Author Topic: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4  (Read 10371 times)

Offline Boofer

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My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« on: June 24, 2012, 11:09:55 PM »
I had the best intentions for this make. Well...not really. When I started early yesterday morning, I didn't have a clue what I wanted to make with my sweet summer milk. I considered Butterkaese but decided that I already had several young cheeses in the cave and in the fridge (so sorry, george ;)). I rolled through my mental rolodex and my make notes folder trying to decide on a suitable cheese to craft this luscious summer milk into.

I looked at the date, June 23rd, and a spark of inspiration was lighted. How about a nice Beaufort that would be ready for Christmas in 6 months? Okay, but it has to be more elastic and less crumbly than my previous 3 efforts.

1 gallon Pride & Joy Dairy whole raw milk
2 gallons Twin Brook whole creamline milk
8 cubes Alp D mother culture, thawed
1/16 tsp Propionic shermanii
1/2 tsp CACL in 1/4 cup distilled water
1/16 tsp Renco dry calf rennet in 1/4 cup chilled distilled water

Initial milk pH = 6.59

Cubes and PS added to cold milk.
Milk heated to 88F.
At pH 6.47, added CACL & rennet.
Floc time: 13 minutes x 3 factor = 39 minutes before cut.
Cut to 1 inch, rested 5 min.
Cut to 1/4 inch, rested 10 min.

Raised temp to 110F, stirring, within 40 min.

At pH 6.38, removed 1 gallon of whey for whey-brine.
Added back 1 gallon of 128F water, stirring, to sweeten the curds a bit. This is where this disqualifies this make as a true Beaufort, but I have had problems with crumbliness in the past and I wanted to reduce that chance here.

Cooked for 30 min, stirring gently to keep from matting.

Drained whey.
Put curds to prepared mould with PlyBan.
Pressed under whey using 11 pounds pressure (press lever arm and piston) to knit the curds for 30 min.
Flipped, pressed under whey using 11 pounds for 30 min.
Flipped, pressed under whey using 11 pounds for 30 min.
Flipped, pressed under whey using 22 pounds for 30 min.
Flipped, pressed under whey using 2.6 psi for 30 min.
Flipped, pressed under whey using 2.6 psi for 30 min.
Dumped whey.
Flipped, pressed in pot using 4.9 psi for 4 hours.
Flipped, pressed in pot using 4.9 psi for 3 hours.

Out of press, pH 5.07, and into brine for 3 hours.
Out of bed (1:00AM), flipped cheese in brine.
Out of bed (4:00AM), removed cheese from brine, dried, weighed.
Placed in minicave to airdry at room temperature.

Tomorrow I'll put the cheese in the cave and begin rind treatment, which will most likely be a PLA & 3% brine wipe.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

george

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2012, 09:10:41 PM »
I considered Butterkaese but decided that I already had several young cheeses in the cave and in the fridge (so sorry, george ;)).

Wuss.    ;)

Offline Boofer

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2012, 01:15:37 AM »
  :'( :'( :'( Snap!! :'(  :'( :'(

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

george

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2012, 11:30:36 AM »
Awww, Boofer, don't cwy.   Tell you what - I'll make one instead.   ;D

Offline Boofer

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2012, 02:06:20 PM »
What a deal!  ;D

You know, the last two cheeses I've put together seem pretty close to a Butterkaese with the washed curds and (hopefully) moister paste. My Tomme #6 and this one. The key difference will be the rind development, but I think the culture mix is pretty close.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Offline Boofer

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #5 on: September 04, 2012, 12:15:07 AM »
In an effort to preserve moisture in the paste over the next 10 to 12 months, I decided to cream-coat this natural rind. Earlier I had cleaned the foreign invaders from the rind with vinegar and salt and then let it dry.

I'm going to put this on the rack in the cave without putting it back into its minicave. Hopefully that will be okay. It will certainly free up some shelf space in the cave.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

bbracken677

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #6 on: September 04, 2012, 01:21:04 AM »
Very nice! Great looking cheese, as usual!  So...when you pressed in whey, the whey was kept warm?

So....what is the difference between cream coating and wax? I suppose the question should be: Why use one rather than the other?

hoeklijn

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #7 on: September 04, 2012, 10:28:12 AM »
Oh, what a nice coated cheese you have there Boofer!  ;D

Offline Boofer

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #8 on: September 04, 2012, 01:45:21 PM »
Very nice! Great looking cheese, as usual!  So...when you pressed in whey, the whey was kept warm?

So....what is the difference between cream coating and wax? I suppose the question should be: Why use one rather than the other?
Thanks, Bruce.

Yes, the whey is kept warm to help knit the rind.
  • Wax: you melt and dip or paint onto the cheese. It is fairly airtight.
  • Cream coating: you paint on. It is not entirely airtight...and releases moisture from the cheese.
Here is a discussion on cream coating.

With this particular cheese, it had developed a nice hard rind and was doing fairly well in the minicave, but it was losing more moisture than I wanted so I decided to try cream-coating it. No idea if this will do what I expect, so it is an experiment which I will learn about next year.  ::)
An added benefit to this cream coating is that natamycin is at work defending the rind under the coating.

Oh, what a nice coated cheese you have there Boofer!  ;D
Herman, you give us all an objective to strive for with your wonderfully-coated cheeses.  :)

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Offline Boofer

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #9 on: September 05, 2012, 06:07:19 AM »
I went and checked the cheese after it had been in the cave for a while. There were marks where the cheese rested on the racks so I am now aging the coated cheese on a spruce board.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

bbracken677

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #10 on: September 05, 2012, 12:23:23 PM »
Admit it...you just wanted an excuse to use the spruce!   (hmm...that rhymes..)

Offline Boofer

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #11 on: November 28, 2012, 09:10:52 PM »
Well here's an interesting development.

Everything had been just fine...the cream coating was nice and clear. Then, when I checked this morning, I was welcomed by this foreign incursion. :o

Anyone else have this happen?  Herman?

The cheese is just past 5 months old.

I wiped it down with vinegar.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

linuxboy

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #12 on: November 28, 2012, 10:00:53 PM »
Natamycin degrades after 6-8 weeks. Opportunistic molds can slowly gain a foothold and start growing. You have to re-coat or wipe or take other measures if you want to avoid it.

Offline Boofer

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #13 on: November 29, 2012, 06:12:01 AM »
I'm wondering if the incursion goes through to the cheese itself or is restricted at the moment to the coating.

I believe this underscores the discussion elsewhere about whether the coating is permeable.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Tomer1

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Re: My "I Want to Be a Beaufort When I Grow Up" cheese #4
« Reply #14 on: November 29, 2012, 08:56:42 PM »
I bought some Beaufort last week, it was expenssive at around 5$\100 grams.  and I really did not enjoy it. too bad I didnt note the producer name.
very spicey flavor from the washing and prolonged aging and had a sour lactic note to it.     I also got some reserved gruyere which was alot nicer but a bit too old for my liking, it reminded me of the flavoring they put into processed cheese. it was way past the nutty stage.