Author Topic: My 3rd Butterkase  (Read 5401 times)

Offline pliezar (Ian)

  • Mature Cheese
  • ****
  • Location: Edmoton, Alberta Canada
  • Posts: 202
  • Cheeses: 11
  • Ian
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #15 on: November 02, 2011, 07:20:12 PM »
Yes it does look good, you could put the wedge back in and vacuum seal it and age it longer if you want

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #16 on: November 02, 2011, 08:54:31 PM »
Hi fied and Ian,

Thanks!  Once it warms up it has some nice flavours to it.  It has a slight cream cheese tang to it which I didn't notice right out of the fridge, and is very creamy and moist.  The rind has a very nice earthy flavour to it and it goes really well with the overall flavour.  I've shared some with my tasters at work and it's got a big thumbs up from all of them.  I'll keep it in the cave and keep on aging it over the next wee while as I sample it. 

One thing is that I didn't get any sort of "runny bits" under the rind from the b.linens.  But, it's not had much time to develop that way, and also, it's not a soft cheese make so that may not have occured even if I aged it another couple months. 

Anyway, it's not a failure that's for sure.  Just a bit premature compared to what I was intending.

- Jeff

Offline Boofer

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Lakewood, Washington
  • Posts: 5,015
  • Cheeses: 344
  • Contemplating cheese
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #17 on: November 02, 2011, 10:53:33 PM »
Well, I've cut into it and nothing nasty oozed out or exploded into the room,
  ;D Yeah, that conjures up an image!

it's just a simple tasting, moist cheese.  I think, from what I've read, this is what Butterkase is sort of like.  Mild and moist, good in sandwhiches type thing.
I sampled it recently and it was fairly mild, but tasty.

I especially liked that second pic of the cut cheese. It looked pretty tasty. More so than the first pic.  ;)

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #18 on: November 03, 2011, 12:05:22 AM »
Hi Boofer,

Yes, I agree, the 2nd photo is much better as the first doesn't do it justice! ;)

My goal for this make was to see if I could replicate what I obtained on my 2nd make, and I think I pretty mcuh have.  The b.linens aside, the cheese itself has turned out with the kind of flavour I would have expected.  At 1 month, it still has a slight young tang to it, but that's to be expected.  If I had aged this out to 60 days or so, as I had with my 2nd, I'm pretty sure I would have a good replication.  So, to me, that's a win.  Haven't tried melting it yet. 

- Jeff


Offline Boofer

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Lakewood, Washington
  • Posts: 5,015
  • Cheeses: 344
  • Contemplating cheese
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #19 on: November 03, 2011, 05:28:32 AM »
My previous taste of the Butterkase and your threads following the style inspire me to put that on my list of "next ups". With that inspiration and your keen sense of humor...have a cheese. Good work.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #20 on: November 03, 2011, 06:21:08 AM »
Thanks Boofer!  I think the basic make procedure I've used in this make would be the one I would recommend (with rennet amounts and cultures adjusted based upon your own experience of course).  I've been very pleased with the flavour that I'm getting from it.  Some points to note, the curd is generally very soft and wet, and it might be worth giving it a 15-30 minute draining period in a cloth lined colandar prior to putting in the mold for pressing if it feels like it's retained a lot. 

Anyway, I've ment to ask you, since you've been working on rind development, and have made some smeared cheeses, have you had any split like this one did?  I've never had a cheese split like this before (I've had small cracks form, but never a big split down the rind like this one).  I was just washing it with about a 3-5% brine solution, every other day (just dampen a cloth and wet the surface of the cheese; but not sopping).  This spread the b.linens nicely at least.

- Jeff

Offline Boofer

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Lakewood, Washington
  • Posts: 5,015
  • Cheeses: 344
  • Contemplating cheese
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #21 on: November 03, 2011, 02:24:07 PM »
I've never had any huge cracks or splits in any of the 36 cheeses I've made so far. I did have a couple of slight cracks in the edge of the rind in one cheese. I tried to heal it with EVOO and increased humidity in its minicave which helped a bit. I ended up vacuum-sealing it to protect its integrity...it had reached the point in its affinage where that wasn't going to be a problem.

I'm afraid I mother my cheeses a great deal, especially in the early stages. My wife rather rolls her eyes at the care I afford my cheeses. Part of that comes from some mistakes I made early on with a couple cheeses. I left a newly-made alpine alone for a few days without checking on it. It was at room temp and had been sweating. When I finally did decide to check on it, I was shocked to see an unruly growth of mold all over it. I cleaned it up with a lot of effort but knew at that point that I couldn't turn my back on any cheese for longer than a day. They must be monitored for temp, humidity, anticipated rind growth, and unacceptable rind growth. With the last two you want to encourage and discourage, respectively.

Are you using a ripening box (I call mine "minicaves" because they help me control the cheese environment on a smaller scale.) There was a forum member who had a crack developing in her cheese. She found a way to bind around the rind (like a belt) to hold the rind together. It kind of worked. I think in the end she vacuum-sealed it. Here's a link that might help. I once had a cheese wheel in a minicave with the lid held open a bit to adjust the humidity. The rind edge closest to that lid opening dried more than the rest of the cheese. I made sure I rotated what was becoming a crack around to the moister side when I flipped it. That helped a lot to control the rind development.

This cheesemaking idea is an education. One of the guidelines I've followed over the years is "never stop learning". With cheesemaking that's guaranteed.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

DustinBlodgett

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #22 on: November 03, 2011, 04:01:07 PM »
Jeff, you and everyone here have got me so excited about this cheese.  I have chosen butterkäse as my "perfection cheese" for 2012.  The cheese style to replicate and replicate until I get it right.  Granted, I have yet to make my first cheese, but I plan to start with a queso fresco tomorrow and if all goes well, move up to a farmhouse cheddar that came with my cheesemaking kit.

2012 will be the "Deutsch Jahre" in our house.  I will be only brewing German beers and plan to have a big Oktoberfest party.  The butterkäse will go perfectly if I can get it right by then.  Thanks for the inspiration and VERY diligent note taking.  I will stay tuned to your endeavors and hope to share some of my Butterkäse adventures eventually, too.  Prost und  auf wiedersehen!

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #23 on: November 03, 2011, 05:54:42 PM »
Hi Boofer,

This is the first major crack I've had develope as well.  I do keep them in ripening boxes, and like you, adjust the lid to get the humidity right.  Unfortunatley, I don't have a humidity measuring device, but a bit of condensation does form on the walls.  Also, I believe the humidity had to be high enough to get the b.linens to grow?

I recall the binding of the cracked cheese, and I tried that.  I think because my cracks were onl through the b.linen formed rind, and not right through the cheese in a full split, it wasn't going to work (I couldn't bind it enough to get it to hold the rind closed). 

Very strange. 

- Jeff

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #24 on: November 03, 2011, 06:21:10 PM »
Hi DustinBlodgett,

I'm glad you've found the notes and discussions useful.  This cheese can be eaten at 4 weeks, though it does get better if you age it longer (say, 2 or 3 months).  One thing to note is that the curds seem to be very fragile, relative to other cheeses I've made that's the case.  Although I haven't done this yet with this cheese, from what I've read I think it might benefit from "pressing under whey".  Search the forum to find the details on that.  In the end, though, it is a fairly straight forward washed curd cheese.  I look forward to reading about your successes, as I'm sure they will be.

- Jeff

DustinBlodgett

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #25 on: November 04, 2011, 12:40:08 AM »
Wow, I completely screwed up my first cheese.  I made an attempt at Queso Fresco today and it didn't go well.  I used the recipe and directions on the Wiki recipe here for queso fresco, but after 90minutes my curd had really only halfway set.  I never got what I would say was an obvious clean break. The curd didn't change at all from the 40min mark to the 90 min mark, so I decided to continue with cutting the curd, bringing it up to temp and draining it.  Only about a quarter of it was formed into semi formed curds. It was very wet and didn't drain much of the whey off.  It's about the consistency of a grainy cream cheese and tastes just like the curd part of cottage cheese. 

I think my main problem was that I used some old rennet.  It was is my cheese making kit that I got from my mom on my birthday in April, and since I didn't know how to store rennet then, it sat in our room temp pantry for upwards of 7 months before I got around to using it today.  Also, the recipe never said how much to use, so I just guessed at about 1/2 tablet for 1gal milk and 1/2 gal buttermilk.  Maybe I should have just let the milk go on setting until I got a clean break, just I noticed no difference at all between minute 40 and minute 90, so I figured it wasn't going to do much of anything else. 

I've already ordered some fresh rennet, cultures, lipase and new cheese clothe (I think the cloth I got with the kit was too coarse for a soft cheese).  I hope my next one goes better.  I'm just itching to do a butterkase, but I need to hone my skills first.

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #26 on: November 04, 2011, 01:30:22 AM »
Hi DustinBlodgett,

Do a search on floculation test.  You can use this to determine how much rennet to use, and when to cut the curd (rather than using the "clean break" test).   By targeting a "floc time" between 10 and 15 minutes, you can dial in your rennet over a couple makes (this will all make sense once you read up on the Floc method).

Aso, if your milk is store bought, homogenized and pasturized, then you need to add CaCl2 just before you add your rennet.  And, although diluting the rennet before adding it to the milk is a good idea, don't dilute it until just before adding it in.  It gets weaker from sitting around in the water.  Finally, try a different brand of milk.  Sometimes the problem is that the milk was pasturized at a high temperature (not quite ultra high temp, but high enough to make it poor cheese making milk).  Organic milks are often bad this way.

so, try another gallon and use the floc.  May the floc be with you. :)

- Jeff

DustinBlodgett

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #27 on: November 12, 2011, 08:51:22 PM »
Thanks, Jeff.  I have read up on the flocc test and will be using it next time I make cheese. I think I will try another queso fresco and see if I can do a better job this time.  Wife and several coworkers like the result of my first make but I was less than enthused.  It turned out to be very much like cream cheese and we used it as a spread instead.   

I did use CaCl with that batch and didn't wait long after dilution of my rennet to add it to the milk.  So I don't think that's the problem.  I will try a different brand of milk.  I just used my local generic brand of milk, I think it was Krogers brand from my Fry's Grocery store.  I'm trying not to be discouraged, so I hope my next make goes better.  Thanks for the support and suggestions. 

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #28 on: November 16, 2011, 04:36:47 AM »
Just a short update.  Up until now I've been doing my melt tests in the microwave and none of them have melted well, including this one.  However, today we had some baked potatoes and I put some on.  Melted wonderfully!  I guess my 10 seconds on high test isn't a very good one.

- Jeff

JeffHamm

  • Guest
Re: My 3rd Butterkase
« Reply #29 on: December 06, 2011, 06:45:38 AM »
It's sad when you have to say good-bye.  Yes parting is such sweet sorrow.  Yesterday, my wife, daughter, and I consumed the last of this one.  It was very tasty right up to the end.  Retained it's moistness and the flavour was developing as it aged, but it was always a nice clean and creamy cheese.  A shame it cracked, resulting in it being opened so much earlier than intended, but so goes the adventure.

- Jeff