Author Topic: Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese  (Read 4488 times)

Offline Webmaster

  • Administrator
  • Mature Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
  • Posts: 180
  • Cheeses: 40
    • CheeseForum.org
Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese
« on: August 27, 2008, 10:58:40 AM »
Morning John. Attached is a photo of the Alpine style cheese that was made on July 15th. Have been brushing/washing this particular wheel twice a week with a brine solution for the six weeks and what a difference it has made. The rind is much firmer than all the previous Alpines that I have made. It also feels like the center is a bit firmer than the others with the same aging. Another noticeable action that has taken place is the barrelling. I'm hoping this wheel will have small holes similar to the Swiss/French Gruyere cheese. Can't wait to cut into this one but I think I will wait for a few more months, well hopefully ;-)

BTW I'm cc'ing this to a good friend that is a Chef Professor over at Niagara College in Niagara on the Lake Ontario. They teach a basic cheese making class at the College.

reg

Tea

  • Guest
Re: Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2008, 09:19:13 PM »
Oh Reg, that is simply breath taking, what a beautiful cheese!!
What is the end size of this one, and how much milk did you use.  From the photo it looks huge.
Is the brine a % solution, or a saturated solution?  Just wondering, and I am assuming that this has been kept in a cave at normal cave temps the whole time?
What do you mean when you say, 
Quote
Another noticeable action that has taken place is the barrelling
.
Still trying to get the beautiful rounded edges on my cheeses that you do.  Maybe you could post a tutorial on how you do that, because for the life of me, I can't get it.
Thanks for the pic and the update.

reg

  • Guest
Re: Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese
« Reply #2 on: August 28, 2008, 11:46:42 AM »
good morning Tea. that cheese is an 8" wheel and about 3" high. it was produced using four gallons of milk. the brine i'm using is made from the whey, one cup of coarese salt to one quart of whey.

the cheese itself is kept at about 55 degrees but i have dropped the humidity to about 70-75% to finish aging. the other cheeses in the container are vac packed so they have no effect on humidity

the barrelling action hopefully is caused by the activity of the cultures that were added to the original milk. at times i allow the temp to go to 60-62 degrees for short periods of time (around 6-7hrs) in the hopes that the cultures will become more active and create small holes in the cheese. it appears that it is happening but time will tell when this cheese is finally cut.

the rounded edges are from pulling up tightly on the cloth when the curds are still warm and are starting to set when being pressed. each time i flip i really snug up the cloth. the cloth i'm using is old pillow cases. hope that helps some

its been a while since i made any cheese but after the long weekend next week i will be back at it

reg 

Offline Webmaster

  • Administrator
  • Mature Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
  • Posts: 180
  • Cheeses: 40
    • CheeseForum.org
Re: Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2008, 01:18:10 PM »
Picture and text emailed in from reg, have added to this thread as I think it is the same Alpine Cheese:

Morning John. wanted to get this photo off to you this morning before I headed out. Yesterday after washing the rind on the Alpine style cheese I was starting to get concerned over the hardness of the rind and thinking I don't want this to be a grating cheese lol. During the day at work I decided that later in the evening I would cut that wheel to see what stage the paste was at after aging for seven weeks. From the photo you can see how it has developed to this point. John the flavour and texture are spot on and I'm
totally delighted to say the least. Actually I'm very excited with how this has turned out and it now gives me some ideas of what direction I want to take this particular type of cheese. I can tell you that the next wheel will be getting cold smoked BEFORE it goes into the aging process. Don't even want to think about how good that is going to be !

I have vac packed the remaining portions to continue the aging process and can't wait to get going with a few new ideas for this cheese :-)))

reg

SalMac

  • Guest
Re: Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2008, 01:42:41 PM »
reg they look excellent, many congrats!! Keep us posted on the maturation progress.

Sal

Tea

  • Guest
Re: Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2008, 11:00:00 PM »
I agree, he inspires me to keep trying for perfection, but I don't know that perfection is one of my traits.  I think I am still at the "if it's edible I'm happy" stage.
Ok just a query.  Once camembert has been cut, apparently it doesn't mature any further.  So I was wondering, once the rind has been cut on any cheese, does this affect the further maturing of the cheese or not?

reg

  • Guest
Re: Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2008, 11:03:08 AM »
thanks for the kind words, i wished it was possible to share so you could taste this cheese.

" So I was wondering, once the rind has been cut on any cheese, does this affect the further maturing of the cheese or not?"

on this particular cheese my guess is that it will continue to mature and get better with time. i can see that brie's and camembert might be different because of process they go through

reg


Tea

  • Guest
Re: Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2008, 09:30:57 PM »
Ok thanks, because you can definately see that a nice think rind was forming over the cheese.  Did you find the rind too hard in the end?

Tea

  • Guest
Re: Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2008, 10:15:12 PM »
Forgot to add that I would love to try your cheese.  I often think how great it would be it we could sample each others cheese.


reg

  • Guest
Re: Reg's July 15 2008 Made Alpine Cheese
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2008, 11:51:13 AM »
the rind was my original concern. i was worried that the cheese would become to hard with aging so thats when i decided to cut it. as it turns out it was just my inexperience not knowing what was happening inside. should have trusted the PH chart i had written down when making the cheese. it certainly was evident the cheese was headed in the right direction before starting the aging process but at least now i understand that now lol

most of the people that have tried this cheese eat the rind and it seems that there are no concerns over it. this is by far the best cheese that i have made so far.

reg