My First Parmesan

[Trey Magnus]

Sweet, it gets Vac Packed tonight and I hope it is not already too dry.

So just to get more education.  And thank you so much for all that you share with us.

I have read hundreds of threads here and several talk about the pros/cons likes/dislikes of vacuum packing cheese.

Recommendation and opinions vary widely.  Most (it seems to me) recommend a few weeks before vacuum packaging but I never really saw much scientific information about why or why not.  I see many commercial operations vacuum pack their Cheddar and Colby right out of the molds.

I also certainly recognize that different cheeses have different requirements but my focus is on the basic hard cheeses.

Cheddar, Colby, and Parmesan can all be Vacuum packed after a day if they are made and pressed correctly?

They do not need any oxygen in or need to allow any waste gases out to age properly?

Your saying the most important thing is basically the moisture content?

[linuxboy]

Recommendation and opinions vary widely.

Everyone's process is subtly different. but there are some constants:

- Curd must let go of all whey along its microfissures. It's fine if the curd has stable water incorporated in its matrix. It's not fine if there are residual whey pockets. Whey pockets are caused by: uneven curd size, uneven stir schedule, heat gradients in the vat, heat gradients during press, pH gradients, bacterial flocculation leading to uneven distribution, improper brining where surfaces do not get even exposure, etc. Mostly, though, it's the uneven curd size or mismatching the curd size to the flocculation multiplier and milk type (this is why most cheeses are 3/8" curd with a floc of 3x)

-Slight rind must form in the sense that it can't be wet. Typically coincides with #1. Rind drying is accomplished naturally in most cases by resting wheels for a day after brining.

- Milk quality is drastically different among makers, so are cultures. Cultures that offgas tend to not do quite as well when vac packed.

I see many commercial operations vacuum pack their Cheddar and Colby right out of the molds.

Yes, because the moisture is rather low (37% ish), and the huge press for cheddar dries it out, no whey left.

Cheddar, Colby, and Parmesan can all be Vacuum packed after a day if they are made and pressed correctly?

Yes. Typically, below 38% moisture, you can get away with it. Above, it requires a bit of kajigerring, like aging at lower temps.

They do not need any oxygen in or need to allow any waste gases out to age properly?

No, they'll be fine. But typically for vac bag aging, you can't do it quickly. You need to keep them at 40-48F.

Your saying the most important thing is basically the moisture content?

Whey pockets, actually (process control). Then moisture content (cheese style).

[stoneyridge]

Update on my Parmesan - One of my makes is starting to crack.  It has several small cracks along the flat surfaces.  This one is in an aging container.  Should I go ahead and open it up, or continue aging it?  Would it help to Vacuum-seal or Wax at this point?  It is a wheel from 3 gallons of goat's milk and is about 6 months old. 

I had 4 wheels that I was struggling with earlier.  I followed Linuxboy's advise on one and waxed it at about 2 months aging.  It developed quite a bit of moisture under the wax.  I ended up removing the wax, cleaning it up with a strong brine, letting it air out overnight, then waxing again.  It appears to be fine now.  I left the other 3 unsealed to taste the difference, but now I'm having trouble with this one.  Any advise?

Of course, I'm dying to try it!  So maybe I just need someone to tell me to be patient. . .

Diane

[linuxboy]

If it is cracking, then you have an aging issue, most likely due to humidity being too low. Either coat it somehow (wax, vac pack, lard, etc), eat it, or increase humidity.

If you are getting moisture under wax after waiting for 2 months before waxing, it points to uneven moisture in curd, mismatch between flocculation and curd size, or inadequate stir/scald schedule with excess moisture retention.

[stoneyridge]

Thanks for responding so quickly.  I'd really like to figure this out, as I love Parmesan. 

Whey pockets are caused by: uneven stir schedule

  Can you please explain this further?  Do you mean constant, even stirring?  Or something else?  This is one aspect I hadn't heard before.

I have 5 others aging currently (3 waxed, 2 natural rinds), so I think I may 'sacrifice' this one and just eat it.  I'm hoping to 'up my game' next year, and improve my processes and results.  I also plan to get the necessary supplies to make larger wheels, which will probably change a lot of the factors.  I'm out of milk for a few months, so I'll take the down time to study up on details of the proper techniques.  Thanks again.

Diane

Diane

[linuxboy]

Can you please explain this further?  Do you mean constant, even stirring?  Or something else?  This is one aspect I hadn't heard before.

Think about it like this:
- You are trying to get a huge blob of solid curd mass into a small, solid wheel of cheese. To move from A to B, you need to remove water. You need to remove as much water as is appropriate for the cheese style. For parm, this is a LOT of water. You have to get it to a point of about 25%.
- Everything you do influences the rate of water excretion (called syneresis), and the amount. For example, say you have a long set time due to a high floc multiplier. The curd will be strong and slow to release water. Or say that the milk has a ton of fat in it... same thing, will let go of water slowly. Or say, you use a low temp (90ish)... water will go out of the curd slower. Or say you have temp gradients in your vat... one part of the curds will have less moisture, and the other more. Or say the curd size (most important) is uneven. Well, then some curds when they fuse will be really wet, and some dry.
- When you press, it's not like all this equalizes. Those curds will fuse, and your moisture will be uneven.... aka whey pockets.

Constant, even stirring is about agitation. Curd collisions encourage syneresis.  Look up whey pockets and other past threads. I've talked about all these things before in detail here.

[stoneyridge]

Thanks - this helps a lot.  I'll also look up more detail on whey pockets.  I know I've had issues with even curd size - something I've been struggling with. 

I used whole, raw goat milk, so butterfat is probably one of my issues as well.  I knew the butterfat was too high, but didn't realize it would affect the release of whey.  Since I plan to continue using whole goat's milk, is there any way to work around this?  I can make the Parmesan when the butterfat is at it's lowest, but it still averages about 3.5% at the lowest point in the lactation.  Would stirring longer, or at a higher temp help offset this?

Thanks for sharing your vast knowledge!

Diane

[linuxboy]

Which breed? What's your protein like?

For parm, I would separate out the cream. It's just too tough to get the milk to do what you want when the fat is higher than 3.0 (assuming protein is 3.2 ish) ... and that's pushing it. And then when you scald it, you lose too much much of the fat to the whey.

An alternative is to do the best you can, but eat it younger... say 9-12 months. By do the best you can, I mean add in a little calcium chloride to increase strength, increase rennet amount a little, and cut to 1/4" size or smaller to help push the moisture down.

Stirring longer does help. For parm, you shouldn't do more than the standard 122-125F so can't do so much with temp. Controlling flocculation and using the above suggestions also will help.

Overall, I would say curd size control is the #2 or #3 causal factor of cheese inconsistency for smaller-scale producers.

[ellenspn]

>Overall, I would say curd size control is the #2 or #3 causal factor of cheese inconsistency for smaller-scale producers

LB, do you have any suggestions for us home cheesemakers who are working with 4 gal or less of curds.  Is it just a matter of practice of making even cuts with a knife?

[linuxboy]

I think a whisk is much easier than a knife. The way you can do it with a whisk is first plop the whisk straight down. Then move it along the edge while rotating slowly. The movement will give you cuts in one direction and the rotating will take care of the rest. After you finish the outer edge, the middle is there, so you move to the middle and repeat, moving all along the perimeter of the uncut part, until everything is cut. Then when you stir, there will be large pieces on the bottom, and you can cut those with the whisk. It takes just a bit of practice, and you might need to buy a new whisk that has the right number of strands (cheap chef ones work best I've found.. good openings/size between the strands). With a whisk, you typically have 1/2" curd right away, and a few more passes reduces them down if necessary to rice grain size.

FWIW, I have never been able to use a knife properly to achieve even size curds. I read my first book on cheese many many years ago and started with the instructions, and was so frustrated I tossed the thing and figured it out on my own. I figured I was too dumb to do it the "right" way, so I might as well have a good time doing it the wrong way.

[ellenspn]

Ah, that's how you use a whisk.  I have a huge one I got in my first kit from Hoegger and of course smaller ones.  That makes sense now   Thanks!

[stoneyridge]

Which breed? What's your protein like?

I have a mix of Nubian, Alpine, and Nubian-Alpine crosses.    My herd average for fat for the year is 3.8% and protien is 3.0%.  I don't currently have any way of separating out the cream, and a cream-separator is/was pretty low on my list of priorities.  I will have to try the alternative for next year.

You mentioned adding a little calcium chloride:  I add calcium chloride to ALL my cheeses, except Chevre.  Is there a reason/situation why you wouldn't add calcium chloride?  I've been wondering about that. . .

I cut open the Parm with cracks this morning.  The cracks were not deep at all, but there were some pockets in the cheese.  It looks good, but I didn't try it.  Will update after I do.

D