Looks good, knipknup.
We all started somewhere close to where you are now. Observe what's going on when you're making a cheese. Take notes so that later on when your cheese finally ages out and you cut it, you have some reasoning for what went right and what went terribly, terribly wrong (yes, been there...and it's painful
).
There are clues, tips, and advice in the forum that help to make your life easier and the cheese you make better. I'm no expert, but here are a few highlights in case you haven't already come across them:
- Sanitation is important. Some folks boil. Some use Star San. Some use a mild bleach solution.
- I boil my curd-cutting knife, skimmer, and long whisk in the pot that my milk will be in. That way everything is sterilized from the start.
- Everything else gets sprayed with Star San.
- Clean your work surfaces before you begin.
- Limit access to the cheese making area...no pets allowed...close the windows and doors to avoid something carried on a breeze.
- When pressing, keep the curds warm.
- They stay warm for me because I use a double boiler and that water jacket holds its heat for a long time.
- Another alternative is to use a seed germination mat (thanks, Sailor) wrapped around the pot.
- To get a better knit of the curds, press in the pot and/or under warm whey.
- Find a good recipe and follow it.
- Timing is important. Time to add the rennet. Time to cut the curd. Time needed to brine (don't overbrine).
- Don't put your milk on the heat or put your culture in and then go do something else.
- Don't bake on the same day you're making cheese. The yeast involved may take up residence in your cheese...not a good thing.
- Use the correct amount of culture, rennet, and salt.
- Too much culture can overacidify.
- Too little culture may not acidify quickly enough leaving the milk open to possible unwanted bacterial infection.
- Too much rennet may cause bitterness.
- Too little rennet may not coagulate the milk or do it very quickly.
- Too much salt is bad for your heart, makes the cheese inedible, and may inhibit proper ripening.
- Too little salt may make for a bland cheese and may not protect the new cheese from unwanted bacterial infections.
- Press with the correct amount of weight, psi, kg/cm2, pounds, kilograms, kilopascals, bar.
There is lots of information about what to do and how to do it. Searching and finding all the information you need to do the cheese making "job"
well can be a burden. If you see that someone has made a dozen iterations of the same cheese style (A nod to you, Jeff
), perhaps they have a fairly solid idea of what works. Use their recipe or ask them about a particular issue. The saying goes: "Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success".
If you've messed up a particular cheese make, it may still be usable in cooking. Learn from it and apply what you've learned in the next cheese you make. Repetition does help a lot (ask, Jeff
).
This thread isn't directed strictly at you, knipknup. I noticed over the weekend that quite a few new members joined. I thought (and hoped) that they might be helped by my verbosity.
-Boofer-
