So today, my fifth day of cheese making, I switched from Gouda to Camembert. It's a wild ride that isn't going so well. Maybe any of you can give me some advice.
I had made my own PVC molds and they were awful. When I ladeled the curds in, everything went well, but around 4" high into the 8" molds (4" dia. PVC pipes) the whey was breaking down and squirting from the holes!
It was such a shameful mess that I ran to the garage, cut up an old, plastic, UTZ pretzel container, washed thoroughly, and used it for my mold over a sushi mat on a drying rack over a pot...
There is a plate with a 5lb. weight on top to keep the mold down on the mat.
It's been draining nicely, but I lost probably 30-50% of my curds. The resulting wheel will be a whopping 10" diameter.
Seems good so far, about 3 hours later. The drainage is purely whey without any curd seeping out.
The molds are here:
Perhaps the holes are too big? Anyone have any suggestions? I can use these for stilton, I think.
Maybe my curds were still too loose? I waited 2.5 hours and had a pretty clean break.
Hopefully my Camembert can age well and isn't infected. I'll flip the mold soon and then flip before bed and flip in the morning if the cheese is still too soft. Between the two photos were 2 hours, so it drained pretty fast I think.