HI! This is my first post. I'm a new cheesemaker. Off and on for about a year. I had setbacks trying to find milk that would coagulate which made my first efforts discouraging but now I'm on the road to filling the cheese cave. I live in a monastery of nuns and we eat a lot of cheese. It also means I have a ready-made "test market"!
I made a brick cheese last week using this recipe from Cultures for Health. It doesn't have b. linens so it isn't probably authentic Brick.
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/cheese-recipes/american-brick-cheese/ I brined it but then put it in maturation box with a wet paper towel into my 55F cheese cave for 2 days and washed it with brine each day. Yesterday I took it out to taste it and it had a sort of bitter taste. So, I put it on a mat in the cave itself overnight just because...well, maybe it would dry out better and then I'd taste it again? The consistency is really quite nice and the cheese looks good. It doesn't smell or anything.
I took it out this am and it tastes very bittery sort of vinegary.
I think I messed somehow and it can't be saved. YES?
The one thing that did go iffy is that after I stirred in the calcium chloride and rennet at the 88F, I forgot to turn off the burner under my double boiler and a Sister came in to ask me something. Within those few minutes my milk shot up to 98! I pulled it off the double boiler and even opened the door to try to cool it down faster. I did add the rennet and it coagulated at the proper time, etc. It took a while for the temp to go down but I just followed the recipe, stirring for the half hour, etc.
So, perhaps that is the source of my sour tasting cheese?
THANKS SO MUCH!
If you live in NJ the milk from Dairy Pure (deans foods) is pasteurized no higher than 161F. I did find that I needed to increase the calcium chloride to 1/2t per gallon for a consistent clean cut.