Playing with Caerphilly Recipes

[darius]

My first Caerphilly (1 gallon trial) won't be ready to cut open for 10 more days, and the 2nd one (2 gallons, altered recipe) won't be ready to cut for another week after that. The first one followed the recipe here http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,6225.0.html except I forgot to reduce the salt when I reduced the recipe from 2 gallons to one gallon. No brining.

I feel a little more confident about the 2nd one, with some changes I made in the process. I followed the make time and salt plus brining from Peter Dixon's recipe, http://www.dairyfoodsconsulting.com/recipes_Caerphilly.shtml but nothing else from it. I'd like to duplicate this recipe and wax the cheese as Dixon recommends, just to see any difference it makes. I might, at some point, make one and age it up to the 4 months he suggests, rather than a 3 week cheese, to see the outcome too.

This time, I stuck to the holding temps a little better by wrapping a thick terry towel around the lidded pot, and did as best I could to measure pH with dip sticks, which isn't very good. Buying a good pH meter will need several months for me to save enough $$...

I'm starting another small caerphilly today and plan to include some dried thyme. (I've been adding dried thyme to olive oil with grated Parm for dipping crusty bread and really like the taste.)

Once I cut and sample these various caerphilly makes I may hate them, but at least I'm learning something along the way. Besides, I still need to buy a cache of cultures while I'm learning to make just one cheese.

[JeffHamm]

Hi darius,

I'll be interested to hear how the thyme works out.  I bet it would be really nice in a gouda too.  My wife just bought me a wine cooler fridge for my birthday (which isn't until next month but she was tired of me keeping the freezer full of milk jugs to make ice for my chilly bin!), so I now have room to age more cheeses!  As such, I might make a caerphilly for longer aging as well.  I would like to see how it changes.  I have a 1/4 piece wedge from my first one still, which I'll probably have in a month.  That will be about 3 months old at that time.  My 2nd caerphilly will be ready in a week, so that will help with the patience factor.    Anyway, I look forward to hearing how these various makes turn out. 

- Jeff

[pliezar (Ian)]

Hi darius,

I too am interested in the thyme and how the flavour is.  I have to agree on the Gouda, I made one that I rubbed the rind with sage and olive oil.  I am attaching the Caerphilly recipe with the modifications I did (combo of Greening of Gavin and 200 Cheese).  I just put mine into the Cheese Igloo in a ripening bin to control the humidity better.  -20C sucks the humidity out even in the house. 

I think my next one will have to be the one from your link.  we will see.

I love this site because we can share what works and what doesn't

Ian

[darius]

Thanks. I like how you made modification notes in the margins!

I'd like to make one with a natural rind too.

[JeffHamm]

Thanks for the recipe too.  The natural rind sounds interesting.  So far, mine have just had clean rinds but I've not put them in high humidity aging containers.  Might try that with the next one I make.  Great stuff.

- Jeff

[pliezar (Ian)]

I like the a natural rind on a cheese after my waxing debacle (it was really an ugly thing).  I did give the rind a quick wash of a simple brine today after work.  I don't know if it still counts as a natural rind or washed now.  I did place it in a ripening container in the fridge.  I am having humidity issues.

[darius]

Okay, here's the thyme Caerphilly, and make notes.

Make on Mar 11
Used I gallon Jersey homogenized milk, local
Added ½ mL calcium chloride in 30 mL distilled water
Used 1 oz. homemade meso culture; let develop 90 minutes per Dixon
Added ¼ Marschall M-50 rennet tablet dissolved in 60 mL distilled water
Floc achieved at: 10 minutes
Used a floc multiplier of 4, per Dixon, or 40 minutes.
Raised temp to 93ºF over 20 mins, stirring. (Temp had dropped to 86.5º)
Dixon says to stir the curds somewhat vigorously after the first 20 mins, and keep it up (for maybe another 30-50 minutes) until the curds are firm and springy in the hand. Took a total of 50 minutes to get firm curds.

Settle the curds under the whey for 20 min.

Next: drain whey down to curd level and trench for 5 mins. Don’t know if I can do this successfully in a shallow round pot with just 1 gallon on a cast iron burner that is hard to control for heat. (Heat already went to 96º during this last process.) My cast iron raised hobs retain heat long after being turned off.

Drain 5 minutes in cheesecloth.

Mill the curds into 1” cubes, mix in salt at the rate of 1 pound per 100 pounds of curd. I figure I have about one pound of curd, so 4.53g salt.  Then mix in the thyme. I’ll start with one teaspoon and see how it looks. Well, the thyme looks okay. I’m afraid to add more lest it totally overpower. I’ll find out in 3-4 weeks when I taste it!

First pressing, 7:45 pm @ 10 lbs, 20 minutes. Room temp is around 70ºF.
Remove from press, redress inverted, press another 20 mins @ 10 lbs.

Final redress and press: Remove from press, redress inverted, press overnight @ 15-20 pounds.

This morning: Removed from press, immersed in 18% whey brine @55ºF for 3 hours (2.5 hours per pound of cheese, weight was 1.25 pounds), will turn once or twice. Added a sprinkle of salt to top of wheel floating in brine.

[pliezar (Ian)]

darius

That looks nice, well done you! 

I have been hesitant to add herbs to the curd and press.  I don't know why.  I think you will have a nice cheese when it is done.

Cheers

[JeffHamm]

That looks like a really nice cheese.  Looking forward to hearing about how it turned out.

- Jeff

[darius]

Thanks. It was fun, and I'm as curious as anyone about the amount of thyme and how it affects the cheese. I know with some of my sausages, the herb flavors disappear.

[JeffHamm]

Hi darius,

I've made one cheese where I've added sage.  I've not tried it yet as it won't be ready until near the end of April, but when I made it I boiled the sage leaves to make a kind of tea.  I let it cool, then I added the fluid to the milk at the same time as adding the starter culture.  I then added the leaves during milling of the curds, and then pressed it.  If you find the thyme flavour is a bit weaker than you like, perhaps doing something similar might help?  I'm assuming, of course, that the tea helps increase the flavour, but of course, it may not.

- Jeff

[darius]

Jeff, I had read about boiling the herbs and using both tea and leaves as you did and decided to use dried herbs instead, mainly because I hadn't read of anyone doing it, posting amounts used, and tasting results.

Thanks.

[JeffHamm]

Hi darius,

I think I used 2 tbls.  I just put them in a glass (sterilized) and just put boiling water over them to make the tea, and let them cool.  Drained them through a small square of cheesecloth when it came time to add the fluid to the milk, etc.  Won't be ready for about 5 weeks though, so not sure if I've over done it. 

- Jeff

[MrsKK]

Very nice looking cheese.  I'll be interested to hear how it tastes.

[JeffHamm]

I found a photo of the Sage Wenslydale I made.  Adding the sage tea also provided colour to the cheese.  This one was much more yellow than any other cheese I've made (especially when the rind formed).  You can see the knit was not great, and through the cracks the cheese is much whiter.

- Jeff