Gouda - new try.

[Zoey]

Hi all,

I haven't been here since December. We got married in April, so that has been keeping me quite busy, and only now have I had time to concentrate fully on cheese making again.

So, I am really eager to duplicate this cheese again:
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2369.0.html

Only I made another batch on December, and opened it in February. I made a mistake - pressed it longer, which resulted in a longer overall time that it spent in room temperature. Result: more crumbly and acidic cheese. We weren't so keen on eating it as it was, so I ended up grating the whole lot (4,5kg) and freezing it for later use as a food ingredient. So it wasn't such a huge loss after all, the grated cheese melted really well and when used in hot food, it actually tasted fine. I make a lot of pizza at home, so it's all been long gone already.

But - I really don't want to redo this error and I was wondering on the exact issues involved. What are the most crucial points when acidification occurs? Should I pay most attention to pressing time, brining, or does it still acidify when I'm air drying it? Somewhere I think I've read that the brining would stop acidification, but I can't find the source right now.

I'm pretty sure the over-acidification didn't occur earlier than pressing time, since all of that went just as it did the time before.

I've been thinking of getting pH-strips (since that's all I can afford right now) but how do you measure the pH of a dry substance? If I measure the pH of the moisture on top of my cheese , is that the same as the pH inside the cheese? If so, does this work in all phases (pressing, brining etc)?

[DeejayDebi]

I've used Peter Dixons recipe many time with great results. For me I think the critical part is that stage between air placing it in the cave and bagging or waxing.  You don't want it to dry out to much so you need to watch it carefully and seal it somehow within a few weeks. 

[FarmerJd]

Good to have you back Zoey.