Author Topic: My Second Colby  (Read 2774 times)

Mondequay

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My Second Colby
« on: July 23, 2010, 03:27:44 AM »
First time posting but I've been stalking you all for a couple months and am so impressed with the knowledge base. I always check this forum first when I have a question.

So, my first colby was created with raw cow milk and was a tremendous success. I say that without even tasting it because it was easy and is oh so beautiful!

My second colby is in the making now and is quite a struggle. I used pasteurized, store bought milk about 15 days from it's last sell-by date. I used the same recipe (Christy's on dairygoatinfo.com) I waited close to 3 hours to get a 'dirty' break that was cut-able. Shortly thereafter the curd shattered and I am left with a lovely cottage cheese mess. I filled the mold, ate the excess -yummy!, and am pressing it now.

After an hour of pressing at 20 pounds this is still cottage cheese, just a little drier. Is there any hope, do you think?

Lesson learned - no more store bought milk for me!

Thanks, I welcome any comments.
Christine

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2010, 03:44:31 AM »
Pasteurization and homogenization alter the calcium in the milk so you needed to add CaCl2 - Calcium Chloride, to correct the problem. The milk may also have been over pasteurized and not usable for cheesemaking. Stick with the raw milk if you can. Otherwise try the CaCl. If that doesn't help, change brands of milk. Do not use "organic" milk because they are usually ultra-pasteurized. Your best store bought  milk will be non-homogenized, low-temperature pasteurized.

Oh, and welcome to the forum. I love Colby.

Groves

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2010, 03:48:51 AM »
Is this the recipe from that site that you used?



Colby Cheese

Warm 2 gal milk and ½ c Buttermilk to 86*
Add 1 tea rennet to ½ c cool water, Stir well into cultured milk
Keep temp at 86* for 30 min. (place in a sink of 90* water)
Cut curd into ½ inch cubes, let rest for 10 min.

While cheese is resting put a kettle on and boil water. Remove some of the sink water and add boiling water to gradually increase the temp of the curds to 100*. Stir gently to keep the curds from clumping together. Hold temp for 30 min

Drain whey to the level of the curds. Add cool tap water to bring the temp to 80* Stir gently to keep the curds from clumping together. Hold temp for 20 min

Lift curds in a colander, drain for 20 min, add 1T salt, mix well

Place curds into a lined press (I use PlyBan instead of cheese cloth in my press, I love it)

Press
20lbs 30 min
flip and rewrap (so it won’t stick to the cloth or plyban)
30lbs 30min
Flip/Rewrap
Overnight at 30lbs
Air dry for a few days, wax, age at 50*-60* for 8 weeks flip often.

Since this cheese dosen’t require a long time to age you can wrap in plastic then age it in the fridge. I won’t tell the cheesemaking purests :wink:

Mondequay

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2010, 03:58:31 AM »
That is the recipe. I did add 1 tsp CaCl prior to warming the milk.

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2010, 04:47:49 PM »
Sounds like your milk was over pasteurized. I would try a differnet brand.

I disagree with aging in the fridge. Can be done but you have to age MUCH longer, even a young cheese like Colby.

Mondequay

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2010, 05:44:23 PM »
Thanks, Sailor, I agree about the milk. It's disheartening since this brand is a collaboration of several farms and one of them is just a mile from my house! Grrrr. I've tried all the store brands available to me except one. I picked up a gallon of that today. At least I will know what options I have.

So, said 2nd colby pressed for several hours at 20 lbs, 7 hours at 40lbs, then 4 hours at 50lbs. I unmolded it and it is a strange looking thing. I'm going to dry it for a few days and hope for the best.

My first colby I wrapped in plastic wrap (hate that stuff) and had to keep in the fridge for a week until my override thermostat was delivered. I have waxed it now and it is sitting at 55 degrees. I hope to do that with this second one too. I tried the store bought milk because I was too impatient to wait 60 days to try the first. Oh, the learning curve.....

I have a fabulous source of raw goat and cow milk so I am going to stick with that. Should I be using CaCl everytime I use the goat milk?

mtncheesemaker

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2010, 05:58:46 PM »
Hi Christine and welcome;
I never have to use CaCl with raw goat milk. I did use it a bit late last winter when the cows were on late winter hay.
If you can get raw milk, that's a good thing!
Pam

Mondequay

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #7 on: July 23, 2010, 10:21:41 PM »
Hi Pam, thanks for the welcome. Having read last night that one should use CaCl always with goat milk,  I used it today in my feta. The curd was much harder(?) than last time but not more desirable. I think I'll skip it too.

I actually get raw goat milk for free! I asked a friend on a Monday if she knew where I could get goat milk and she said, "I could get a goat." She was milking the following Saturday evening! She gives me milk and I give her cheese and I get to see her more often. It's a great friendship!

Offline Boofer

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #8 on: July 24, 2010, 07:00:34 AM »
Warm 2 gal milk and ½ c Buttermilk to 86*
Add 1 tea rennet to ½ c cool water, Stir well into cultured milk

So the acidity is only coming up while you heat the milk and then you add the rennet? Doesn't seem like there would be enough acidity at that point?

Ricki Carroll's and 200 Easy Cheese's Colby recipes both call for 1 hour ripening time. Perhaps you added some ripening time as an adjustment to the recipe?

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Mondequay

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #9 on: July 24, 2010, 05:31:29 PM »
Oops, yes, I did do a 1 hour ripen, just forgot to mention that!

It was certainly the milk. I tried the last brand of milk on my grocer's shelf to make manchego today and it set a beautiful curd! I have renewed hope of making cheese throughout the winter months!

I have Ricki Carroll's book and use it as a double check for most recipes I find on the Internet. 200 Easy Cheeses is one I'll have to put on my wishlist. Thanks.

Offline Boofer

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #10 on: July 24, 2010, 07:50:35 PM »
I would also suggest you use the books' recipes as a loose guide. Tried and true recipes in the real world can be found by the members on this forum. In a lot of cases they have taken the recipes (which may contain errors) and adjusted them to produce excellent cheeses.

Then there are some cheesemakers here going where no cheesemaker has gone before, creating totally new cheeses that make a lot of us envy, salivate, and wish for.  :D

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

MrsKK

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2010, 02:38:44 PM »
I once had a cheese where the curd wouldn't shrink when I cooked it and I was running out of time, so I pressed it and the results sound much like your's.  I cut the curd again after pressing it for a day, then put it in a kettle in a sink of hot water to warm the curd up.  It shrunk during that process and I re-pressed it.  That colby turned out really good, actually.

I've found that many recipe books and recipes on the Internet have some differences to them and my theory is that we are all in slightly different environments and have slight differences to our milk, rennet, cultures, etc.  So what works for me in my house in west central Wisconsin with milk from my non-grazed (poor!) cow, with clabber and yogurt cultures, and rennet from my source just might not work for someone else in a different part of the country with difference sources for their ingredients.

I know there is a lot of science behind cheesemaking, but the differences create nuances that can't be replicated everywhere every time a cheese is made.  It's the art that attracts me.

Mondequay

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Re: My Second Colby
« Reply #12 on: July 26, 2010, 05:47:07 PM »
Thanks for your wisdom, Karen. I actually have renewed hope for this colby. It's been extremely hot and humid in Massachusetts the past few weeks and I was starting to worry about this cheese not drying  so I put a fan on it for a day and that helped the process. There is also a white tinge to the rind that my first colby did not have. When I put it in the cave last night it had a very slight almost parm smell to it. I'm going to wax it at the end of the week with my manchego and then wait very, very patiently....