Hi,
As I'm just about to finish my last caerphilly I decided it would be good to get another on the go. I've got about 3 or 4 different recipies for Caerphilly and generally make one based upon Tim Smith's version. I've made the one from 200 Easy ... as well. Both are very good. One thing, though, is that caerphilly is generally described as crumbly. All of my makes generally turn out anything but crumbly, so I'm not acidifying it enough. I had a look and came across Peter Dixon's make, and his has a much longer ripening time than I've usually used. He also has a 4x floc where I typically have used 3x. I decided to more or less follow his make because the small cutting of the curd might compensate for the higher floc multiplier, and the longer floc time would progress things further along the acidity curve and may move me more towards a more crumbly result (ok, this was my thinking anyway, but the proof will be in the pudding ... well, in the cheese to be precise but I'm threatening a digression here so let's just say it all looked like it might work).
The make went pretty well. I was very gently in my curd stirring, so the heat rise chart looks a bit odd. This is because the water bath heats around the sides of the container, and early on while you're just "jiggling" the curds the warm whey stays around the outter edge of the curd, so you get a slow start to the rise (the thermometer is in a bit from the edge). Then, as the curds shrink, the warm whey around the edges moves in and you get a temperature spike, then eventually things settle and you get a decent rise. In other cheeses, where you can break the curds up more, it's easier to get a steady rise.
Anyway, the curds ended up looking really good. But, if appearances in the mould so far are any indication, this will come out with a fair amount of moisture (in the 1400+g range is my current prediction, but we'll see). Peter's make calls for a light salting of the curds after milling (probably 1/2 tbls) but then you brine the next day. I'm quite happy with the results I've been getting using 2 tbls of salt on the curds and no brining, so that's the one bit I've changed.
Oh, and ST-B01 is Streptococcus thermophilus. Peter Dixon tends to use a mix of meso and thermo, which I gather helps with stability, so I figured I might as well give his suggestions a fair go.
I'm curious to see how this one turns out.
- Jeff
Caerphilly (Peter Dixon’s) March 25, 2010 Sunny
10 L milk home brand standard
3 ice cubes buttermilk 2 ice cubes ST B01
¼ tsp CaCl 50%
0.6 ml 750 IMCU rennet
Salt (1 % by curd weight, 10-12g) but then brine
Or Salt 2 tbls
1) Warm Milk to 30.0 C
2) Add starter (added at 27 C, about 10:10 am; reached 30.0 C at 10:20)
3) Ripen with starter for 45-90 min. (time 10:20 - 11:43 Temp 29.2 C)
4) Add CaCl2 and stirr
5) Add rennet (Time 11:45)
6) Floc Time (time 12:00:30 = 15m 30 sec 4x = 62m 00Sec so Cut time 12:47:00)
7) Cut curd into pea-sized particles; rest curds in whey for 2-3 min (12:57 - 1:00 Temp 28.6 C). Whey pH 6.4-6.5 (titratable acidity .13-.14) { I can’t get either of these measures }
8) Heat while gently stirring curds to 33.9 C in 20 min. (time 1:00 - 1:20 start/End Temp 28.6 - 34.0 C)
9) stirring curds in whey at 33.9 C with increasing speed as the curds become firmer (so that some curds are always visible on top of whey surface). After 30-50 min., the curds should be firm enough and springy in the hand. Higher solids milk will cause curds to firm faster. (time 1:20 - 2:00 Temp 33.6 C)
10) Settle the curds under the whey for 20 min. (time 2:00 - 2:23)
11) Drain off whey
12) Put curds to one side and tilt pot with curds high to drain more whey (press with 2 Litres whey)
13) After 5 min., cut the curd cake (2:40 – 2:45)
14) Stack and change every 10 min for 30 minutes (flip times 2:50 – 3:00 - 3:10).
15) mill the curd wedges into 1 in. cubes. (I milled a bit smaller than this)
16) Salt the curds (2 tbls)
17) Mellow the curds for 5 minutes before hooping (time 3:15 - 3:20)
18) Pack the curds into cloth-lined hoops
19) Press with enough pressure so that drops of whey are dripping from the hoops shortly after applying pressure. (at 3:30 put 10 kg = 0.72 PSI; 3:30 – 3:50) – “in the pot”
20) After 20 min., take off press, turn the wheels and return them to the hoops. Press again at the same rate. (3:55 - 4:25; increased to 15 kg = 1.08 PSI) – “in the pot”
21) After 20 min. repeat the process. (4:25 - 4:45 but I increased to 20 kg = 1.43 PSI) – “in the pot”
22) Leave on the press overnight under increased pressure to form smooth rinds on the cheeses. Press room should be 20-23 C. (4:45 - 5:45; 35.2 kg = 2.53 PSI; weight 1564g, 15.7 x 6.8 = 1316 cm3 = 1.19 g/cm3)
23) Next morning remove the wheels of cheese from the hoops and place in the saturated brine for 2 to 2.5 hours per lb. of cheese. Cheeses ready for brining should have pH 4.90-5.00.
Turn the wheels at least once during the brining period. Brine temp. is 50-55° F. (did not do this as I increased salt amount after milling).
p.s. Make is done. And indeed, the result was over 1500g. The curd cake was very large, and one of the few times when it's actually settled and started to fuse into a cake (although I pressed with the 2L of whey anyway to help expell moisture). There's a bit of a slant, with one side 6.3 cm and the other 7.3 cm in height. My tower of weights didn't come crashing down because of the duplo support module (i.e. a brace made out of large leggos! Yes, leggo can do anything). Anyway, this will dry down to around 1 to 1.2 kg in the next 3 weeks.
