Sour tasting Havarti

[MacGruff]

iratherlfy - Thanks for the explanation and I guess it is time to provide you (and others) with the whole detailed story, eh? Anyway, I will first post the recipe paragraph by paragraph, and then my notes that relate to that paragraph. I will try to give them different fonts to make it easier to understand which is which. I also took a couple of photos with my cell phone which I will try to upload here and see what happens:

Recipe:
1.   In a nonreactive stock pot, heat the milk over low heat to 70 degress F, this should take about 12 minutes. Turn off the heat

23 November, 2011; 0920; Kitchen temp at 71 degrees. Put one gallon of Manchester Farms milk in pot. The milk has an expiration date of 3 December 2011. Milk temp is at 42 degrees and I set the fire to low.
0934 Milk has reached 55 degrees F
0945 Milk has reached 70 degrees F

2. Sprinkle the starter over the milk and let it rehydrate for 5 minutes. Mix well using a whisk in an up-and-down motion for 1 minute. Cover and maintain 70 degrees, letting the milk ripen for 45 minutes.

Sprinkled one quarter teaspoon of MM100 on top of the milk with the fire off
0952 mixed milk with an up and down motion for one minute, then covered the pot and left it for 45 minutes.

Add the Calcium Chloride and gently whisk for 1 minute. Slowly raise the temperature to 86 degrees F over 7 to 8 minutes, then add the Rennet and gently whisk in for 1 minute. Cover and let sit, maintaining 87 degrees F for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the curds give a clean break.

1006 Diluted one quarter teaspoon Calcium Chloride in one eigthth cup of distilled water. Milk is at 74 degrees.
1039 Add the Calcium Chloride to the milk and stirred for one minute. Turned of fire at simmer. Mixed one quarter teaspoon of liquid vegetable Rennet (Malaka brand) into 1/8 cup of water
1052 Milk reached 86 degrees. Added Rennet and stirred for one minute. Then covered and let sit with fire off for 45 minutes.
1139 Clean break achieved and surface temp is at 86 degrees.

3. Still maintaining 86 degrees, cut the curds into 1/2 inch pieces and let sit for 5 minutes.

I cut the curds into roughly 1/2 cubes and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Gently stir the curds for 10 minutes, then let sit for 5 minutes.

Stirred the cut curds for 10 minutes (temp remained at 86 degrees) and noticed they were shrinking. I also cut any of the larger pieces that I found and kept stirring. Then, I let the curds rest for five minutes. During this time, the curds started sinking below the level of the whey.

Ladle out about one-third of the whey and add 3 cups of 130 degree water. When the temperature of the curds and whey reaches 92 to 94 degrees, add another 3 cups of 130 degree water.

1202 Ladled out 3 cupos of whey and replaced with water which started out at 172 degrees but cooled to 130 before mixing in to whey. After this, the whey/curd mix is at 94 degrees. Prepared another 3 cups of hot water

Gently stir for 5 minutes, then add another 2 cups of 130 degree water. Add the salt and stir to dissolve. Check the temperature and add 130 degree water as needed to bring the curds and whey to about 97 degrees.

Stirred the curds for 5 minutes
1212 Added 2 teaspoons of cheese salt and stirred to dissolve. Added 3 more cupos of hote water to bring the mix up to a temp of 97 degrees.

Continue stirring until the curds feel stringy in your hand when squeezed, about 20 minutes.

1215 Started stirring for 20 minutes. At the end of this, the individual curds have shrunk quite a bit and they feel kind of spongy.

Ladle off enough whey to expose the curds. Gently stir in the dill

1235 Ladled off 5 cups of whey. Decided on this first attempt not to add dill

4. Line an 8-inch Tomme mold (with follower) with damp butter muslin and place it on a draining rack. Gently ladle the curds into the mold and press them in with your hands. Pull the cloth tight and smooth, removing any wrinkles. Fold the cloth tails over the curds, set the follower on top, and press at 8 pounds for 30 minutes.

Ladled the curds into a tomme mold lined with butter musling (yes, damp). Pressed the curd and pulled the muslin tight. Folded the remaining muslin over the top (too much muslin - should cut it before next use) and put the follower on top. Then placed a gallon jug filled with water on top.

5. Remove the cheese from the mold, peel away the cloth, flip the cheese and redress with the same cloth. Press again at 8 pounds, redressing every 30 minutes for up to 3 hours, or until the whey stops draining.

1310 Flipped the cheese and redressed
1340 Flipped
1410 No more whey is draining so move on to next step

6. Leave the cheese in the mold without pressure for about three more hours before putting in the fridge for 12 hours or overnight. Remove the cheese from the mold. It is now ready to eat, or it can be aged fro more intense flavor

1410 flipped the cheese over and stored in the fridge for overnight

7. Make 2 quarts of saturated brine in a noncorrosive container with a lid and chill it to 50 to 55 degrees. Submerge the cheese in the brine and soak at 50 to 55 degrees for 8 hours or overnight

24 November Morning - This is when i tasted the cheese and found it sour.
Prepared brine and moved cheese from mold to to brine and stored it in the fridge for 12 hours.
evening. Took cheese out of brine, patted it dry and placed on draining dish at room temp for overnight

8. Remove the cheese from the brine and pat dry. Air-dry at room temperature on a rack for 12 hours, then age at 55 degrees and 85 percent humidity on a cheese mat set in a ripening box, flipping daily. Age for 1 month, or longer if desired, removing any unwanted mold with cheesecloth dampened in a vinegar-salt solution

25 November - flipped the cheese which is developing a rind. Brushed all over it with a small amount of Canola oil and stored in a wine fridge (I am concerned about the wine fridge not being humid enough, but you can read about that above)

Now for the two pics which I just took. Each picture if of one side of the cheese since I flipped it between the two cheeses. The cell phone and the kitchen lights show things in a yellowish light on my screen. The rind is kind of light yellow, but it's much more pronounced in the photos than reality.

i think you can see the cracks in both side. They are deep fissures that go most of the way through the think disk of cheese.

[MacGruff]

Since I can see the pics now, I can tell you that it is way too yellow. Much more than reality. The stuff under the cheese is bamboo if it helps.

Also, I forgot to credit the recipe to its source which is the book "Artisan Chesse Making At Home" by Mary Karlin and puiblished by Ten Speed Press.

[iratherfly]

How many gallons was this? What's the current weight?

First of, this recipe is a bit strange and inaccurate. You followed it well and you are probably capable of making a great Havarti. (Aging what you got may actually end up tasting Havarti-ish in a few weeks), but I would look for an alternative recipe. The recipe on 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes is far easier, more accurate and authentic. Milk at 90°F from the get-go, 30 min pre-rennet, 45 min post rennet, cut 1/2", stir 10 min, let rest and shrink 5 more min. Remove 5 qt of whey, replace with 5qt of 170°F water gradually, get to 100°F, add salt, hold for 30 min, mould and press light for 20 min, redress and press medium for 6-8 hours. Remove and dry in the cave for 1 week, turning daily. After 1 week rub with oil and continue aging turning occasionally. After the 4th week move to fridge and continue aging as needed.  Simple, easy, clean, doable. This will work.

Comment: I noticed you haven't diluted the Calcium Chloride and you only diluted the rennet with 1/8 cup water.  You should dilute both. The idea is to give it great even distribution throughout the milk before it becomes active so it gives you more time to mix it evenly, resulting in better yield. Don't worry about the water diluting your milk. This extra water contains no milk solids of course, so they would simply drain later as part of the whey.

As for the cracking, it looked like your cheese was smashed a bit. If you pressed it in a proper Tomme mould than it should have a very clean straight line that is fairly defined.  The shape isn't perfectly round and I see pressing marks on top of the cheese which leads me to believe you didn't use a good mould and follower, which would have given you the proper formed cheese. Uneven press leaves the curd loose on one end while over tightening it in another area and smashing it completely in yet another region. When you begin to age the cheese minerals move about it and it dries out further, there is shrinkage....  it keeps changing in the first few days and uneven pressing may create these type of cracks.
Another factor could be not having your cheesecloth pulled tightly and nice in the mould.  This recipe calls for 8 Lbs. of pressure on this cheese right from the start and I find it to be a bit heavy. That too could have smashed your curds. Try it with 3-5 Lbs for the first 30 min or so, then redress, turn and raise to 8Lbs. If it's not the uneven press or the fast drying, it could be the result of excessive acidity though typically these cracks take a while to appear.

[margaretsmall]

Hi Ratherfly,
Thanks (and a cheese to you) for your most informative input to this discussion - as you can see from my posts I'm a beginning Havarti maker as well. I wonder if you could comment on the question of waxing vs vacuum packing vs developing a natural rind? Some havarti recipes suggest waxing as an option and I've done that, and found it to be a very messy procedure, which I'd rather not do. Is vacuuming a direct alternative to waxing? (ie if a recipe says to wax, can I vacuum pack at that time instead with the same outcome?) My only attempt so far at a natural rind havarti had a rather hilarious result as you can see below. I scraped the rind off and used the cheese in a lasagne.
Best wishes
Margaret

[iratherfly]

Thanks for that cheese!

Yes, the cheese you made is too small to take the effects of Havarti and it looks like you have a mold infestation. I see at least Geotrichum Candidum and Poil de Chat and there may be more stuff there. Too small, too much moisture, not enough pressing or cooking of the curd, possibly a high temperature aging.

Havarti, like most Nordic and Scandinavian cheeses is rather rindless. They do not make use of the mold to flavor the cheese or to age it (typical for their cold weather. Historically it didn't allow moulds to develop so that's the cheese that came out of there). As such, gouda, Havarti and other such cheeses are often aged in wax or vacuum.  What it does is preventing the air flow and acting as sort of a faux temporary rind. It protects moisture from coming out and protect the cheese from contamination, just like a real rind. Once you peel it off, you get the cheese that's "under the rind" only.

Traditionally wax has been used. It's indeed messy and rather dangerous (fire and burn hazard).  The vacuum is a modern interpretation of the same exact idea. What I love about it is that it can easily replace wax in any waxed cheese recipe. It is elastic and durable so unlike wax -it doesn't crack or break. It protects well from pathogens, it is transparent and you can see the state of the cheese. It reacts to contamination by blowing slightly (wax just cracks) and you can see through it whether or not the cheese has foreign molds. It is easy to take off cleanly when you are going to break open the cheese - no mess on the table or on the cheese. It can even be easily re-sealed and the cheese can be sent back to the cave to age some more without firing up the wax pot again.  I personally no longer use wax. Only vacuum.

[MacGruff]

Hi iratherfly - I think you deserve a cheese from me as well!

To answer your question, I used one gallon of non-homogenized, but pasteurized milk from a local farmer. The weight as of today is 15.125 Oz. By the way, the recipe called for two gallons of milk, but I only had one so I cut everything in half. That's why the 1/8 cup etc.

I will look for that book you recommended. Sounds like a different source of ideas - which are always welcome! Gotcha on the water. Will not worry about it any more. I do have a proper Tomme mold - bought from the Dairy connection - but I expect that I screwed up when dressing and pulling the butter muslin. I probably should cut it rather than use the whole length that I have. I did notice that after pulling it taught along the bottom of the mold, I had lots and lots of material to distribute across the top before putting the follower in. I expect I had too much there. the marks on one side have more to do with my first attempt at a drying rack - I am too embarassed to mention that part.   

I also like your description of vacuuming and am wondering what do you use for that? I mean what kinds of gadgets/tools/equipment are you using for the vacuum sealing?

P.S. - I will try again next weekend with two gallons of milk and better humidity control.

[Boofer]

I also like your description of vacuuming and am wondering what do you use for that? I mean what kinds of gadgets/tools/equipment are you using for the vacuum sealing?

For vacuum sealing cheeses, most folks use some product such as a FoodSaver, but it could be a Seal-A-Meal or something similar that works. I used to use wax but discovered vacuum-sealing and haven't looked at wax since. Truly a convenient, efficient, time-saving invention.

-Boofer-

[margaretsmall]

Thanks for this iratherfly, I'm off to buy a vacuum sealer tomorrow.

These funny little ones were the only batch I tried in these small molds, for the next two I used a 15cm mold - as my husband commented 'you've made a proper cheese at last!' They certainly looked like proper cheeses.  But your comment about the molds being too small for this style of cheese has been taken onboard.You're right about too high a maturing temp - what happened was I put them in my cave and all was going well until we had to go away unexpectedly for a week (they had been in there for about 10 days I think) and when we came back the temp. had gone haywire, and was up to 15oC. and could have been higher. Now under control.  Also, the recipe (200 easy cheeses) seemed to suggest putting them straight into the cave after brining, when my instinct said to dry them off at room temp. for a bit - but possibly the author expects cheesemakers to understand this point. So excess moisture would also have contributed.

Thanks, too MacGruff for starting this thread and sharing your experience - we learn more from the failures! I've gotten a great deal out of making the same cheese a number of times, using some of the different approaches that are around, and I plan to keep with this style of cheese for a while longer. And since I live in a relatively cool part of Australia they are clearly ideal for making here in winter.
Best wishes
Margaret
PS love iratherfly's sentence 'arm yourself with an extra dose of patience, hope and sarcasm' - reminds me of one I read in a newspaper article that gardening teaches acceptance - the very next week my husband's horse invaded my vegetable patch and ate everything that he didn't actually trample into the soil. Lost a summer's worth of beans, corn and tomatoes. Sigh... So the loss of one little batch of funny havarti is nothing.

[iratherfly]

You should look at the FoodSaver, you can always find a great coupon deals for them online. Get a combo that includes some of the baggin material. It will save you money and hassle.

It is funny about that cheese. Essentially you got the mold that you would expect in a wild rind Tomme.  I have friends whom I taught to take care of my cheese when I am gone. Hey I take care of their Dog when they are are of town; they can take care of my cat's hair mold. It's only fair!

That's a funnily tragic story with that horse eating your veggie patch. Yep, it's kind of that feeling with a cheese you cared for over 6 months going the wrong way on you.

By the way MacGruff I was thinking, if you only made 1 gallon batch and used the 7.5" Tomme mould from the Dairy Connection, than this is a mould for 4 Lbs/4 gallon Tommes. No wonder you got a very flat pancake for a cheese. I bet the follower didn't even go down that deep.  You need a small Reblochon type of mould for this size cheese

[margaretsmall]

A cheese sitter - now there's a niche market waiting to be exploited. I'll put my hand up. Anyone for house swapping? You look after my cheese, I'll look after yours...... Whether anyone would want to come to Armidale though - today, supposedly summer, it was 4oC overnight...

I wonder where the Geotrichum Candidum came from - cat's hair  I know is endemic (although I'd rather it wasn't in my cave). But geo -  haven't used it yet. Interesting.

[iratherfly]

Huh... that's about the same temperature as here in NYC. Wouldn't mind an Australian vacation. Isn't summer coming up? hmmm...

Geo could come from your milk, environment and other neighboring cheeses or cheese that was in the cave in the past.

Cat's hair isn't really one type of fungi but a general nickname for the ambient stuff. Not all that bad. In fact, you really want it when you make Tommes. I have been working on some crazy wild mold lately. I will post them soon.

Come to think of it, I suspect that maybe it was actually neither of those. It might have been oidium

[margaretsmall]

Yes, in theory it's summer. I haven't ventured into Tommes yet, but obviously when I do the mold won't be a problem.Glad to hear it's not a nasty, even if it looks off. Look forward to seeing your wild Tommes. Oidium aka powdery mildew? Attacks tomatoes? Gr....  Acceptance, acceptance..

[iratherfly]

Yep, Oidium is not a good one. Attacks fruits and veggies indeed, generally bad for cheese too.

The things with Tommes is that in home setting it is actually difficult to bring out all this mold (which happily of course attacks cheese that doesn't need it). I have been going crazy trying to bring out wild molds. It's a lot of work.

Here are my little raw milk Tommes. (Will be ready in 3-4 more weeks):

[Boofer]

Wow, Yoav, very rustic rind. I'd love to see the inside and hear how it turns out taste and texture-wise.

-Boofer-

[iratherfly]

Me too! I would love that. Can't wait. This is raw milk so I am patiently waiting 60 days but in hindsight I should have made one larger wheel. I am afraid it will lose too much moisture.  It smells terrific though.