I haven't been around since last fall, when we dried up the herd and I no longer had milk. I learned a bit from this thread, but I still have a few questions of my own.
Right now I have a lot of milk on my hands, I need to make 5-6 gallons of cheese every few days, cheddar or Monteray Jack or Colby or I have been tempted to try Provalone or Swiss ... We were feeding baby goats & calves, the abundance of milk is a recent thing, I'm only 3 wheels into my sprint to stock my cheese cave. I have made two small wheels of cheddar last fall (very sharp, husband likes them though) and I've put 20-25# of traditional moz in the freezer this spring. Days I make cheese I've got something of a routine down!
Questions:
When I cut curds, and let them sit the time the recipe specifies, they almost always knit back together. Is this a goat milk thing? would you cut them again? Stir them instead of letting them set? I am at a loss. I like to experiment with recipes, but not knowing if it worked for 2mo is rather challenging.
Could I possibly dry wheels in my Excalibur on say, 95* to develop the rind faster? Is there a downside to that? The last wheel of Mon. Jack sat almost a week and was molding before it dried uniformly like I wanted it to.
I suspect I have mold/yeast floating around in my kitchen from breadmaking/fermenting. I was thinking the dehydrator in another room might help that?
Is it a huge deal to have some creases/folds/dimples in the rind? The Mon. Jack is doing this. I tried pressing with more weight (just a few pounds, it only calls for 10#), which helped a tad. I suspect this is because the curds are knitting back together, but am really at a loss, again. Should I dunk in 100* water and try to smooth stuff out? I just took this last wheel out of the press early this morning, it has dimpling in the rind, too. The recipes I'm using are Ricki Carol's, which all call for 2 gallons but I need to at least double the recipes for practical purposes.
I'm wondering, if the 2gallon recipe calls for 10# pressure, should I use 20# pressure on a 4-ish pound cheese???
I vac packed the last two cheeses, tiny bits of whey have developed (I have to look really close). Again, seems like I could dry them out with the air movement of the dehydrator, otherwise they would probably mold first?!? I honestly think I would prefer to wax them, only so I don't know what is going on underneath ... not wise, I know! LOL
I'm going to try knocking the cheese cave down a few more degrees. It stays consistently at 50-53* and 80-83% humidity in my basement.
Maybe part of my problem is making American Cheeses with goat's milk ... but it's the only cheeses I have any familiarity with at all.
Well, I've had a few slices of Swiss in my life ... which I would like to try making but I'm nervous to add another mold to my house!
I would probably have to buy Havarti or Edam from the store to even see what I was aiming for!!!
Any and all thoughts appreciated. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but waiting 60+ days to see if my "experiments" work or not is really challenging. I have about a month of making cheese every 2-3 days and then we'll dry up most of the goats, so I can't really tell which wheels work yet or not. *sigh*
I do love the whole process! I just wish I had more of the bugs worked out!