Aging Gouda

[ancksunamun]

I am making my first batch of Gouda and have followed Ricki Carrolls instructions.

My cheese is now in the process of being air dried for 3 weeks. The rind already seems quite hard and I wonder if this is ok?

Once the 3 weeks are up, if I wax can I just put straight in cool store without having to worry about humidity?

And if I want a natural rind, do I then need to be adding and monitoring humidty?

Sorry for all the questions. A bit new at this but LOVING it and wanting to get it right.

[linuxboy]

After waxing, humidity is not an issue. A natural rind is formed by never waxing, and instead washing with brine or letting the mold build a rind.

Three weeks is plenty of time for a gouda before it's dry enough to wax. More than enough, actually. Usually 7-14 days is enough.

[sandhollerfarm]

Should I admit to my first cheese failure so soon after joining?  I followed that same recipe but I was a bit tired and hurried.  Instead of brining for 12 hours and drying for 3 weeks, I did the opposite and brined for 3 weeks.  I ended up with a hard salty brick...but it tastes kinda like Parmesan and it can just barely be grated.

linuxboy, I'm new to aging cheeses (well, not really new but not generally successful yet!).  Are you saying if you wax cheese you don't need to control the humidity in your cheese cave?  All my cheeses (both waxed and unwaxed) have turned out too dry.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Waxing preserves moisture, so your cheeses were already destined to be drier. There are 3 areas that you control that determine the paste of a cheese.

1 - Length of time that the curds set after rennet. The longer it sets the more moisture that is retained in the cheese, Just because you have a "clean break" does NOT mean it's time to cut the curds. Search the forum for flocculation.

2- The size that you cut the curds. The smaller the curds, the drier the cheese. Smaller curds expel whey quicker.

3- Acidity is one of the main forces behind a dry cheese. More acid = drier and flakier, Acidity is controlled by the amount of starter, ripening time and timing for draining.

[ancksunamun]

Thanks so much Sailor! 

Another question then, and more of a curiosity than anything. Why do people choose wax over natural rind and vice versa? Are there any main benefits for either that might swing ones decision?

Also, my Gouda produced a nice green and white and a black mould at day 7. I have washed it off and expect to keep doing so but just wondering how much of this 'wash' gets back into the cheese and if it should extend the drying time?

How will I know when my cheese is dry enough to wax if 3 weeks seems excessive?

[9mmruger]

When mine are dry to the touch for a day or so every time I flip them, I wax them.  If you still feel moisture on the bottom hold off waxing til dry to the touch. 

[OudeKaas]

Thought I would add my recent experience to this thread, as folks had mentioned overly dry Gouda. I recently cut open my first attempt at one, which had been brined and aged for about 7 weeks. I could see that the outside seemed hard and fairly dry - it had accumulated a little mold now and again and I had been scrubbing it off with vinegar and salt. Being my first time, I didn't know if the dry and tough rind was the right thing to have expected from brining or what. In any event, after about a month I oiled it with some EVOO and re-applied once a week or so, which seemed to help a little.

Last week I tried the cheese for the first time and, while it was quite enjoyable, it was far off from what I had expected. I figured I was pushing it in terms of trying the cheese early (wanted to have it available for Xmas, natch) and thought it would be a relatively bland, young Gouda-ish taste with a rubbery texture, or something like that. I have a 2nd cheese that I have continued to age so I figured no harm in eating this one and having some for folks to sample. I was quite surprised at the actual outcome!

As soon as I made the first cut to split the little wheel in half (this is a 5" diameter cheese, maybe 1.5 lbs, made in one of the small Tomme molds from cheesemaking.com, which is probably wrong-ish for this style anyhow. Other one is in a hard cheese mold), some big chunks flaked off towards the bottom of it. The texture was medium-hard and reminiscent of, say, an Asiago or similar. The flavor is nice but neutral at first, with a little bit of a parmesan-like twang and then a long, buttery finish. I like it and people seem to be enjoying it, but it's so radically different from what I expected that I thought I would make a note of it here.

I didn't really get the humidity in my fridge/cave sorted out until a little bit into the aging of this, so that may have contributed. For the first 2 weeks, temp was about 55 degrees and humidity well below 50%, probably. Remainder was done at 50-55 deg and 65-85% RH. Basically, my theory is that this is sort of an 'artificially accelerated' aging and that it has some characteristics of a year-plus old cheese and others of it's 'real' age, making the whole thing kind of un-integrated. Would be interested in thoughts on it . . . .







More pic at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54853699@N06/sets/72157625714683770/

[Boofer]

overly dry Gouda

humidity well below 50%, probably.

Remainder was done at 50-55 deg and 65-85% RH. Basically, my theory is that this is sort of an 'artificially accelerated' aging and that it has some characteristics of a year-plus old cheese

Looks like a fine Parmesan. How does it taste? Might be good to go ahead and vacuum-seal a bunch of it and let it continue to age. You're probably right about the low humidity sucking the moisture out of it. At least now you're good for your next effort.

I've got a couple near-misses that are too dry (or crumbly, or acidic) for their style. If I've sampled them and they're not too nasty, I'll seal them under vacuum plastic and give them additional time to work out their problems. If they still suck down the road, I'll go ahead and trash them and give my more promising candidates elbow room in the cave.

-Boofer-

[george]

Just as a matter of interest, I had the same problem with all the Goudas I'd made from the Carroll book.  A month ago, though, I checked the NE Cheesemaking website again, and the recipe up there is rather radically different in almost every respect from the one in the book.  So I made a couple of Goudas using that recipe, and have been aging (waxed) at 59-60 degrees in the basement.  (I only air-dried until I couldn't feel damp any more when I flipped them - probably took maybe 3 days in the 50-55-degree zilch humidity dining room.)

Cracked one of them open earlier this week - was about 3-1/2 weeks old at that point.  It definitely needs more aging, doesn't really taste like Gouda at the moment, but it's good - AND it's nice and moist.   First time I've actually be able to pull that off!  Although it was a bit wet under the wax, not sure how that's going to pan out later.  I'm going to vac bag the leftover piece of the first one and let it age some more.

So maybe try the website recipe and see if that works better for you too? 

[Xnukwa]

Interesting- I've been having the opposite problem.  All my Goudas have been softening as they age- they're more the texture of a damp german butter cheese than a gouda. Taste is nice, but I haven't been able to age past 5 weeks yet (between eager, hungry family and the rapid softening).  I've been using the recipe on the forum recipe page, middle values.

My most recent make I tried every trick I could think of to make it dryer (shorter floc multiplier, smaller curd, longer stirring, high end of the temp range..), and am keeping my fingers crossed. 

[iratherfly]

Roberta, you need to try LONGER floc multiplier. Your problem seems typical to under-acidification. Give the curd more time to acidify.  Your problem can also be related to pressing time/weight.  You build more acidity in a stronger press. (and expel more whey)

Brandnetel - gouda shouldn't look like this after 7 weeks and shouldn't break in such way. I think you have way over-acidified yours in the vat, before you even cut the curd.  Try melting it on a pan. If it fails to melt like normal gouda (or normal cheddar, mozzarella, Colby/Jack, Havarti etc.) - then I am probably right. Do it again and shorten the ripening time. Use the spinning bowl method to get the floc time perfect

[OudeKaas]

thanks, irf, will check when I cut open the next cheese. Your comment jibes with my sense is that I probably messed with it way too much in the early stages - whether in the ripening or later, also had a very long pressing time due to messing it up at one point and needing to re-press it essentially from scratch to get it back into shape. I've waxed the remaining cheese to minimize any further loss of moisture but will probably crack it open in a month or two, perhaps.

[iratherfly]

So you are done with this? No material left to test in a hot pan?

There is that old phrase "the cheese is made in the vat" - it's very true!

The thing about moisture loss in acidified cheese is that the proteins look different and the casein walls don't hold the moisture in a good cell structure so waxing the cheese can help but wouldn't solve the problem.

One thing I suggest to do in the future is lay an emergency plan. Many times messing up a cheese would actually make the right steps for properly making a totally different cheese. If you feel that you are over acidifying your cheese than change the plan and use the curd for something else, for example cut it large and ladle it; make it a camembert and use PC in spray after the make instead of inoculating it into the milk as it is too late to do so. Know what I mean? 

[Cheese Head]

Just to add on waxing, I did some reading on Gouda type cheeses and wrote it up here, historically, Gouda wheels (albeit much bigger) were only waxed for shipping.

[OudeKaas]

So you are done with this? No material left to test in a hot pan?

There is that old phrase "the cheese is made in the vat" - it's very true!

The thing about moisture loss in acidified cheese is that the proteins look different and the casein walls don't hold the moisture in a good cell structure so waxing the cheese can help but wouldn't solve the problem.

One thing I suggest to do in the future is lay an emergency plan. Many times messing up a cheese would actually make the right steps for properly making a totally different cheese. If you feel that you are over acidifying your cheese than change the plan and use the curd for something else, for example cut it large and ladle it; make it a camembert and use PC in spray after the make instead of inoculating it into the milk as it is too late to do so. Know what I mean?

Alas, I have eaten or given out as Xmas gifts all of the first small wheel. Since the cheese, different as it is, tastes pretty good right now, I thought that waxing would be the best way to do 'damage control' and minimize any further moisture loss. I am interested in letting it age a little further if possible also. I realize that this is not a 'solution' to the issue and that next time I need to pay attention to floc time and other issues to control these characteristics during the make. I will keep the test in mind for when I do open it, but I think your comments are almost certainly right on the mark based on everything - flavor, texture - that I have observed so far.

I am still very new to this but am beginning to at least conceptually understand some of the issues - I like your idea of an emergency plan for next time! For the current one, thinking that I have sort of unintentionally made something reminiscent of an Italian-style hard cheese,  I have been telling people it is like a "goud-esan" :-)