My 3rd Wensleydale

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

Well, my last Wensleydale was quite tasty, despite being Quasimoto in appearance.  Still, I figure I'll give it another go.  The make below is one I found on-line, posted by a commercial operation (well, I've deduced this, and when it's done I'll know how Sherlockian my deductions were! :) ).

Will post photos tomorrow when it's out of the press.

- Jeff

P.S. A few updates to the notes, and the first photo is the cheese mid-way through the 24 hour press.  It's 1296g at the moment and the knit is looking really good.

P.P.S.  Just updated the notes again.  I realised I used 3 FD this time, and I had forgotten to remove the reference to the calf rennet (which I didn't use this time; Previously it might have looked like I used both!)

Wensleydale Cheese: Saturday, March 10, 2012 (overcast, 22.5 C)
10 litres whole milk
3 ice cube flora danica
¼ tsp CaCl (50% solution)
0.6 ml 750 IMCU rennet
Mould: 6.25” diameter
2 tbs salt
1)   Warm milk to 30 C (time 12:45  temp 30.0 C)
2)   Add starter and ripen 1 hour 20 minutes (time 12:45 - 2:05 finish temp: 29.9 C)
3)   Add CaCl (time 2:03)
4)   Add Rennet (time 2:05 – floc time 2:21:30)
5)   3.25x floc (time to floc 15 m 30 sec = wait 50 m 22.5 sec = cut time 2:56:23)
6)   Cut to 1 cm cubes
7)   Rest 5 minutes (time 3:05 - 3:10)
8)   Hold temperature, stir gently for 1 hour 30 minutes (wait for acidity target; temp 29.4 C time 3:10 - 4:40 – warmed up curds to get to 30.0, but overshot to 33.0)
9)   Drain whey (they take 15-20 minutes to do this; for home maker, add 15 minutes to step 8? 4:45-5:00)
10)   Form a curd cake, and cut into blocks (time 5:00-5:15 2l of whey as press)
11)   Turn every 10 minutes for 30 minutes (3 turns; as it raises to an acidity target if you have them; flip times 5:25 - 5:35 - 5:45)
12)   Cut into 5 cm cubes and keep curds warm 30 minutes (wait for acidity target if you have them) (time 5:55 – 6:25) – grrrr, dropped one chunk on the floor, so weight should be less than usual.
13)   Add salt
14)    mill into fine crumb (I went thumbnail size, and added salt after milling)
15)   Press in the pot 30 minutes (15 kg; 1.08 PSI 6:50 – 7:20)
16)   flip redress press in the pot 30 minutes  (20 kg; 1.43 PSI 7:20 - 7:50)
17)   flip redress press in the pot 1 hour (25 kg; 1.79 PSI – actually 35.2 kg 2.53 PSI 7:50 - 8:45)
18)   flip redress press 24 hours (officially they build up to 40 psi!  So press as heavy as you can; 35.2 kg; 2.53 PSI; 8:45 – 5:45 am flipped 1296g – flipped 1:47 pm – out of press 4:30 pm 1270g  dimensions 15.5cm x 5.5 cm = 1037 cm3 = 1.22g/cm3)
19)   air dry
20)   cave and age (minimum 4 weeks)

[zenith1]

Thanks for the great details as always Jeff. It is funny that you had an "ugly" cheese, because I had my own "frankencheese" this week. Probably the worst make I have had to date. I had the bright idea to press a Caerphilly in a Kadova Gouda mold to give it a different look. Bad idea-probably pressed with too much pressure too soon while the curd was still really warm and the curds were partially pressed through and badly stuck to the netting. My PH when I did my initial pre-pressing under whey was 6.3 and it was 5.2 when I pulled it out of it's little prison and placed it in the brine. In hind site I made a few really bad decisions along the way. So now I have one to compare to yours! The most I can hope for is good flavor...

[JeffHamm]

Hi Keith,

That's a shame.  Still, hiddeousness is only rind deep.  Once mine was cut up on a cheese plate, the imperfections in the rind were not at all apparent.  You just lose the presentation of the wheel (actually, it can be a conversation piece - You expect me to eat that?! )  Have you posted a photo of your press misadventures?  These are often the more valuable lessons to share.

- Jeff

[anutcanfly]

LOL  I'm careful to not let my sweet actually see scary cheeses before they are more presentable.  Blues in particular can be scary... 

I'd like to see your frankencheese too zenith1! 

[zenith1]

Ok Boy's and girl's-your request has been granted. They are both Caerphilly's using my same recipe and pressing schedule. The only difference was in my creativity in switching to a Kadova Gouda mold for the second. They were both made with fresh raw milk using the same process. The make went exactly the same for both with the Ph's only varying .1 or so from each other. I'm thinking that the curds were too soft(no rind formed yet)and pretty warm from the pre-pressing in warm whey. I have used this mold only a couple of times and had the same problem both times even though the other times were different makes. I think that they were both Gouda's, possibly one was a Beaufort. I have done some more research following this last trail by curd and I will make some changes in the pressing schedule, probably start a lot lower in pressure while the curd mass is still really warm. I know that i read somewhere here on the forum about pre-treating the Kadova nets prior To use and I think that I will try and follow that advice or use a netting spray recipe that I have not tried yet. That came I think by way of Sailor. The bad cheese does have a nice aroma so I am hopeful of good flavor as well. I probably will vacuum bag this one early because of the condition of the rind and the increased possibility of contamination. I normally age with natural rind like the good cheese pictured through out the entire aging period. I think that the good one is at 3-4 weeks right now. I'll try to get that one to 2-3 months.

[anutcanfly]

Cottage cheese with delusions of grandeur!  Thanks Zenith1!  Bloopers are fun, and great learning experiences too.

[JeffHamm]

Hi zenith1,

Oooooo, Bad Caerphilly!    That one will be a mould nightmare.  However, caerphilly is intended to be eaten very young.  It used to go to market after 2 weeks.  I usually cut at 3 weeks myself.  Anyway, if you want to age the good one out to 3 or 4 months, go for it, but I would just cut into the bad boy at 2 or 3 weeks.  That way you can decide if you prefer the young or "aged" version.  My preference is for young caerphilly and if I'm going to age a cheese longer I make something else which really improves a lot over time.  But, you may come to the opposite conclusion so do both.

- Jeff

[zenith1]

Yeah your correct Jeff. I plan on consuming the bad guy at around 3-4 weeks. I am sure you are correct about the mold nightmare that is why I am going for a vacuum bag on that puppy. I prefer my Caerphilly's at about 5-6 weeks but want to try the better one of these two at a little longer aging to see what the difference will be. But like you have stated, everyone has different preferences. This one was without a doubt the worst make I have ever had including the very first ones-in terms of appearance that is. If the flavor stays true to past attempts it will be OK.

[DeejayDebi]

OOo ouch painful! The other one really good though. Try making sure your cheesecloth or liners are good and wet with whey before packing the curds in for pressing.

[zenith1]

HI Deb- normally I use plyban and never have an issue with the cures sticking. I have only had this when using the Kadova moulded with the attached netting. This one started off with pressing under whey. In retrospect I probably should have initially pressed a lot lighter and flipped more often at first. This one I pressed right away at 4PSI. It pushed the soft warm cure right through the netting. My best guess anyway.....

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

This one is out of the press after about 20 hours.  It's final weight in was 1270g, with a density of 1.22g/cm3, which is a fairly typical end result.   The knit is very good, so now it's just a matter of aging it out a month or two and seeing how it tastes.  The make is a very easy one, though it is time consuming with lots of just waiting.  There is, however, no complicated heating or cooking involved (the web-site referred to this as a "long slow traditional make").  Of course, with my attempt at brining the curds back up to 30 C and over shooting to 33, I suppose I violated that no cook method.  Anyway, they mentioned a couple points where you would wait for pH targets, but didn't mention what those values would be.  However, I'm sure there are those here who could let us know.

- Jeff

[anutcanfly]

Hi Jeff,

That's always bugged me.  Most my books emphasize the importance of pH, yet almost none include them.  Even more irritating, the pH targets that are listed don't indicate wether or not the pH is for whey or curd!   In my humble opinion,  the two best places to wait are after you warm the curd to 95 degrees, you can hold it until you reach 6.3-6.2 and then drain.  The second spot I would use is cheddaring.  Just cheddar until you reach the pH you want.  I normally mill at 5.5, but I'm no longer sure what value to use here as I'm having difficulty getting a reading I trust, and the pH appears to do a nose dive here, but really I think something is skewing the whey pH measurements I'm getting during cheddaring and after salting and hooping.  I decided to suck it up and get a better pH meter!  I should have it in time for my next cheese.

Anut 

[JeffHamm]

Hi anut,

To be fair, the original source of this recipe wasn't a book though (but I agree with your comments on the books with respect to this).  It was a web-site from a small dairy, where they posted their make procedure for making Wensleydale.  They included a lot of detail, and indicated where they would be waiting for pH targets, and how long this normally took to reach, but didn't actually say what the pH values were.  Here's a link:
http://ribblesdalecheese.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/how-to-make-wensleydale-cheese/
I see they have a questions section, and given they told someone what cultures they use (Danisco’s RA series - well, they say most people use this they don't actually say they do), they may be willing to reveal the pH targets.  Of course, they may also judge the pH by feel and texture or a stretch test.

Anyway, I'm hoping this turns out.  The wheel is looking great so far!

- Jeff

[anutcanfly]

I'm sure your Wensleydale will turn out lovely as it couldn't have a more doting creator! 

[DeejayDebi]

I agree that you should press lightly at first and flip a few times before doing a heavy press. Hopefull it won't go crazy with mold on you. Maybe you can trim it up  or even repress in warm whey to smooth it up some to keep the hiding places to a minimum. I had that happen to me once in the kadova mold when I first got them with a cheddar I think - man what a pain to clean that liner!