Author Topic: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay  (Read 88209 times)

John@PC

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #105 on: July 15, 2013, 01:06:52 AM »
Engineers = Arithmetic........You guys! ::)
Hey, what's wrong with math considering physics focuses on watching a bouncing ball?  I suggest a truce and here's a piece offering: I've got a Reblochon I've been ready to cut for a week and even though it's small (1 lb.) I'll send you a slice.  I did some extra washing with b linens and it's VERY aromatic so maybe I should reconsider as it could shut down every Fed Ex distribution hub between here and San Diego. 

Smurfmacaw

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #106 on: July 16, 2013, 01:21:05 PM »
The math part I'm pretty decent at, it's when I add all the numbers and try to make the answer come out (i.e. the arithmetic part) where I get sloppy.  The little math refresher I'm taking has really sharpened me up on that though since the LMS they use takes no prisoners when it comes to getting the numbers exactly right.  Truce accepted though - I've been meaning to try a Reblochon.  I'm slowly conditioning my wife to like stinky cheese.  We had an Epoisse the other night and she commented that once the rind was removed it was really good.  Even my daughter liked it.  I've got a Tomme that has a washed rind and a nice orange glow is showing through the color of the wine wash.  Not too stinky but I think it's going to be good.

John@PC

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #107 on: July 16, 2013, 11:01:57 PM »
This was the first "successful" cheese I've made using b. linens as stated above and I plan to make this on a regular basis.  My wife loves blues and was ambivalent about the "stinky's" but she (and I) loved this cheese.  Great aroma (pungent yet not overpowering), and a taste like a medium aged brie on steroids. 

I've been watching your Tomme posts  with interest and made my own Tomme-style a few days ago.  Did my first washing (brushing) today with a light brine with a 10th of a smidgen of b. linens.  I never really realized how important it is to follow the washing protocol until I did this reblochon.  This is a 4 lb. Tomme so I will follow protocol better this time  :)

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #108 on: July 23, 2013, 02:49:42 PM »
I recently had some questions about using outdated DVI and how that might relate to Mother Cultures.

The irony is that it doesn't matter how old the DVI cultures are when making Mother Cultures. Look at it this way. For simplicity sake assume that a "fresh" DVI has 100,000 active bacteria per teaspoon. Use 1/32 tsp and in X amount of time at the right temperature you have a perfect MC. Two years later that same DVI will have lost potency as some of the bacteria die. So if 50% of them die you now have only 50,000 active bacteria per teaspoon. This makes a huge difference when used directly in milk. However you still just use 1/32 tsp as a starter for the MC. The bacteria that are still alive will wake up and ultimately produce the same strength MC. I have packets of DVI that are over 2 years old.

There have been posts recently about cost savings/yield with MC. While that is definitely true there are many other reasons to use the technique. I feel like I get better quality and more consistent cheese. I am making 4 quarts of MC right now - MM-100, Aroma B, TA-61 and LH-100 - based on my production schedule for the rest of the week.

Ed Puterbaugh
Boone Creek Creamery

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #109 on: July 24, 2013, 01:11:46 PM »
There have been posts recently about cost savings/yield with MC. While that is definitely true there are many other reasons to use the technique. I feel like I get better quality and more consistent cheese.
I like the convenience of grabbing a pre-sized vacuum bag of MC cubes, typically 8 cubes for a 4 gallon batch, and adding them to the milk. I don't have to crack open and violate the vacuum-sealed culture bag that contains everything. My ripening times used to be quite long, but now come down to renneting within an hour or less of adding the mother culture cubes. Good stuff.

I need to redo some MC selections this week. I've run out of Aroma B for one.

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

dthelmers

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #110 on: July 24, 2013, 02:44:39 PM »
I usually just use the DVI, but saw the advantage to mother cultures, so I made a batch of MM100 and innoculated my milk with this last Sunday. This was my standard Caerphilly make that I do all the time, so very familiar with it. This time I got a very noticeably more diacetyl aroma; the whole room smelled of butter. The milk was at 90°f. The mother culture didn't smell any more buttery than you'd expect for MM100, just the cheese milk during the make. I usually ripen the DVI at 90°f for 45 minutes, and it usually smells like the mother culture I made.
Dave in CT

John@PC

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #111 on: July 25, 2013, 11:08:58 PM »
Noting that the milk sterilization process before inoculation is a time/temperature function, can you achieve the same degree of sterilization at a lower temperature (<200F) if a longer time is maintained?  Also, is anyone out there familiar with the Budde method of sterilization?

bgreen

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #112 on: August 05, 2013, 06:39:28 AM »
Hi
Can someone clarify for me when the milk is heated up to 200 degrees F.....in the pot of water is the milk in the container completely sealed or has the lid been cracked to relieve pressure.... wanting to avoid exploding milk.... thanks

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #113 on: August 05, 2013, 01:01:19 PM »
The bottles are sealed because you need to sterilize the lids as well. Don't over fill the containers and do NOT boil the milk and you won't have pressure problems.

bgreen

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #114 on: August 06, 2013, 07:55:12 AM »
Thanks Sailor.... a making my first culture tonight... cheers

bgreen

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #115 on: August 06, 2013, 08:07:03 PM »
Hi

Well i have been making my culture over night of Flora Danica.... used low fat milk of 1.5% fat.  Think i have followed all the instructions.... pH when i started was 7.1.  after about 12 hrs sitting in a water bath at 21 Celsius the pH is now 4.71... aiming for 4.2 to 4.5.  My question is re the consistency of the milk.... it looks like it is separating a bit with some lumps and almost has a curdled look to it... is this what is supposed to happen or is something going wrong..... Thanks for your guidance again

Cheers Bruce

linuxboy

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #116 on: August 06, 2013, 08:45:08 PM »
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after about 12 hrs sitting in a water bath at 21 Celsius the pH is now 4.71... aiming for 4.2 to 4.5.
Why? You're at colony saturation now...

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it looks like it is separating a bit with some lumps and almost has a curdled look to it... is this what is supposed to happen
yes, you made curdled milk, so it will look like curdled milk. Your temp at 21 C is a tad low, but depends what you're trying to accomplish for strain dominance.

bgreen

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #117 on: August 06, 2013, 11:10:47 PM »
Hi Linuxboy

Thanks for your reply....

after about 12 hrs sitting in a water bath at 21 Celsius the pH is now 4.71... aiming for 4.2 to 4.5. 

In the instructions Sailor indicated this was the target range for meso culture... i assumed that should be what i should be aiming for.

yes, you made curdled milk, so it will look like curdled milk. Your temp at 21 C is a tad low, but depends what you're trying to accomplish for strain dominance.

I was wanting to make a culture that i could then user as the starter....  is it supposed to have more the consistency of yogurt rather than curdled and lumpy?  Also what would be the desirable temp is 21 C is a bit low.

Will this be usable as a starter culture?

Thanks for the help

Regards Bruce

linuxboy

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #118 on: August 06, 2013, 11:45:43 PM »
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In the instructions Sailor indicated this was the target range for meso culture... i assumed that should be what i should be aiming for.
Read the whole thread, there's a bit more to it. You can wait that long, but it's not required.

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is it supposed to have more the consistency of yogurt rather than curdled and lumpy?
Not really, no. Depends on your milk. Should be vaguely like buttermilk.

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Also what would be the desirable temp is 21 C is a bit low.
I would target more like 23C for FD. You want a balance between aroma/flavor and acidifiers. Multi-strain and undefined strain starters are more tricky to culture out. Commercially, they culture the blend under different conditions and then re-blend to reach the target strain ratios.
Quote
Will this be usable as a starter culture?
Sure, it has active bacteris.

bgreen

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Re: Making Mother Cultures - A Photo Essay
« Reply #119 on: August 07, 2013, 04:14:21 AM »
Thanks again Linuxboy  .. i might throw this culture and start again after rereading the whole thread.  I will try letting the milk sit at 23 C degrees while it does its thing :)

So in reading your comments, i could have stopped when the milk started to thinken up rather than waiting for a specific pH level?

Cheers Bruce