Brine - Boiling To Sanitize

[Cheese Head]

Made a couple of Gouda cheeses that needed brining, so got ~3 US gallons / 12 liters of previously used and filtered 21% salt brine out of household cold fridge where stored for the last month. Poured into stockpot, heated until boiling, measured temp @ 226F, turned off heat, skimmed off foam from top, allowed to cool before using.

Questions:

• Assume boiling temp of brine is higher than water or is my thermometer reading incorrectly?
• How long should you boil for and why?
• What are the white particles you can see in brine after boiling, just cooked milk curds that I need to filter out?
• Assume foam on top is normal?

Any other advice . . . thanks in advance!

[Cheese Head]

Last picture . . .

[FarmerJd]

I can't answer all the questions but saturated salt water should boil at about ten degrees higher than water, so about 222-225 F so you're thermometer is ok. That part is physical science. Are you going to try to resaturate the brine? and if so then you will be able to tell how much salt was lost and how much cheese absorbed it, right? I am just wondering how much it is going to take for future reference since i don't have a salinity tester.

[DeejayDebi]

John -

The white gunk is just leftover proteins and cheese bits, that's what makes the foam. Kind of like making soup from bones. It won't hurt anything but grosses me out so I filter it out using a screen skimmer like yours.