A Question for Wayne concerning Cheddar cheese recipe

[Likesspace]

Wayne (and others that have insight into this variety of cheese).....
I've been building a cheddar cheese recipe that I'm trying to refine. Although I've been fairly happy with my past results, I'm still not completely satisfied with my previous efforts.
Could you please look over this recipe and let me know if you see any problems with what I am doing?
I will admit that I've had a problem with hitting my ph targets exactly and this could be my main problem but I have been very close so I'm not sure......
Anyway, here is the recipe I have built. I plan on giving the cheese yet another try this weekend so please give me any advice that you can.
Thanks in advance,
Dave

4 gallon recipe ingredients:

2 gallon Prairie Farms Whole Milk
2 gallon Prairie Farms 2% Milk
3/8 tsp. MA Starter Culture
2 tsp. 30% Calcium Chloride Liquid (dissolved in ½ cup of water)
1 tsp. Liquid Veal Rennet (dissolved in 10 tsp water)
1/16 tsp. Cheese Color (dissolved in ¼ cup of water)
3 oz. Cheese Salt

Process:

Allow milk to set at room temperature for 1 hour.
Add milk to vat and add cheese colorant.
Check Ph and note on cheese making record.
Begin heating milk, taking to a temperature of 90 degrees F.
Add starter culture to surface of milk and allow to set for 3 minutes.
Gently stir starter culture into milk using 25 up and down strokes
Wait for 40 minutes and add calcium chloride.
Check Ph and note on Cheese making record.
Wait for 5 minutes and add Rennet
Wait for 45 minutes and cut curd to 3/8” cubes (cut as evenly as possible)
Allow curds to settle and heal for 15 Minutes
Heat on
Heat to 100 degrees F in 30 minutes time (stirring gently and occasionally)
Heat off
Check ph and note on cheese making record.
Check ph several times during this period. It is important to hit ph 6.15 on next step!
Keep at 100 degrees F until Ph is 6.15 (stir very gently and only occasionally during this time)
Drain whey from curd and return curd to vat (drain as much whey as possible in shortest time)
Keep curd at 100 degrees F while gently stirring curd every five minutes by hand.
Check ph several times during this period. It is important to hit ph 5.30 to 5.40 on next step!
At Ph 5.30 to 5.40 drain curd completely and mill into walnut size pieces. (do this quickly)
Add ½ of salt to curd and mix in gently.
Wait 5 minutes and add other half of salt to curd and mix gently.
Target Ph at this point is 5.1 to 5.2. This is a benchmark point so make sure you hit it as closely as possible!
Add Curd to cloth lined 8” mold and press at 7lb. Line Pressure for 10 minutes
Flip and re-dress and press at 15lb. Line Pressure for 20 minutes
Flip and re-dress and press at 29lb. Line Pressure for 2 hours
Flip and re-dress and press at 39lb. Line Pressure  for 12 hours
Flip and re-dress and press at 39lb. Line Pressure  for additional 12 hours
Remove cheese from mold and air dry for approximately 4 days or until dry to the touch.
Place cheese in cave at 45 to 55 degrees and 70%  - 80% humidity for 3 weeks
Vacuum Pack Cheese and return to cave for minimum of 3 months.

[Likesspace]

Oh, I just re-read what I posted and wanted to give an explanation of my pressing weights. This is the line pressure of the pneumatic press that I use (Carter's press).
These pressures translate to the pressing weights of the recipe as they pertain to an 8" cheese mold.

Dave

[FarmerJd]

At Ph 5.30 to 5.40 drain curd completely and mill into walnut size pieces. (do this quickly)

I don't really understand this step. If this is a stirred curd recipe, the curds won't need milling, right? I am not asking to correct, I just want to make sure I understand. Everything else is very close to what I do. Only differences:
I add color with culture(no big deal);
I add culture at 88 not 90 (no big deal);
I let culture sit 1 hour (might be too long, I wish I could test ph here to see the increase in acidity);
I cut curd using floc. method and 3x multiplier and usually wind up cutting curd at around 35 min (just started this and really like it);
I heat to 102 (slight difference) and stir continuously (maybe too much);
Hold at 102 until 2hr point after cutting curd (have to hope for the best on ph);
Drain curd and let consolidate for 20 min then cut into slabs and restack every 15 min for another 1.5 hours.

I am glad you posted this as it helps me compare and make changes in my own process. I really want a ph meter!

[Sailor Con Queso]

Same observation as Farmer if this is a stirred curd. Personally, I like the results of traditional cheddaring much better. Seems to make a much better texture and flavor. The pH targets are much more important than time in a recipe. Either wait for pH to drop to reach the target or accelerate the process if pH is dropping too quickly.

I would personally would olive oil the rind and vacuum bag after 30 days in the cave.

Farmer - are you doing traditional or stirred curd?

[FarmerJd]

I am assuming by traditional that you mean letting the curds consolidate into one mass and then cutting that mass into slabs and stacking and restacking allowing the weight of the slabs to help the process. Then milling it and salting and pressing. If that is what you mean then yes. I haven't read a ton of books on this stuff so I am sometimes uncertain about the terminology you pros use and am just now beginning to learn to talk "cheese". If this isn't correct please tell me.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Yes. The process of matting, cutting, stacking and flipping to expel whey is known as "cheddaring". Anything else is a stirred curd variation.

[FarmerJd]

That is what I thought. I have tried the stirred curd method but have had much better success with traditional.

[Likesspace]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies...
As for the milling step, I'm not sure why that is included in my recipe. I have put this recipe together from several different sources (and my own experiences) and I must have put that in without thinking.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear that I'm on the right track. This recipe is definitely a work in progress that I will be changing as I see the need.
I've only made one traditional cheddar in my life and although it was a blast to make it does take a LOT of time to do right.
I'm sure I will be making at least a few of them this year but I want to get a few more cheeses under my belt first and the stirred curd is faster and easier and still yields some pretty good results.
Sailor, I do appreciate your advice on aging.
I have one wheel that is still air drying right now and then it will go into the cave for a minimum of a month. After that I will bag it up and wait as long as I can.
I saved some of the curd from this batch and put it into the fridge in a tupperware container.
Tonight I sampled a little of this curd (4 days old now) and the taste is fantastic.
It has a nice mild cheddar flavor and is very creamy and smooth. After only 4 days it will spread on a cracker about like a store bought cheese spread.
Farmer....
I went about 3 years without a Ph meter and always figured that they were an unnecessary luxury in cheese making. Now that I've started using one I see them as a piece of equipment that is as necessary as a cheese vat and thermometer.
If you look on Ebay there is a seller called sunstone herbals (or something like that) that has the Hanna Checker I Ph meter for $28.00 + $4.00 shipping. I just ordered another one last night along with some of the calibration solution.
This is not the ideal meter for cheesemaking (no temperature correction and not food grade) but it does work really well once you figure out the  proper calibration and use procedure.
Anyway, I really do appreciate you guys taking the time to read over my recipe and to give your input. I'm already looking forward to a Saturday spent making cheese.

Dave

[DeejayDebi]

Dave -

I'm with Sailor on aging for a month first. If you don't give it some time to breathe it will not get that nice cheddar bite. It will take more like a Colby.

[Sailor Con Queso]

For the first 30 days, the starter bacteria and any naturally occurring lactic bacteria are extremely active and doing their thing. Lots of people wax or bag after air drying a couple of days, and that obviously works. I just prefer to give the bacteria a little "breathing room" for 30 days. After that, the bacteria run out of food, die off, and the enzymes and proteolysis take over. THAT's when the real aging starts. By then oxygen is not as important to the process.

Ironically, this may be counterintuitive with Cheddars and other curd salted cheeses. When salt is added directly to the curds (instead of brining later) the salt kills off or seriously slows down the starter bacteria, so my whole rationale for waiting 30 days is a bit illogical. BUT I do it that way anyway.

[FarmerJd]

Thanks for the tip on the ph meter. After reading your post today, and opening a cheddar which was absolutely horrible I just got disgusted and ordered an extech ec500. I can take that off my christmas list now.

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

I hope one day my wife will be OK for me to spend $250US on a IQ125 pH meter.

Likesspace: I was reading about the difference between pH and Titratable Acidity.

They say TA is more reliable when you are unlocking a traditional recipe. TA may vary when the pH levels are consistent with your recipe and this may affect the end result.

What are your thoughts on this guys. Please enlighten me?

[Likesspace]

Gurkan....
I wish I could give you an answer concerning your question but I really can't.
The only measurements I've done are with a Ph meter and I only recently started doing this.
I know that a member named Carter and also Wayne have discussed this topic in the past so you might try searching for some old posts or hopefully Wayne will chime in here eventually. Sorry that I couldn't be of any help.

Well I made a 4 gallon batch of cheddar yesterday, using the above recipe and I really have some high hopes for this cheese.
The only real screw up I made was that I heated the curd from 90 to 100 degrees in just about 20 minutes instead of 30 like the recipe calls for. I'm not sure what happened but it ticks me off, regardless.
I came pretty close to all of my ph markers, although I did not hit them perfectly. For instance at the end of cooking my ph was 6.1 instead of 6.15 but all in all I'm satisfied.
When I first started pressing this cheese I had doubts that it would ever knit together. After the first 10 minute press the cheese looked beyond fragile but did hold together. After the next 20 minute press it looked somewhat better, but still open and fragile looking.
I just flipped the cheese for the second 12 hour pressing and it now has a nice closed knit and is a very nice looking wheel. The whey that was expelled overnight has a ph of 5.14 which is really close to what I was looking for.
The curd, (upon packing into the mold) was very "springy" and felt quite dry.
This is a relatively new cheese to me so I'm hoping that is the curd feel that I'm looking for.
Also, if anyone can tell me what effect the fast cooking time might have on the quality of this cheese I would appreciate your input. It's a mistake that I'm not planning on making in the future.
I will try to snap a pic of this wheel when I take it out of the press tonight and thanks to everyone that offered their advice.

Dave

[linuxboy]

Dave, fast cooking time influences final water content of the curd pieces. What happens is that the heat needs time to equalize on the entire curd piece. If you heat too rapidly, the outer edge of the curd piece will expel whey faster than the inside... it forms this casein casing and instead of shrinking at the same rate, the curd pieces will have nonuniform water retention.

It can be a big deal in some cheese styles because more whey retained can mean uneven acidification, and the curds will not mat as well or need more psi.

[Likesspace]

Darn Linuxboy.... The correct answer was: "Oh, don't worry about it. Your cheese will be fine. Don't even give it another thought".
Honestly, I appreciate the information. I've always wondered why a slow cooking time is stressed as being very important. I'm still not sure what happened since I usually don't have a problem with this step but for whatever reason I shaved at least 10 minutes off of my target and possibly as much as 12. As much as I hate using a double boiler setup, I think I'll be going back to one on my next batch.
I will probably cut into this cheese at the one month mark just to see what types of things are happening inside. I want to check the texture as well as the taste to see if there are problems that need to be addressed.
After checking these things I will then vacuum bag the rest of the cheese for further aging, assuming that I've gotten what I wanted to out of this make.
I actually have this recipe saved as "Dave's Ongoing Cheddar Cheese Recipe" and it will continue with this file name until I turn out what I perceive to be a good example of this variety. In just two weeks I've changed the recipe several times and see many more updates ahead in the future.
Thanks for the information concerning the cook time and I will give un update when I cut into this wheel.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Dave