, as I am very much wanting to make the Stilton Cheese.

Here's some more pics of of the same recipe, though these might be from different dates.  Pics are good, right?

[nym]

Hi Andrew
That's so interesting. Thank you so much for posting. You have given me renewed hope 
Looking at your pictures I can see definite similarities between your cheeses and mine in the early stages. My first picture was taken when the cheese was 6 days old just as the blue was beginning to come in. A few days later it was covered with blue - much as yours are. At 10 days I was able to make an attempt at rubbing up although the end result was pretty knobbly!
The second picture was taken at six weeks (today) and the deep crevices have pretty much disappeared. I'm waiting and hoping that the rind is going to get more 'interesting'. At what age did you cut yours?

[pastpawn]

Haha, I know why you didn't post that first pic.  Just looks like a failure, right?  But I think you're right on track there. 

My notebook says I made the first Stilton on Jan 4 (2015) and cut it on Feb 1.  So, I was digging into it pretty quickly!  I make 3 at a time, so some get aged much longer than that.  I can tell you from memory that as they age, they more and more acidic, "sharp", and at some point you either need to eat them up or make blue cheese dressing or stuff some olives or give some away (I did all of those).  I'd say that point was about 4 or 5 months, not really sure. 

[nym]

I thought that I'd follow up on this and post another picture in case anybody is interested in the outcome.
I cut the cheese today. It's about ten weeks old. I'm going to vacuum pack the pieces.
The growth of the blue is really good despite my worries about the curds being too dry. I think that all the cracks and crevices really helped the blue to grow. In future I'll probably try to place the most dry curds in the centre of the form and use the slightly more moist ones to line the edge so that smoothing down will be easier.
Whilst I'm very happy about the growth of the blue I'm less pleased with the taste of it. I love a good strong blue but my cheese has a slight edge of bitterness to it. I wonder if it's possible that a wild mould could have crept in to compete with the PR because the outside was not well smoothed? I guess that I'll keep trying.

[panamamike]

Nice looking cheese gym.

[Gregore]

Try wrapping them in aluminum foil  or vacuum bagging for a few weeks and see if the bitter goes away.

[Virginia Dave]

Andrew:

Very gratified to see your photos--much thanks! I just tried Stilton for the first time (very new to this board) and had similar concerns about the looseness/knobbiness of the mass after a week of forming. My own first attempt holds together outside the mold, and is in the ripening box in the cooler, but I'm almost reluctant to aerate it with a needle for fear of breaking it up. I'm going to stick it out though; your post gives some hope. Thanks for your photos!

Dave

[Dorchestercheese]

My experience after you cut the cheese for the first time let it breath. Like wine air will allow the bitterness some say ammonia to disapate.
Also Caldwell's recipe for rind forming blue is great too.