Adjustting setting time for a cold house

[kateskitchen]

New member, first post. I'm making cream cheese for the first time using a recipe from Ricki Carroll's book. After bringing cream to 86F and adding the meso starter and rennet, she recommends letting the cream set for 12 hours at a room temp of at least 72F. There isn't a single room in our house that is that warm. At best we keep most of our rooms at 68F. Will this mess up the recipe, or just take longer for the curd to form? Should I go with the flow, or try to rig up something that will keep the cream warm? (heating pad? crock pot on warm?). Thanks for any advice. This is going to be (hopefully) a Xmas gift for family and friends.

[Cheese Head]

Hello Kate, welcome!

You really need to keep it warm to ensure the good micro-organisms grow and dominate the unwanted ones.

There's some ideas on this board for keeping it warm, such as pre-warming oven then leaving in oven with the internal oven light left on or wrapping your small vat containing the cream in towels, or placing in a cooler box to act as an insulation barrier.

Welcome to the world of making cheese!

[Alex]

The largest batch I can make is from 10 liters of milk. I wrap the vat with blankets to keep the target temp.

[Chris_Abrahamson]

Hi Kate

Welcome to the forum - I'm sure that you will find plenty of information here and it is a great group of people willing to share their knowledge

As John mentioned, I usually use my oven after pre-warming it.  I can just squeeze my 5 gallon pot into it. 

Good luck

[ArnaudForestier]

Whether sourdough bulk ferments or my humble firstish efforts at cheesemaking, stuff that has to ripen goes into my oven with the oven off and door propped open 1-3".  A wooden stirring spoon jammed in the hinge does the trick, and I vary the door opening by varying dowel thicknesses or handle widths, as much as my punctilious ex-labrat addictions rebel.  Keeps me at about 83-86, whenever. I found that an oven off and door fully closed just got too hot.

[Buck47]

Hi Kate:

Do you have an old turkey roaster sitting around ... or know someone who has one they are not using?

I've had good luck using a Old Hamilton Beach Turkey roaster. Holds 4 gallons from the evenings milking. I just set the temp at 68F and it holds that temp overnight (or as long as I want). In the morning I turn the dial to the next temp setting I need (usually 86F).

The older ones seam to have a rheostat with finner control than newer ones.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Buck - If you are heating your milk at 68F overnight, you are giving unwanted bacteria the perfect environment to get the jump on your starter bacteria. The lactic bacteria in raw milk may not be completely undesirable, but they will grow quickly and out compete your starter.

[Buck47]

Thanks Sailor for the Heads-Up,

The instructions I'm using call for:

Inoculate the Milk: The evening before using one cup buttermilk to four gal milk *.

Incubate over night at room temp. (I consider 68F to be room temp)

Warm milk the next morning to 86F

The receipt is from Junket Rennet Tablets.

I make variation using Yogurt - from David B. Fankhauser http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese_5_gallons/CHEESE_5gal_00.htm

Hummmmmm Now I'm not sure what to do. 

* I use fresh raw milk from the evening milking.

[Sailor Con Queso]

What are you making? If you are inoculating early with buttermilk (mesophilic bacteria) then you are probably OK, but that would not be my choice. I would seriously question a recipe on the Junket tablet package. There are much better sources of information (like here).

[Buck47]

Thanks again Sailor,

Here is about the same instructions from this forum listed under Alpine Cheese Making Recipes

1.INOCULATE THE MILK: The evening before you plan to make cheese, warm 1 gallon of the freshest milk to 20C (68 o F) in the sterilized pot. Thoroughly blend in the inoculum of 1/3rd cup yogurt as starter. (The function of this inoculation with bacterial starter is to have the milk fermenting bacteria make lactic acid which lowers the pH so that the rennet will be able to act on the casein). Cover the inoculated milk with the sterilized lid. Let sit at room temperature overnight (20-22C/68-72F).

Do you think this is safe?   I appreciate your input, you have far more experience than I.

Regards: john

[kateskitchen]

Thanks for all the tips and the warm welcome! I got up about 5:30am to get the process started. This gives me more than 12 hours to see if/when the cream sets up. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to start draining it before I turn in tonight. For now, my little baby is bundled in a blanket and is sitting near one of the furnace vents in our smallest bedroom and I have a small portable heater nearby. I sure hope this cheese doesn't leave a large carbon footprint! (I have an electric oven and the lowest it can be set is 175, so that option is out.) By the way, we plan to give this cheese as a gift with homemade red pepper jelly. We found an awesome recipe online at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spicy-Red-Pepper-Jelly-236699. We threw in a jalapeno with seeds for some extra kick and it came out great!

[Boofer]

We found an awesome recipe online at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spicy-Red-Pepper-Jelly-236699.

Thanks for that recipe link. My wife loves the commercial pepper jelly with cream cheese on little crackers. I'll see how she likes freshly-made pepper jelly. Who knows? Maybe I'll try to make some cream cheese too!

-Boofer-

[MrsKK]

My house is very cool during the winter, too, and I just set my pot of curd inside a larger pot and fill it with hot tap water.  Put a cover over it and wrap a couple of towels around it.  It sets up in the usual amount of time and actually gives a better flavored cheese than in the summer time when the house temp is too warm.

Good luck and let us know what your results are.

[MrsKK]

Thanks again Sailor,

Here is about the same instructions from this forum listed under Alpine Cheese Making Recipes

1.INOCULATE THE MILK: The evening before you plan to make cheese, warm 1 gallon of the freshest milk to 20C (68 o F) in the sterilized pot. Thoroughly blend in the inoculum of 1/3rd cup yogurt as starter. (The function of this inoculation with bacterial starter is to have the milk fermenting bacteria make lactic acid which lowers the pH so that the rennet will be able to act on the casein). Cover the inoculated milk with the sterilized lid. Let sit at room temperature overnight (20-22C/68-72F).

Do you think this is safe?   I appreciate your input, you have far more experience than I.

Regards: john

Regarding "safe", as long as you know the source of your milk is clean, it is handled cleanly and gives good milk for drinking (whether raw or pasturized), you are not in any danger.

The issue with using raw milk and allowing the bacteria within it to grow unchecked is that you will probably not get the same results each time that you make cheese.  For the cheesemaker who is wanting consistent, repeatable results, it isn't a good thing.

For me, I enjoy the different nuances I get from the variables of making cheese with raw milk, which is part of the reason that I use clabbered raw milk as a culture.

It is all in what you are looking for in your end results.

[Buck47]

kateskitchen:  How did your cheese come out? Let us know.

MrsKK:

Regarding "safe", as long as you know the source of your milk is clean, it is handled cleanly and gives good milk for drinking (whether raw or pasteurized), you are not in any danger.

For me, I enjoy the different nuances I get from the variables of making cheese with raw milk, which is part of the reason that I use clabbered raw milk as a culture.

It is all in what you are looking for in your end results.

MrKK: As for me my goals are to learn to make good cheese using one or two recipes one is the Alpine Cheese  from this forum and the other is about the same ... Fankhauser,  5 gal hard cheese.

Not interested in using ph meters ... want to learn the process more as a skill. Knowing the look and feel of the process is important to me.

Regards: john