My 6th Caerphilly

[JeffHamm]

Hi Everyone,

Well, my cave is really filling up now.  With this make, it will be officially full!  Well, officially currently full, as I could remove the wine and that would free up the last shelf where I could either put 4 waxed cheeses or a ripening box for 2.  Hmmm, tempting.

Anyway, as I'm out of caerphilly it's time to replace that one.  I've got a bit of the washed rind butterkase still to go, but that will probably be gone Monday as we're going to friends and I'll take some cheese along (the washed rind, 13+ month gouda, and probably a piece of pox Wensleydale).  We had spagetti today and grated some 8 month old Montasio over it.  Very nice. 

Here's the make notes for the Caerphilly.  I stirred this very gently, as I've been over stirring lately and busting the curds up too much.  This make is much more moist as a result.  Will see if that impression holds by morning when it comes out of the press.

Caerphilly (Feb 4th, 2012); Sunday, overcast,  22 C
10L Home Brand Standard milk
½ tsp 50% CaCl.
3 ice cubes flora danica
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 32 C, 3 ice cubes mesophillic culture (Flora Dancia) : 12:07 (hit 33.3 C)
2)   Wait 30 min (target time 12:37) Time: 12:37
3)   add ½ tsp CaCl in egg cup water
4)   Time 12:39:50 Temp 31.8 C, add rennet (0.6 ml, in water), stir
5)   Floc time 12:52:30 so 12 min 40 sec, 3x floc so wait 38 min 00 sec (40 min by recipe) Target cut time: 1:17:50
6)   1:178:50  Cut into 6mm cubes.  v.good curd
7)   Rest 10 minutes to heal (start 1:29-1:42)
8)   Raise temp to 33 over 10 minutes  (reached 33 at 1:59, starting temp was 30.5 ish)
9)   Stir for 40 min with curds at 33 C (Start time: 2:00-2:40)
2:40-2:45 : Pitch and drain after 5 minutes (temp is 32.5 C)
10)   3:00   drain in cheese cloth for 5-10 minutes to form curd cake (press lightly if necessary; ie 2 litre milk jug filled with water placed on top of follower on top of cheese cloth “bag” of curds in colander)
11)   3:15 : cut into 1 inch slices, stacked (in the pot; in sink with warm water)
12)   Flipped stack every 10 minutes over 30 minutes (so flip at 3:25 and 3:35)
13)   Milled into thumbnail size bits (start 3:45)
14)   Added 2.5 tbls of salt
15)   Pressing in the pot under 10 kg (4:05-4:15). (10 minutes; water in sink is 50.0 0C but just a bit more than touching the bottom; 0.72 PSI)
16)   Flip, salt, and re-dress 
17)   Press in the pot under 15Kg (4:20-4:30) (10 minutes; 1.08 PSI)
18)   Flip, salt, and re-dress
19)   Press in the pot under 25.0 kg (20 min) (4:38-4:58 1.79 PSI)
20)   Flip, salt, and re-dress
21)   Press overnight under 35.2 kg. (starting at 5:05pm; 2.53 PSI; Finished 5:25 am)

Out of press weight 1452g.  15.5x6.1 cm = 1150 cm3 = 1.26 g/cm3

And yes, my impression of the curds was correct.  This cheese is bigger than many of my more recent makes.  It's over 1400g.  This is due to increased moisture retention, and it will dry out and eventually stabalise around 1000-1100g.  But, it probably won't last long enough to really prove that! :)

- Jeff

[Boofer]

Yeah, Jeff, when the cave fills up...it's time to expand and get another cave! Or open up a storefront!

Kudos. How many cheeses and how many styles have you cranked out?

-Boofer-

[JeffHamm]

Hi Boofer,

From my notes and memory, I think I've made about 40 cheeses (not counting whey riccotta, which I've made about half a dozen times I think).  Most are of the cheddar type family, with washed curd close behind.  I've tried my hand at mould ripened cheeses a few times, and have had good success with the semilactics.  Most of my makes can be found here somewhere, with the good, the bad, and the ugly all well represented.  

- Jeff

Butterkase x 4 (actually, the 4th one of these makes isn't really a butterkase as I turned it into a washed rind cheese and added LH, but the basic make procedure is the same).
Caerphilly x 6
Camembert x3
Cheddar x1
Cheshire x1
Cottage Cheese x1
Derby x1
Dunlop x3
Gouda x3
SemiLactic (PC) x2
SemiLactic (Blue) x1
Lancashire x3
Manchego x1
Montasio x3
Mozzerella x3
Queso Fresco x1
Romano x1
Wensleydale x2

[zenith1]

Jeff that is a nice list indeed, but I do have one question....where do you keep the beer?

[anutcanfly]

I don't see blue listed.  Maybe it's time to try something totally different? 

[JeffHamm]

Hi Zenith1,

If there's no room for beer in the fridge, I must become the beer fridge!  

And anut,

I've made one semilactic blue which turned out very very nice.  I'm thinking of doing a stilton type fairly soon.  Just not sure when.  I'll need a ripening box it can be in by itself though.  But that can be arranged.

- Jeff

[anutcanfly]

Oh, how quickly I forget things these days!  You made the one that was a pretty baby blue.  I've been munching and cooking with my Stilton and I think my search for the perfect tasting blue will continue.  I don't really like how it tastes.  I picked up a wedge of the Gorgonzola that my Sweety likes and am going use it to make a Gorgonzola this thursday. 

Sounds to me like you need to eat more cheese!  How many cubic feet is your fridge?

[Boofer]

How many cubic feet is your fridge?

Must be a walk-in with all that cheese. 

Very impressive.

-Boofer-

[JeffHamm]

The cave is about 2.9 cubic feet by my rough measures.  Currently, it is holding
1 Lancahsire
1 Dunlop
1 Cheddar
1 Wensleydale
1 Derby
2.5 Montasio
1.5 gouda
1 Manchego
1 Romano

And a few bottles of wine.

- Jeff

[anutcanfly]

Sounds like a second cave is in order!  After all, think about how you will suffer when you can't make cheese for months at a time! 

[JeffHamm]

I can drink the wine, which will free up a shelf, and that should be able to hold 8 waxed or vac pac'd cheeses.  I'm safe from cave overload ... for now!

- Jeff

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

Well, this one has now reached 3 weeks.  A friend is comming over for lunch, so this one will be opened for that.  The rind stayed very clear, although with the extra moisture retained it doesn't seem to have formed as solid a rind.  There's still a damp patch on one face in fact.  However, that aside, it seems just fine.

I've also included my daily weighings, which effectively plot the moisture loss.  The spike in the daily loss that is shown at day 16 is when I removed it from the cave for 24 hours.  By adjusting the lid in a controlled manner, I suspect I could work out settings for different rates of loss (which would also be related to the surface area of the cheese). 

Anyway, the final weight was 1122g.  I'll get a picture up when I cut it and will post a taste report as well.

- Jeff

P.S. I just realised the plots didn't show today's measurements, which would make it 20 days out of the press (21 since make day). 

[anutcanfly]

Neat!  I'm far to lazy to make my own graphs, but I sure enjoy seeing yours! 

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

Well, this was very moist when cutting into it, and the rind is very thin.  This is as expected and I think in part due to my much less vigorous stirring during this make.  That meant the curds did not expell as much whey, resulting in the heavier final cheese and the other aspects mentioned.  However, the flavour is very good, but I quite like caerphilly.  Anyway, I must be learning something because my initial impressions was that the make was much moister than usual and that has been upheld all the way through.  So, either I'm learning, or I'm just really good at picking up the painfully obvious. 

- Jeff

[anutcanfly]

That depends on just when you realized it was likely too moist...  Prior to draining--you're learning.  If you had to jump up and down on the follower to get all the curds to fit, it should have been painfully obvious!