My 5th Caerphilly

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

I'm making my 5th go at Caerphilly.  I'm doing the stacked and milled version (Tim Smith's I believe).  I'm stacking it for 30 minutes, rather than 10, just to build up the acidity a bit more.  Overall, the make seems to be going well.  I'm just at step 13 right now, about to do the 2nd flip. 

Well now it's in the press for the night.  The make went well, or at least seemed to.  I got 258g of ricotta as well.  Just added 1 tbls salt and heated the whey to 93.3, scooped it off.  After scooping all I could, I added 1/4 cup cider vinegar and got a bit more. 

Anyway, I extended the cheddaring portion of the make this time.  Normally it's only 10 minutes, flip twice.  But I decided to extend that to 30 minutes, with a flip at the 10 and 20 minute mark.  Just trying to up the acidity a bit to see how it turns out. 

- Jeff



Caerphilly (Dec 4th, 2011); Sunday, overcast, raining, 22 C
10L Home Brand Standard milk
¼ tsp 50% CaCl.
1 ice cubes flora danica
1 ice cube buttermilk
0.6 ml microbial rennet IMCU 750 in egg cup of water
2.5 tlbs salt (and more for salting during pressing)

1)   Warm to 320C, 4 ice cubes mesophillic culture (Flora Dancia) : 12:05 (hit 32.2)
2)   Wait 30 min (target time 12:35) Time: ?:??
3)   add ¼ tsp CaCl in egg cup water
4)   Time 12:37 Temp 31.50C, add rennet (0.6 ml, in water), stir
5)   Floc time 12:51:30 so 14 min 30 sec, 3x floc so wait 43 min 30 sec (40 min by recipe!) Target cut time: 1:20:30
6)   1:20:30  Cut into 6mm cubes.  v.good curd
7)   Rest 5 minutes to heal (start 1:27-1:32)
8)   Raise temp to 33 over 10 minute  (reached 33 at 1:46, starting temp was 31.5 ish)
9)   Stir for 40 min with curds at 330C (Start time: 1:46-2:26)
10)   2:26 : Pitch and drain after 5 minutes (temp is 33.2 0C)
11)   2:47   drain in cheese cloth for 5 minutes to form curd cake (press lightly if necessary)
12)   2:55 : cut into 1 inch slices, stacked (in the pot; in sink with warm water)
13)   Flipped stack every 10 minutes over 30 minutes (so flip at 3:05 and 3:15)
14)   Milled into thumbnail size bits (start 3:25)
15)   Added 2.5 tbls of salt
16)   Pressing in the pot under 10 kg (3:35-3:45). (10 minutes; water in sink is 43.6 0C)
17)   Flip, salt, and re-dress 
18)   Press in the pot under 10Kg (3:55-4:05) (10 minutes)
19)   Flip, salt, and re-dress
20)   Press in the pot under 25.0 kg (20 min) (4:10-4:35)
21)   Flip, salt, and re-dress
22)   Press overnight under 37.5 kg. (starting at 4:45pm)

Made ricotta (raised to 93.3 C) and got 258g.  Removed ricotta before adding vinegar, then added ¼ cup cider vinegar to get more.

[zenith1]

Jeff-you are one prolific cheese dude! It is because of you that I will make my next cheese a Caerphilly

[JeffHamm]

Hi Zenith1,

I make a cheese less than one per week.  I think it seems more "high volume" because I update their progress so it seems like I'm making a lot more.    I know I've learned a lot from posts that show the progress of a cheese as it ages.  You can see what the rind should look like, etc.  Also, I tend to make a bit of a variety.

Here's the above cheese out of the press this morning.  Probably the best knit I've had with caerphilly.  I've upped the pressing weights to get about a PSI of 2.53 for the over night press.  Not huge, but it works.  The final weight was 1310g, with a volume of 15.6x5.4cm = 1032 cc so the density is 1.27 g/cc.  This will be ready for Christmas.  Yum!

- Jeff

P.S. Hmmmm, the photo appears not to have uploaded?

P.P.S. Ok, it's there now.

[ellenspn]

My Caerphilly looked nothing like that when cheddaring! That looks great 

[JeffHamm]

Hi ellenspn,

Thanks!  I put the curds in cheesecloth, then twist the top of it.  I place the bag of curds in a large collendar, and put a wide follower on top, then place a 2 litre milk bottle full of water on top and leave it for about 5 minutes.  This presses the curds into a cake, which I then cut up into the sections.

- Jeff

[ellenspn]

The extra weight could've helped mine.  Thanks!

[JeffHamm]

Hi ellenspn,

Yah, I think the wrap and light press helps form the curd cake.  In commercial productions the weight of the curds would form the cake, but small 10 L makes aren't heavy enough to self-press.  My first efforts would cake due to me bashing the curds about as I tried to drain the whey while retaining the curds.  Tipping the pot back would cause the curds to crash to the bottom, and they would press that way.  Now that my "pot control" is better, the curds don't self mash.  Probably for the best, really.  Less splatter to clean up!

- Jeff

[JeffHamm]

Ooops!  Noticed a bit of b.linens contamination on this today!  I have it sitting on plastic chopsticks, which I had washed before using because they were being used for my current butterkase.  I've added b.linens to the butterkase, so of course the chopsticks were contaminated.  My hot water washing didn't seem to be sufficient.  Anyway, used a strong brine solution to wipe the cheese clean (hopefully this will work as it's about 18-20%) and then washed/soaked the chopsticks again in a mild bleach solution (1 capful of bleach in a bucket of water).  Will see how things look on the morrow.

- Jeff

[JeffHamm]

Quick update as this will be cut tomorrow.  The rind development on this one has really gone well.  Apart from a touch of b-linen contamination it's very clean.  Just a touch of geo, which is good.  I'm very pleased.

- Jeff

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (and all other appropriate greetings for the season)!  A quick note just to show this one cut one the 3 week mark today.  It weighed in at 1072g, and it's turned out very nice.  It still has some mechanical openings.  It's drier, I think, then my previous makes, which is probably due to the increased cheddaring time and pressing weights.  The paste is nice and smooth, and I do notice a slightly different texture from the increased cheddaring and/or weights.  It still has the young caerphilly tang, though not quite as pronounced as some of my previous makes.  Again, the changes in the make procedure have probably shifted it to a slightly more mellow version, so if you've made caerphilly and think it's a bit too tangy for you, try increasing the cheddaring time and press heavier.  It's still the same cheese, just a touch toned down.  Does not melt in the microwave, but none of my cheeses seem to (even store bought tasty doesn't melt well in our microwave).  It sort of balloons up, and is stretchy, etc, so I suspect it would melt on pototoes. 

Basically, it's turned out very well.  I think I would go back to the more tangy version just because I quite like it that way, but I wouldn't turn my nose up to this at all.  Yum!

- Jeff

[darius]

Looks good, Jeff... and Merry Christmas to you and your family!

[JeffHamm]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too darius!  We're just back from a day with family.  Was a great time.
- Jeff