Author Topic: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese  (Read 19292 times)

JeffHamm

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Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« on: October 29, 2011, 10:49:26 PM »
Hi,

Well, my cheese cave is pretty full, so no room for another full wheel, but I figure I could squeeze a small camemebert type thing in somewhere.  So, I decided to experiment a bit.  I've never made a lactic curd type cheese.  And, it's been almost a year since I've made a mold ripened cheese.  I decided to just put together a make protocol and see what happens. 

Here's my experimental procedure; currently I'm at step 6 (the milk is in the hotwater cupboard), so the rest is open to adjustment depending upon how things go.  I considered adding a drop of rennet diluted in water, but decided I wanted to go wtih just lactic coagulation since I've never done that before.  We'll see.  Anyway,  if anyone sees any idiot moves listed, let me know.  I sort of put this together while getting ready to go shopping, so didn't really have time to research it properly. 

2 L Farmhouse creamline milk
1 ice cube buttermilk
Scrapings of mold from store bought cam
1 drop rennet in 1 tbls water salt

1)   Melt ice cube of starter in some milk, place in hot water cupboard for an hour or so (get it going)
2)   Place scrapings of mold in warm water and mash about until water is a bit cloudy
3)   Warm milk to 25 C (around 11:00 am)
4)   Add starter  milk
5)   Add mold
6)   Cover, and place in hot water cupboard
6b)           After 7-8 hours, add 1 drop of rennet diluted in 1 tbls water and mix in (6:00 pm) NOTE: my rennet is 750 IMCU strength, probably could have diluted in 2 tbls and then just add 1 tbls worth for 1/2 drop
7)   Wait until curd forms and separates from whey (12-24 hours)
8)   Ladle curd into mold (6:00 am next day)
9)   Drain, flipping every 2-3 of hours or so until night, then drain overnight
Flipped at 7:30 am, 10:30 am, 4:30pm, 8:00 pm. (was 452g at this point)
10)   Salt each face and sides of the cheese smooth any holes
11)   Place in cave (6:00 am 2nd day since make; cave temp 10 C; weight now 402 g), flip daily, until mold covers the cheese
12)   Wrap and age 2 – 4 weeks?

P.S. I've updated  the make to include the fact I added some rennet
P.P.S. updated some details as the make progresses
« Last Edit: October 31, 2011, 07:54:56 PM by JeffHamm »

linuxboy

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2011, 11:41:42 PM »
Pay very careful attention to maintaining ambient temp during ripening. With a full lactic curd, you must use excellent milk with high solids, and culture that contributes to a thick set. You must also hot your pH targets exactly, to start draining at 4.55-4.7.

Also, no real need to wrap. I would keep eating them as they ripen starting with day 7, and then make more when I run out. Also, be careful during salting. If dry salting, make sure surface dries out so that the PC can bloom early with an even coat. Good luck :)

JeffHamm

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2011, 05:21:09 AM »
Thanks linuxboy,

I'm just using store bought, pasturised, creamline (at least) milk, and my culture is some ripened buttermilk which I've only just started using recently.  So, after about 7 hours I had a peek and things were still "fluid" though there were some solids forming.  Having a look at the recommendations (best quality milk, thicksetting culture, etc) I decided to add 1 drop rennet in a tablespoon of water and mix.  Will see how it turns out tomorrow.  I'll only get one of these cheeses as the curds are likely to fit into a single mold.  Hmmmm, I have some single serve yogurt cups I could try out for mini-cheeses.  Will see what I have in the way of curd tomorrow before deciding.

- Jeff

linuxboy

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2011, 06:24:11 AM »
This is also what I do and add a little rennet. Making a full lactic cheese is sort of a holy grail. It takes a very nuanced understanding and precise control because the curd is fragile. What happens is that as the casein loses that electric charge and comes out of suspension, it will start to form a curd. With time and more acidity, the rate of casein agglomeration increases, and instead of having an even matrix, you get these globs of tightly knit micelles, and then the micelle superclusters bond together. The end result is a curd that cannot hold moisture or fat well, and becomes rather grainy and weak. With even a little rennet, you achieve semi-lactic set and your curd is stronger. You can manipulate the texture by adjusting the point at which you add rennet and the amount you add.

JeffHamm

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #4 on: October 30, 2011, 05:59:10 PM »
Well, at 6:00 am the next day, we seem to have curd formation and separation.  Things taste very tangy, and without a pH meter, that's the best I can do. So, I've started ladeling these into a small mold that should hold the lot.  Mind you, it's full at the moment and there's still some to go (last two photos).  The amount of curd is so different this way, and it's very soft.  But, it does hold together when I place it in the mold, so I have hopes this will work.

Pleased with this experiment so far.

- Jeff

Tomer1

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2011, 07:27:09 PM »
Does this method produce lower yeild then semi lactic cheeses? (which uses a tiny bit of rennet)

JeffHamm

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2011, 07:57:21 PM »
Hi Tomer1,

Can't help you there I'm afraid.  I've never tried anything like this before, and it was a sort of spur of the moment decision.  I changed my mind and went "semi-lactic" and added a drop of rennet.  I'm curious to see how much the final cheese weighs.  It's draining quite a bit, which is good, and slowly compressing under it's own weight.  My wife will flip it for me around mid-day, and I'll give it another short flip when I get home from work before the all night drain. 

Hmmm, I wonder.  If I had saved the whey that drained, I could have frozen that and made ice cubes for starter.  Would that contain active PC spores too, or would they not survive the iceing?  I know you can keep the spores in the freezer in a dry state, but does the fluid form crystals that damage the spores? 

- Jeff

linuxboy

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2011, 08:02:51 PM »
Quote
I could have frozen that and made ice cubes for starter.  Would that contain active PC spores too
Yes
Quote
fluid form crystals that damage the spores
Depends on speed of freezing and storage temp. Faster freeze = small crystals.

Tomer1

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #8 on: October 30, 2011, 11:04:05 PM »
use liquid nitrogen if you have some laying around :)

JeffHamm

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #9 on: October 31, 2011, 12:07:42 AM »
Thanks again!

Hmmm, liquid nitrogen... where did I put that?  :)

Oh, for salting, I was going to just sprinkle some on each face once it was out of the mold.  Probably something in the vincinity of 1/8 tsp per side. 

- Jeff

ellenspn

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #10 on: October 31, 2011, 12:14:00 AM »
Liquid nitrogen good one. Just don't store it in a 2 l pop bottle ;)

JeffHamm

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #11 on: October 31, 2011, 04:55:18 AM »
Hi,

Well, it's been draining for almost 12 hours, and it now weighs in at 452g (so just over 20% yeild).  It's quite a bit thicker then I had anticipated, and unless it drains a great deal more over the next 12 hours, I would make two cheeses of this size in the future.  Here's a photo of it still in the mold with a fairly standard sized coffee mug for scale.

Having now taken some rough measurements it" 8 cm diam and 6.5 cm high, so a density of 1.38 g/cc. 

Oh, and one other thing, I didn't add any CaCl2 to this.  Does one normally add it to a lactic or semi-lactic cheese make?  I was thinking that the CaCl2 was to aid the rennet, and since I was planning on using any at first I didn't bother.

- Jeff
« Last Edit: October 31, 2011, 07:23:52 AM by JeffHamm »

JeffHamm

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #12 on: October 31, 2011, 06:05:10 PM »
Hi,

Ok, so at 6:30 am ish on Tuesday (started the make on Sunday) this cheese finished it's draining (I think) and is now salted and in the cave.  I just sprinkled a decent coating of salt over the entire surface (ends and sides).  It weighed in at 402g when it went in the cave.  It has a very different feel to a pressed cheese, but that's not too surprising.  Very soft, filled in a few holes, etc.  This could end up quite nice, or go south quickly.  Will see.

Oh yah, I had to adjust the colour in the photo as it was too yellow again.  This looks a bit graying, but the curds are pure white at the moment.

- Jeff

JeffHamm

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2011, 06:30:15 PM »
Just a quick update.  This one is still holding its shape well, and the paste is still soft, so changing it in and out of the cave to flip requires care.  However, today I spotted some white mold bloom for the first time.  It's appearing in a few places, looks good and fuzzy.  Yah! 

- Jeff

JeffHamm

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Re: Jeff's Experimental Lactic PC cheese
« Reply #14 on: November 07, 2011, 09:35:10 PM »
The mold is progressing, but not full coverage yet.  It's now 10 days since I started.  The temperatue is about 10 C.  Slowly getting there.  Will try and get a decent photo later today to show its progress.

- Jeff