Arnaud's Beaufort 2

[Oude Kaas]

I made some of these molds myself, not that difficult. Just steam a thin piece of wood, shape it, glue a block with holes to it and cut another block with holes for the adjuster. I even made one from hdpe, food grade plastic because I was considering them to use them in a commercial set up.
Here is a link to what I made: http://heinennellie.blogspot.com/2010/02/alpine-cheese.html

[ArnaudForestier]

Oude, your ability to craft things is astounding.  Beautiful molds, and screw press.  Thanks for the idea. 

[Boofer]

I think I'm just going to be in beaufort land for the indefinite future.

I took a tip from somewhere in the forum about reusing the wash water from one Beaufort to wash another. I've had the rind of my second Beaufort developing nicely and I had made a third Beaufort, so I did indeed use #2 to assist the rind development of #3. After about a week and a half, #3 looks promising. I will post pics soon. Very encouraging.

There's something innately satisfying about washing down one of these hard cheeses. I would guess it has something to do with hope for the future. There's a lot going on around the world right now that isn't conducive to that premise so that makes the whole rind-washing such a profound moment. Wow...deep, huh? 

-Boofer-

[ArnaudForestier]

Totally agreed, Boof, it is satisfying...something about smoothing over a wash on these cheeses, feeling like one is building layers of flavor that cannot possibly take place overnight.  I know I've enjoyed doing the two that are in my cave, one with PLA, the other, as you describe it, just gets a 3% whey wash, followed by a good rubbing with L'Etivaz rind.  Both are coming along well (see blue attempts from time to time, still, but I think I'm winning that war; the blue never sporulates, just faint dusting in 2 or 3 spots, which I wash away as needed).

[ArnaudForestier]

Well...data point.  I've been going from anywhere from 1 1/2 mos to 2 mos on my beauforts.  I've been washing with either straight 3% whey brine (in tandem with a bought L'Etivaz rind rub), or a 3% PLA whey brine. 

I've got a great crop of...geo and yeasts.  A beautiful, even, resilient, thin mat of white on both wheels.  The smell is sweetish, "cheesy," somewhat nutty. 

And WAY behind the game.  It took a conversation with Pav to realize I've been proceeding on autopilot for weeks, not realizing the fact my whey brines have no funk to them, was, uh, a problem. 

The issue?  These wheys were from the Beaufort make.  Great for soak-brines, initial brines; perfectly pH-balanced for that purpose. 

And useless for linens.  I've got zero linens development, an issue at 2 months, as these should have been FUNKy by this point with linens. 

As I said to Pav, "D'uh."  I should have been flagged by the sweetness of these (aged) brine washes, and by the lack of any linens development despite many weeks of washes.  I had thought the low Aw of the Beaufort meant the flora development cascade was drawn out, and that therefore, despite the fact we're at 1 1/2-2 mos...any day now....for real...I'm sure I'll start to see linens...really....

So, we're playing catch-up, started over tonight with a water brine, 3% salinity, sugar dosing, touch of geo and a lot of SR3.  These wheels are going to get slathered daily with this linens wash until there is evidence of linens.  Then back to 2x, or 3x weekly, then managed as needed.   Next time, I do want to use whey, but will need to make sure it's whey above 6.0, not whey from my make that declines to the wheel pH over time. 

Learning.  Always learning to do.

[Boofer]

sugar dosing

What is this? More detail, please.

-Boofer-

[ArnaudForestier]

Boof, the sugar's there just to give a bit of other food to the linens, to get it rolling.  That, plus a tad of geo.  I wouldn't normally do that - just create a brine, and get it going, but as I'm already behind the game in the linens's taking hold, I wanted to wash with an activated brine. 

[ArnaudForestier]

I made some of these molds myself, not that difficult. Just steam a thin piece of wood, shape it, glue a block with holes to it and cut another block with holes for the adjuster. I even made one from hdpe, food grade plastic because I was considering them to use them in a commercial set up.
Here is a link to what I made: http://heinennellie.blogspot.com/2010/02/alpine-cheese.html

Jos, a late bump, as I enjoy mental anguish, trying to emulate your carpentry skills.  I know these are also a bear to maintain clean. 

So, call me Ishmael. 

No, wait, wrong narrative.  Call me "One Who Needs to Scratch His Traditionalist Itch."  (Sounds like a bad Mike Meyers character).  Can you go into how you built this setup, a bit more (hoop, press - though the press seems fairly straight forward.  if I had the space, I'd love to build one of those swing-arm screw presses, mounted to the wall). 

I'd also like to build a traditional, though small(er) Beaufort hoop, something on the order of handling 10 kilos or so.  (And yes, I'm already thinking of what I really want, one that can handle 35-45 kilos.  Just for kicks).  Meaning, I'd like to add in those concave-ribs, don't know what they're called, to the inside of the hoop, but not clear on how to do this, with the wood overlapping as it is. 

Is your woodstock just hardwood veneer of some kind?

Thanks for whatever thoughts you have. 

Paul

Edits: I removed the dumbest question, so I wouldn't seem like too much of an incompetent.   

Secondly, the question has come up elsewhere - but I believe some makers (Thistle Hill, I had thought, for one) use wooden hoops in the U.S. (see, Mont D'Or wrapped in Spruce, for an example), but one of my vendors said that wasn't possible, due to USDA/FDA regs.  Have I missed something?  Is this true?

[linuxboy]

No, thistle hill does this:

1) pre-press in large mold (not under whey, their room is not equipped for it) to ensure good knit while curd is hot.
2) Cut into blocks to fit into smaller molds
3) Press in molds to final size
4) Take the plastic wrap-around hoop, and let the cheese rest in the hoop so it takes the concave shape.

They do not use wood. Good luck getting that approved anywhere in the US.

[ArnaudForestier]

Thanks, Pav.  I just wrote to Dairy Connections and did my mea culpa - after I posted the above, I actually contacted Thistle Hill, found they do it in plastic. 

How do people using spruce wraps for Vacherin deal with the thought police?  Unless it's considered something much like wooden shelving, a begrudging post-press/low pH by?

<<Je pense que je dois faire la démarche, au pays de mère (c'est la vérité, si vérité âgée...pays  de mon arrière-grand-mère). Cassé, mais heureux.  Bureaucratie, mais d'un animal différent>>

Don't blame me.  Midway through a decent pinot noir, my young lad is retiring his chef dad tonight, making a true poussin rôti grand-mère, and I'm feeling a strong need tonight to feel my French blood.   Now, Pav, are you sure my reblochons won't be <<à point>> before another few weeks? 

*****

OK, guys - how do you bend HDPE, and do food-grade tightening blocks on them?

[Oude Kaas]

Paul, Do you want to make a wooden mold or one made out of HDPE?

The way I did it, the fabrication of either one is fairly similar. To bend the wood or HDPE, I used steam. I first cut the wood or HDPE to size. I put a little water in a large stockpot (I used my 10 gallon vat), about 1 inch and brought that to a steaming boil. Then I put the piece of wood or HDPE slowly into the pot, spiraling it  down into the steam once it got malleable. Once it was hot and soft, I took it out and shaped it to desired size and let it cool down. I seem to remember that the HDPE kind of melted when it got into contact with the hot stockpot wall. So try to avoid this.

The wood block I glued to the wooden hoop with wood glue. The HDPE block, I attached to the hoop with stainless steel screws. I know, this requires drilling and thread tapping, which might be beyond your toolbox. But, it is not that difficult.

The wood I used was pine which I had cut to about 1/8 thick.

The HDPE I got from McMaster Carr. I don't remember what size I used, but if you want to know, I can certainly find out.

Hope this helps, if you need more info, let me know, happy to help.

[ArnaudForestier]

I think that's enough to go on, Jos, ordered some HDPE from McMaster-Carr - thanks very much.    I still want to find a way to try building those concave-kerf ribs, but this is a great start.   Will keep you (and any interested) posted. 

Paul

[ArnaudForestier]

Jos, if reading this - running into a bit of a snag, should have thought to ask this before.  By the picture of your HDPE version, the screws are countersunk.  How did you do that with the HDPE being only about 1/8" thick to begin with?  Just about every screw I found has a head/flange that's virtually 1/8" thick to begin with, so can't figure out how to countersink without basically just going through the plastic. 

Have a Kadova which I blew, first time out - too used to my standard mould, and I ended up destroying the wheel, for the most part.  Will have my head on better next time, will flip more aggressively, weigh more gingerly to begin, and do a salted brine soak of the mould during the make.  I do like the look of the wheels made well from the Kadova, so looking forward to getting it down.

That said, I'm pretty seriously keyed about trying your design and make, Jos.  Can you tell me - where did you get the components for your press, the worm-screw assembly?

[Oude Kaas]

Paul, I checked out the hoop I made. I used 1/4-20 thread screws countersunk into 1/8 material. Indeed, the head of this screw is a little higher than the 1/8 material thickness ( head height= .153") but if you countersink the hole in the 1/8 while holding the block underneath, you countersink a little into the block and the screws' head will be flush on top.



The "worm" screw is a 5/8 threaded rod and a nut. The nut is welded to a piece of flat bar with some holes to attach it to a piece of wood. Pretty simple. The way I made the wood structure (some pieces of wood screwed together) proved to weak for the required pressure. It requires some better joint connections.

Hope this will help in getting you some further. Keep me posted.

[ArnaudForestier]

Thanks, Jos, will look into the press. 

Thanks, too, on the hoop details.  I did end up getting 10/24 tap, etc., have some extra 4" by, and have done a very (very) rough mockup for the night, just playing to see what we're dealing with.  I'll shape, countersink and tidy everything up over the next several days.  A lot of fun, thank you again.  Now - just need a vat that can do that size a wheel some justice, and a cave to put them in....