My First Goat Milk Cheddar

[Lennie]

Procured another 2gal of goat milk yesterday and since we haven't even started on the feta I made a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd make a cheese I could age a bit.  I'm going off of Carroll's recipe, used Flora Danica C11 as direct set thinking a slight buttery flavor would complement a goat milk cheddar.  I am using my 2x liquid vegetable rennet for the first time, looks like I was starting to get a set in about 10min.  I'll use a 3x factor so this should be done slightly ahead of the recipe's recommendation of 45min.

Also, I forgot to add annatto so this will be a white cheddar.  I suppose a goat milk cheddar would maybe play just as well being white rather than disguising it as a conventional commercial cheddar.

The curd was very firm after 30min, the new rennet appears to work well and a 2oz bottle of 2x stuff ought to last me awhile.

 Didn't measure pH of original milk or after ripening, but I'm at 6.42 right after cutting.  Guess thats a little above where it should be, I'll check after the healing time and see if I'm getting a drop.  I understand I want it in the 6.0-6.2 range after cooking.

[linuxboy]

6.4 is fine for the cut in cheddar. Be careful with the whey drain pH. It is better to drain high and cheddar longer to hit 5.4. A 6.0 drain is more appropriate for other British styles, like a Wensleydale or Caerphilly. If you drain higher, you will get better matting and have more time to fix issues if any arise.

[Lennie]

Thanks, I can tell that things are matting pretty easily right now, I have to stir frequently to keep the curds separated.  The pH is 6.34 right now with less than 10min to go.

This recipe doesn't call for cheddaring, it just says to drain, salt and press.  Think I should be cheddaring?  Thats draining, letting it mat and slicing into slabs, stacking and warming those at 100F for another hour?  I have the directions for a traditional cheddar in Carroll's book, maybe I'll give that a shot.  Will that make a drier, flakier cheese than the sitrred curd recipe?

[linuxboy]

IMHO, to my tastes, I prefer a stacked cheddar that's milled later as opposed to a stirred cheddar. Yes, cheddaring is draining, stacking, and flipping the stacks so they press under the weight of the curd.

Your moisture level is determined by flocculation, heat, and curd size, not as much by the process.

If you drain soon, the stirred curd will also taste good after aging. Maybe try this one stirred and make the next one cheddared and see which you like better

[Lennie]

Too late!  I went with the cheddar process.  I have  farmhouse cheddar thats 3 weeks old, it'll be my stirred curd test cheese.

Here are my slabs, I cut them about 2" thick, maybe not thick enough?  Will cheddar for 2 hrs, flipping every 15min.  Do I pour off whey periodically?  I poured it off after taking this photo.

[Lennie]

Just did my first turn, and they are holding together nicely and already getting a neat rubbery texture, I can tell the difference in texture between the top (as yet unheated) and bottom (heated).

[justsocat]

Looks very pleasant from here Lennie
I use steam cooking device for cheddaring to let the whey flow out permanently.

[Lennie]

Hello Pavel!

I'm draining the whey off each time I turn.  I don' know if I should cheddar two hours, these slabs are not so thick (1" to 1.5").

I have my ricotta from this whey settling now, I'm building up quite a store of this stuff.

[justsocat]

Nice to see you making cheese Lennie, looks like you do have fun
I just pull slabs  by ends to check out if they are ready and don't mind the time, but you know my "methods" I think it's better to measure pH and go to milling and salting when the pH target is reached

[Lennie]

I'd go by feel if I knew what it was supposed to feel like.  Chicken breast meat I suppose.  its certainly getting there.

Just in case, I checked a bit of whey that just came off the slabs, it was 5.8 and its been an hour.  I'll continue for the second hour, I stacked the slabs this last time to put more pressure on them.  I'm shooting for pH 5.3-5.5.

Or should I break up the slabs now and continue to cheddar them?

[Lennie]

I got a pH of 5.63 on the last whey coming off the slabs, so I decided to tear them up a little before the 2 hours.  Here's a pic of the curds, are they small enough?  They are about the size of a quarter at most.  I tried not to squeeze them as I tore up the slabs.  I'm cooking them for 30min or until I get pH 5.5 or less.

[Lennie]

I stirred the curds by hand after 10min.  I was worried that the rubbery texture would make them not very sticky.  I was very wrong, they are matting easily so I think they'll hold together in the mold quite well.  It'll just be a challenge to get them packed in and pressed to where there are few voids.

[Lennie]

After another 15min and another round of gentle stirring of the curds, I tested pH on the whey and found 5.42 so I figured the cheese was ready for pressing.  I was a bit concerned that my last whey was pretty milky looking, I suppose I lost a bit of fat when I tore my slabs into bits.  I was also surprised at how small an amount of cheese this became when I put it in the press.  My farmhouse cheddar overfilled the small mold, this one was only about half full after a little pressing.

I came into the computer to post, and as I was typing it hit me.  I DIDN"T SALT THE CHEESE!  So I ran back into the kitchen and pulled the cheese out of the mold.  Back into the pan it went, I put it in the sink of warm water while I broke it back into pieces and salted.  I mixed the salt in well and then reloaded the mold.  Sheesh, that was a close one.

[Lennie]

Here's my cheese in the new press I made (see Equipment forum a thread with the details).  I'm having a celebratory Double Imperial Pale Ale, the hoppiest and strongest beer I've ever made (11%ABV).  Too bad I don't have a luscious piece of 6-month-old goat cheddar to go with it!

[DeejayDebi]

Looking gof Lennie. I like your new press too. Looks like it's store eaily as well as being functional.