Author Topic: John's Cheese #039 - Feta #5  (Read 4746 times)

Cheese Head

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John's Cheese #039 - Feta #5
« on: July 18, 2009, 09:28:19 PM »
Finally, ate the last of my previous batch of homemade Feta cheese, time to start making some more, so today I start my fifth Feta making.

MAKING
  • Jul 18, 2009, 2:30PM:
    • Poured 2 US gallon/7.6 litres of store bought pasteurized homogenized whole cow's milk from fridge into stockpot on smallest gas burner ring on stove (63F/17.6C/5.63 pH on my uncalibrated gauge.
    • As milk pasteurized, to standardize, trickled and whisked in 1/2 teaspoon diluted CaCl2.
    • Measured ~0.5 grams Danisco's Choozit Brand Mesophilic Starter Culture MM100 onto mini digital scale, tapped off onto top of milk and whisked in.
    • Measured ~0.50 gram Danisco's Brand Mild Calf Lipase onto mini digital scale, tapped off onto top of milk, whisked in.
    • Turned gas on low and warmed and occasionally stirred milk to 90 F/32 C.
  • Jul 18, 2009, 3:15PM: Measured milk at 100F/38C/5.59 pH, accidentally overheated, set aside for culture to ripen and to cool.
  • Jul 18, 2009, 4:00PM: Measured ~0.5 gram CHR Hansen Brand powdered rennet onto mini digital scale, diluted in 1/4 cup cool water, trickled into milk while whisking in thoroughly for 1 minute. 95F/5.59 pH. Set aside for curd to set.
  • Jul 18, 2009, 5:15PM: Checked for clean break, OK, Cut Curds into 1 cm/0.5 inch cubes and left to rest.
  • Jul 18, 2009, 5:25PM: Stirred cut curds.
  • Jul 18, 2009, 5:45PM: Bailed out excess whey, ladled cut curds into hoops and one ricotta basket.
  • Jul 18, 2009, 6:15PM: Turned cheeses.
  • Jul 18, 2009, 7:30PM: Turned cheeses.
  • Jul 18, 2009, 9:30PM: Turned cheeses.
  • Jul 18, 2009, 11:30PM: Turned cheeses.
  • Jul 19, 2009, 6:30AM: Turned cheeses.
  • Jul 19, 2009, 11:30AM: Turned cheeses.
  • Jul 19, 2009, 1:30PM: Cut cheeses, soft, sprinkled with salt.
  • Jul 19, 2009, 5:30PM: Placed in ~14% NaCl table salt brine and placed in fridge to age.

NOTES
  • Next time cook curds longer or use small weight to see if can make crumblier rather than softer.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2009, 08:38:44 PM by John (CH) »

Cheese Head

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Re: John's Cheese #039 - Feta #5
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2009, 09:28:39 PM »
Pictures #1 . . .
« Last Edit: July 20, 2009, 11:43:10 AM by John (CH) »

Cheese Head

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Re: John's Cheese #039 - Feta #5
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2009, 09:28:51 PM »
Pictures #2 . . .
« Last Edit: July 20, 2009, 11:47:11 AM by John (CH) »

clherestian

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Re: John's Cheese #039 - Feta #5
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2009, 12:29:08 PM »
You got all that from two gallons of milk? How much weight in cheese do you think that is? It doesn't seem like I get that much.

Cheese Head

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Re: John's Cheese #039 - Feta #5
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2009, 03:24:47 PM »
Hi clherestian, yep, I used 2 US gallons of standard store bought past & homogenized whole milk, get higher yield from whole vs 1%. Also I make mine a little soft, higher moisture content.

Good question on weight, so I just removed from brine, let stand 15 min to drain, weighed at 1.65 kg - 0.2 kg colander = 1.45 kg or 3.2 lb of Feta. Crappy scale so probably not highly accurate.

While out of brine, I checked the texture, not soft, small not highly crumbly, pictures below describes it better. Taste very nice, bit too salty as expected from ~14% brine.

I saw your picture of Feta, what was your yield and did you use whole past or raw milk and is yours denser?

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: John's Cheese #039 - Feta #5
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2009, 04:00:34 PM »
I am going to have to try this you make it looks so good. I am not a fan of commercial feta but I imagine homemade much be much better!

clherestian

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Re: John's Cheese #039 - Feta #5
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2009, 06:59:27 PM »
John - my feta is a little denser than yours looks, but I think I only got about half as much you. I used the recipe of the fiasco farm site. I've been wondering about that lately. It seems like I don't get enough yield no matter which recipe I use and no matter what kind of cheese I am making. In your other post, you were talking about using way more Malaka liquid rennet than me. Maybe I am not using enough and not enough of the solids are being solidified. 

Cheese Head

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Re: John's Cheese #039 - Feta #5
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2009, 10:24:31 PM »
clherestian, could be, milky whey is a sign that too high an amount of milk is going down the drain :-\!

Cheese Head

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Re: John's Cheese #039 - Feta #5
« Reply #8 on: August 01, 2009, 03:24:14 PM »
Update, picture after 13 days aging and just out of brine, still firm but not very crumbly.