Author Topic: Aging Time - Higher Fat Content Cheeses?  (Read 3207 times)

Junglerott

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Aging Time - Higher Fat Content Cheeses?
« on: September 05, 2008, 01:24:24 AM »
What's up everyone. New here and to making cheese. I bought a kit 10 years ago and made some gouda and parmesian and then put the hobby to the side for a while. I have a problem now. I just made a cheddar recipe which asked for 2 gallons of 1% milk (minus one pint) and I was supposed to add one pint of heavy cream. Since I was making a three gallon batch, I should have taken out 1 1/2 pints of milk and replaced it with the cream. I mistakenly removed three pints of milk and added three pints of cream. So, I am wondering what will happen to the cheese. It will have a higher fat content and I was wondering if I should not let it air dry at roo temperature for the 3-5 days it requests. Will the higher fat content cause it to spoil at room temperature for that long?

reg

  • Guest
Re: Aging Time - Higher Fat Content Cheeses?
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2008, 11:27:28 AM »
morning and welcome. hope its ok to use JR to reply.

i think it all depends on how your starter is working and to what acidity levels you are at. when i made a stir curd cheddar the recipe called for the same three to five days at room temps and to be honest i was not impressed with the strong flavour of that particular cheese. i still think that flavour started to develop in that three to five days. i don't think the higher fat content will make the cheese spoil but the cheese may not set up as firm as you might like but thats a rookie statement. i have only been making cheese since the early spring

reg

Cheese Head

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Re: Aging Time - Higher Fat Content Cheeses?
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2008, 01:00:54 PM »
Howdy Junglerott and welcome to the forum. Like reg, I have only been making cheese since this Feb, my 2 cents:

By doubling cream I agree you have raised the fat content, unfortunately I don't know the link between spoilage (unwanted molds and yeasts etc) and fat content. That said, I would think that spoilage is more a function of age of milk, if it was pasteurized, your cleanliness of equipment, and room temperature conditions, (temp and cleanliness of air) than fat content. I have had a cheese making sit at room temp for 3 days and the whey in the draining mats did start to stink. Only you know the above conditions, for me I would not leave it at room temp for 5 days, because of my experience and as I am not meticulous on the above. Let us know.

PS: Interesting recipe of using low 1% fat milk and then spiking it with high fat heavy cream, why not just call for 2% or whole milk? What is the difference

Junglerott

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Re: Aging Time - Higher Fat Content Cheeses?
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2008, 02:18:23 PM »
They say when using store bought milk that is pasturized and homogenized this mixture is supposed to mimic whole milk. I think I will dry it in the cheese fridge at 55F just to be safe. I don't have any ph testing equipment yet and don't know what readings to look for either, but I will consider that my next investment.

Cheese Head

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Re: Aging Time - Higher Fat Content Cheeses?
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2008, 02:27:05 PM »
Sounds good JR, I've also dried in household fridge on mat where very low humidity, be careful if outside of humidity control box as it dries very quickly from oustide in whiuch can results in fissures on outside as it shrinks faster than inside. There's a picture of my not what to do here :'( (click on picture to enlarge).

Tea

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Re: Aging Time - Higher Fat Content Cheeses?
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2008, 10:36:13 PM »
Hi Junglerott, and welcome to the board.  I don't have much experience with adding cream to milk, other than the monterey jacks that I make from the recipe posted here, only I think that I end up added a little more cream than recommended.  On top of that I use whole raw milk, so the cream content in that is fairly high by the end.  After pressing overnight it is then left to dry for three days at room temp before putting in the cave for another 2-4 months to age.  Daytime temps have been around 20c and so far I have not noticed any off flavours or smells, and the end cheese is not strong or harsh.
I have also made cream cheese from pure cream, and the culture was left to set at room temp for 15 hours, and it drained at room temp for another 24 hours, and the end result was beautiful.
I think that is must be remembered that cheese IS milk fat, so the adding of extra shouldn't make that much of a difference as different milks have different cream contents anyway.  As Cheese Head said, if we have used the correct procedures, ie: cooking temp, culture, rennent, sterilizing etc, then I would think that it should be alright.  I do agree though, that the end cheese might be softer and of a different texture than a cheese with a lower cream content.
Again, the above is just what I have learnt from my own experiences.

Junglerott

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Re: Aging Time - Higher Fat Content Cheeses?
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2008, 12:28:51 AM »
I took it out of the press today after 36 hours and it smells and looks great. It felt like there was butter on the outside of it but other than that it seemed normal. I guess time will tell.

the cornflake kid

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Re: Aging Time - Higher Fat Content Cheeses?
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2008, 07:47:30 PM »
Can anyone help me.  I have just made a batch of Caerphilly semi hard cheese.  It was still a little damp when i bandaged it.  I have it stored in a cupboard and it has green mould growing on it.  Is that normal.  This is the first cheese i have ever made. 

reg

  • Guest
Re: Aging Time - Higher Fat Content Cheeses?
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2008, 01:20:05 PM »
well you have chosen a difficult cheese for your first cheese. if i'm not mistaken on bandaged cheeses you continually change the cloth until it no longer soaks up moisture then the cloth is smeared with a fat or a butter to seal the wheel

reg