Big Cheese Sunday - Farmhouse Cheddar

[mokumeguy]

Now for the main event. Simple Farmhouse cheddar. I want to perfect an easy consistent recipe that I can do in my sleep. I combined a bunch of cheddar recipes and simplified them.

3 Gal whole milk. 1.5 from yesterday, 1.5 from today.

Bring up to 88 F and add 2 pkts direct set meso starter. Should be enough to do 4 gal but I want to give it a big start. Let ripen at 88 F for 1 hour. pH 6.5

Add 1/3 tablet rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup water. That is down from 3/4 tablet I used the last time. I still got a decent set at 15 min. and what I consider a good clean break at 45 min.

Raise temp from 88 to 100 F over 30 min. Let cook at 100 F for 30 min. I ended up stirring every 5 minutes because the curd was matting.

[mokumeguy]

Drained curds for 15 minutes. They are pretty firm, as you can see from the pic of them being turned out of the strainer.

Added 2 Tbsp sea salt and  milled.

Put into press at 15 lbs for 1 hr

[mokumeguy]

Second press for 1 hour at 30 lbs. Weighed in at almost 3 lbs. Biggest yet.

Third press at 50 lbs for 12 hours... no pics yet.

Put whey from cottage cheese and farmhouse in large pot. This was from 6 gal cheese milk.

Bring to 200 F and wait for curd formation.

Turn off heat and add 1/2 cup organic apple cider vinegar. Keep stirring. When not in danger of scorching pour though cheesecloth and drain. Made 1 lb of Ricotta, to which I will add 1/2 cup cream.

Total for day  5.5lbs cottage cheese - 3 lbs farmhouse - 1 lb Ricotta

[reg]

very nice Michael, thanks for posting the photos

reg

[mokumeguy]

OK, Here is the cheese after the final press. I am very happy. It just feels like a good cheese. I will take photos of the waxing. I haven't decided how long to wait yet, as this is a moister cheese than any I have made before.

[Tea]

Arrrkk there's another cheese with beautiful rounded edges.  Is this a "man thing" and mould thing, or what?  sigh  back to the drawing board.

[mokumeguy]

Of course it's a man thing 

But seriously, You really have to pull up on the cheesecloth while pressing down on the follower, every time you turn it. I will take pictures of it next time.

I might have to wax it tonight, it's already got a good rind. Our humidity is right around 15%.

[mokumeguy]

Waxed the Farmhouse Cheddar. I am very happy with this cheese so far. I had to let it rest in the freezer for a few minutes between coats to let the wax fully harden. I was using plain wax with no color, but there was a little red left in my melting pot, so it made it kind of peach colored. I don't bother trying to clean the pot or the brush. I just put the lid on and keep it with the cheese stuff.
I went with the light wax because I wanted to just use the food pens to write on the outside. If they ever arrive I will let you know how that works.

Now just 60 days of patient waiting.

[Tea]

Thanks Michael for that, it has been very informative.  Just realised that it was cheddar that you have made here, don't know why that didn't register before now.
My friend and I have been trying to make cheddar this week, and both used the same recipe, and neither of us were happy with our results.
Certainly we didn't get your beautiful result.
Will start another thread so I don't derail yours.

[breezy2]

I see you are using the square pans from food service uses. Do you heat it with sternos? That looked interesting to me. Can you tell me more?

[mokumeguy]

There is an electric heating unit under there, with a simple thermostat control. I love it. It sits on my counter
out of the way of the rest of the kitchen activities. There is no way I could take over the stove and sink in my tiny kitchen for 5 plus hours. My children would eat me. It will do a 2-3 gallon batch, and the control is good enough to hold a temperature within 2 degrees for hours.

You can find it here  http://www.instawares.com/electric-water-pan.upi-ecfrwp.0.7.htm