Author Topic: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd  (Read 11728 times)

Offline Cartierusm

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #15 on: February 04, 2009, 07:12:10 AM »
LOL at the obsession, always checking on the lil' wheels.

Tea

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #16 on: February 04, 2009, 11:29:10 PM »
That looks very professional.  Well done, I am going to have to try this cheese.

Offline Cartierusm

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #17 on: February 05, 2009, 04:19:18 AM »
I've got some Probiotics I just have too many other cheeses to make first. I'll try it in the next 6 months or so.

chilipepper

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #18 on: February 05, 2009, 03:56:02 PM »
Dave, That does look awesome!  Good luck with that bloated wheel and I really hope that ages well and gives you the big holes!  I'm really amazed at how your 'rivets' disappeared! You didn't shave them off did you?  Impressive!

Likesspace

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #19 on: February 05, 2009, 05:47:13 PM »
Thanks Chili..
As for the rivets, they normally do disappear, especially so on a swiss. Also, with most of my waxed cheeses they are barely visibile once aged.
I really don't think that will be the case with the parmesan or romano since these are not waxed and the bumps are extremely hard.
Oh well, if anyone makes fun of it I'll just give them a little lesson in "cheese character". :-)

chilipepper

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #20 on: February 05, 2009, 06:06:44 PM »
Thanks Dave, you could always take on the
'Soup Nazi'
approach from Seinfeld if anyone gives you grief about the rivets! "No cheese for you...come back 1 year!"  ;D

« Last Edit: February 06, 2009, 04:04:34 AM by chilipepper »

Likesspace

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #21 on: February 06, 2009, 03:24:24 AM »
LOL!
The Soup Nazi episode is on my top 5 Seinfeld list.
I'm sure that I've seen all of the eposides many times over but they never fail to amuse me.
In my opinion it's the best sitcom ever.
Thanks for the snicker.

Dave

Likesspace

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #22 on: February 08, 2009, 12:33:36 AM »
Well now....
I just noticed something that's a little strange about my wheel of swiss.
The wheel is not NEARLY as bloated as it was only a day ago and the little surface cracks have started to knit themselves closed.
Does this mean that the pressure finally reached the terminal stage and blew a large hole(s) in the cheese which relieved pressure, causing the wheel to shrink?
Honestly, I have no idea but I'm hoping that is what happened.
Also, (and this might be wishful thinking) it seems that the wheel is starting to puff up again. If it is, in fact, doing this then that makes me think that this might be the process that swiss goes through to form numerous large holes in the cheese.
Now for the main question:
Why does this have to happen to me??
I do not have great patience as it is and now I'm supposed to wait for another couple of months to see if my theory on this is correct?
I'm really wanting to cut into this thing right now to see what's going on inside since this is the first time I've seen anything like this in one of my swiss cheeses.
Of course, I'm not really going to do it (gritting my teeth here) but man....I would really like to know what's happening.
If this wheel continues to inflate and deflate I will leave it to sweat for another few weeks (at the three week point now) and see what happens.
At some point I know I am supposed to move it to a cool fridge, but I just can't bring myself to do that as long as I see activity happening within the cheese.
I'll let everyone know how this turns out (knowing me, probably sooner than later).
Regardless, this one is going at least another two months before it crack it open.
I WILL see what a decently aged swiss is supposed to taste like this time.
(step away from the cheese......remain calm......aged cheese is your friend).

Dave

Captain Caprine

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #23 on: February 08, 2009, 02:58:45 AM »
Dave,
The solution to your problem is simple.  You need to do an MRI on your cheese. ;D
CC

wharris

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #24 on: February 08, 2009, 03:54:24 AM »
I was thinking the SAME thing...  how funny...

Offline Cartierusm

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #25 on: February 08, 2009, 04:57:42 AM »
Totally that would be cool. You would get such strange looks at the ER they would probably do it for free. I dare you, I double dog dare you.

Anyway, to more serious business I have a very good text book on cheese I'll read the swiss section tonight and see what I can come up with.

Estes

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #26 on: March 26, 2009, 10:26:53 PM »
Hey Dave.
Any update on this cheese?

Likesspace

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #27 on: March 26, 2009, 11:47:06 PM »
Estes....
Honestly I had forgotten about posting an update to this cheese since I still did not get the results that I wanted from it.
I cracked into it a couple of weeks ago and although the flavor and texture are fantastic, the eye formation just didn't take.
Just as I have seen in previous attempts, I got a LOT of small eyes in the cheese but no large ones.
I really don't think I will find success with a swiss until I get the process of "pressing under whey" figured out.
This weekend I plan on trying again since it's going to be crappy weather in Illinois.
I do plan on giving "pressing under whey" a try and hopefully the process I have in my head will translate well in the kitchen.
I'll be sure to post a new topic once I get this next cheese finished.
Swiss, Stilton and Cheddar are the three varieties that I feel I have to make correctly before I can consider myself a real cheesemaker.

Dave

linuxboy

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #28 on: March 27, 2009, 01:03:42 AM »
Hey Dave,

When I took a class from a cheesemaker who made tomme-style and washed rind cheeses, she said that pressing under the whey was one of the tricks she used to get consistent curd knit and texture.

All she did was let the curds settle to the bottom, rest the curds for 5-15 mins (depending on cheese type and pH), and then pour off most of the whey until the curd mass on the bottom appeared. Then, she took her hand and pressed into the curd, expelling more whey and knitting the curd mass together more. She pressed maybe a total of 20 times, rather gently but with constant pressure... for about two minutes, 5-10 secs per press. Then the resulting curd mass came out all at once into the cloth-lined mold, where it was pressed some more under very light weight (10 lbs). The curd mass was not broken up or milled between pressing in the pot and pressing in the mold. Cheese wheel was brined after about 12 hours and being flipped in the mold every 2-3 hours.

BTW, these were award-winning cheeses.

Hope this helps! My guess is that pressing under the whey helps to get rid of air space and knits the curds early on, so that the CO2 has no escape paths along micro fissures and must form large bubbles.

linuxboy

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Re: Swiss Wheel From The Great Milk Experiment Curd
« Reply #29 on: March 27, 2009, 01:13:39 AM »
Also, have you read this?

http://www.fepale.org/Foro/quesoscont/Eye%20format%20in%20cheese-C-1.pdf

Good discussion of cause-effects of various types of eye formation.