Brie, Triple Cream - Draining & Structural Integrity Discussion

[Tomer1]

Given the poor mechanical stability of it you should hoop it for support.

Given the fact that its falling apart (from the large crack on the bottom pick) maybe you should crush the cheese and pack it into a mold?

[boothrf]

Sorry Richard, I miscalculated the fat content of your milk last night, too tired

14l milk at 4% fat and 2.8l cream at 35% fat will give you a final milk fat of around 10%, which is still very high. You have effectively made a large triple cream Brie, and my experience with them is that they can be very tricky to make wrt draining and forming.

There are plenty of recipies on this forum you can use, and I successfully use the Australian book by Carol Willlman, "Home Cheesemaking", which you can get from the Cheeselinks Australian website.

[iratherfly]

When you use such high PF ratio it is best to cut the curd smaller and possibly even extend the stir/rest 5 minute cycle and repeat it 3-5 times to get a firmer smaller curd. This may initially seem like a reduced yield when moulding, but in fact you are just draining now the excess whey that you should get rid of later. This will give you a firmer cheese and you should be able to turn it -even at this large flat form factor, within 3-4 hours or less. It is also okay to help it drain by pressing it very lightly.

The other danger of moulding it with too much moisture trapped in is possible skin slip during affinage.

[Melbourne Cheese]

Well Hilda and Helga and come along quite nicely.  They have a very nice covering of mould and have firmed up very well.  No longer soft or wobbly and they are holding their shape quite well.  I am happy at the moment.  I wrapped them tonight, so now the waiting begins.  I would like one ready by the 16th and the other Christmas.  These are my girls before I wrapped them.

[Melbourne Cheese]

They also turned out rather large!  One is 1.36kg and the other is 1.54kg.  Will be eating cheese for months!

[Boofer]

Beautiful! Boy, am I envious!

I hope you'll keep us posted with the progress. I've always wanted to try a Brie make. The floppy characteristic kinda warns me off though.

-Boofer-

[boothrf]

Very nice Richard, great recovery! Hilda and Helga look like two very plump, buxome twins. Definitely worth perserving with. Looks like the cracks have healed over nicely too. Well done 

Keep a close eye on them during maturation. With all that cream, they wil probabley soften quickly. Open them up regularly to look for signs of rapid ripening.

Thanks for keeping us posted, and keep sending reports and photos.

Bob

[Melbourne Cheese]

Thanks for the encouragement guys! 

Boofer, give them a go, they are fun to make and look really quite impressive when done.  Don't try the double cream though first off.  The normal ones are not that bad to handle.  It was my third only cheese I made the first brie and it turned out well.  I reckon and old hand like you should be able to do it easily!

Bob, what are the signs I need to look for in regards to rapid ripening??

[boothrf]

Richard,

The first thing you should notice is the cheese getting soft. Press in the middle of the cheese regularly and get used to the feel/resistance. As it ages it will soften considerably.

Secondly, you will start to get a slight darkening on the rind, often on the corners. This can be accompanied by a slight smell of ammonia, noticable when you open the container/wrapping. The ammonia smell is caused by tghe breakdown of the proteins, and gets stronger as the cheese gets over-ripe.

You might also notice the cheese "shrinking' away from the rind a little. This occurs as the paste gets softer. You can usually see this on the corners and across the top, as the cheese starts to sink inwards.

Just keep looking at it regularly. If you start to smell ammonia, it is pretty well ripe. Good luck, keep us posted with photos!