Alcohol in cheese

[Mersunwea]

I am starting this one, because I hope the big guys that have been in this for a while give us their thoughts. I made a (the recipe called it) 'White Stilton'.
I added Rhum to the milk (the recipe called also for meso starter, no ther mould).
My problem was that after pressing the cheese looked horrible (all bumps and holes). So I waxed it, because all those cavities seemed to me like a universe of opportunities for contamination.... I know that you guys may say that this is not a Stilton then, because the aging method is incorrect (but this is another subject).
What do you think about alcohol in the milk as additional flavoring? Thoughts? Successes?
THANKS!!!

[Tomer1]

If its a non ripened age cheese it should be fine other wise the alcohol level will likly to kill any bacteria.
depends what type of alcohol, wine is acidic and will change the PH of your milk\cheese in an unprodictable way. I suggest brining a cheese in alcohol after the making process to infuse its aroma\flavour into the cheese.

[zenith1]

I think that you will find that all the cheeses that have a form of alcoholic beverage added(wine/ale/burbon)are added to the curd before pressing or used as an adjunct in the rind washing.

[Mersunwea]

Understood. I think I will leave it age for a while and see what comes out of it. As I added the alcohol before the starter. I will try a second one following your suggestions. Thanks for your feedback!!

[CheeseSnipe]

I'm in the process of trying a beer and a whiskey cheese. For the beer one I (on second attempt) am bringing the beer to just under boiling to kill off the yeast (and possibly reduce the alcohol). Then soak the cheddared curds in the beer (keeping at same temp curds should be at when pressing) and then press to create the marbling effect and to infuse the flavor throughout.  For the whiskey cheese I was going to fully press and then soak the entire wheel several times, allowing drying in between. I'm thinking multiple short soaks will have less impact than one long soak. I don't want to introduce too much moisture or alcohol into the cheese because I agree with the statement above that it will probably kill off the bacteria it comes into contact with. Once it has fully dried on the outside then wax to seal in the whiskey "vapors" for long term aging. What do you think?

[CheeseSnipe]

Also note in the thread "Fourme d'Ambert", she is injecting her cheese after it gets going.

[Mersunwea]

Hei CheeseSnipe,
I like the idea of the whiskey...sounds really good.
Didn´t think about the injecting possibility either... uhmmmmmmm

 I was going to let the cheese age a bit more to see what happened, but I may open it and see how the Rhum affected the bacteria. And try for second time following your process.... yep, I think that I will do that.

Anyways, you say is your second try.... tell us what happened!!!   

[Mersunwea]

I went to my cheese and opened in half. Smell was good. Was crumbly, though (but still needs to 2 more months minimum of aging). So I decided to wax it back (now I have twwo smaller cheeses). Didn´t seem that bacteria acyivity was totally dead... I have some pictures.
I just don´t seem to find how to attach them... icon doesn´t seem to work...
Thanks

[CheeseSnipe]

I have another stout cheese in the press. I'll post photos when i pull it out.

[CheeseSnipe]

Mersunwea,

Here are pics of my stout colby. I think next time I'll do a cheddar so that the curds are larger and more defined.  The first pic is sitting in the beer after I brought it to boiling and then let cool to the curd temp (104F).  The second is after soaking in beer, then brining, then pressing.

[Brie]

Looks great! Can you provide your recipe, along with the Stout that you used? I'm also interested in hearing about the taste after it ages, as well as the Stout you used.

[CheeseSnipe]

Brie, I used the Colby recipe from "200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes". Do you have a copy of that? If not I can see about summarizing. 

As for the stout, it was my own creation. I have my recipe posted here: http://hopville.com/recipe/428388/wood-aged-beer-recipes/experimental-bourbon-stout---extract-version

I soaked the curds in the beer until they had the desired color and then pressed and brined. Whereas the whiskey cheese I'm making (from the same Colby batch), I pressed, brined first, then dried, and I'm washing daily with a tiny amount of whiskey. It's started to brown on the edges and smells good.

[Mersunwea]

I am going to try your recipe..
Is this the first time you make this one??

[CheeseSnipe]

Yes, until I've had a chance to start tasting stuff (I'm a newby) it's all just experiments.

[Tomer1]

Will be interesting to hear how the bitterness of the beer translates in the final cheese.