Author Topic: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition  (Read 10154 times)

Offline Boofer

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Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« on: July 02, 2012, 01:06:54 AM »
This is my third effort at Reblochon.

I thought long and hard about this cheese style. I watched the video a couple more times. I looked at the makeup of several culture blends that I had on hand and decided to try something a little different this time. I wanted to leave out the PC this time even though it seemed to work well for me the previous two times. I bought 2.5 gallons of good raw summer milk to gain the best flavor possible. I've marked the level of cream in the jugs. Simply amazing volume of cream. These cheeses should really be rich and tasty.  ;)

Initial pH: 6.60 (This is probably the lowest pH I have ever used. The milk pull dates are good.)
Cultures added: 6.60
Rennet added: 6.53
Cutting: 6.49
Moulding: 6.43
Demoulding: 4.92

2 gallons Pride and Joy whole raw milk
1/2 gallon Dungeness Valley whole raw milk (P&J only sells in gallons. In retrospect, I should have bought the 3rd gallon of P&J.)
2 cubes Kazu MC, melted (LL, LC, LD, LH)
2 cubes MA4001 MC, melted (LL, LC, LD, ST)
1/16 tsp PLA (B. linens, Arthrobacter nicotianae, Debaryomyces hanseii, Geotrichum candidum)
1/32 tsp Renco dry calf rennet in 1/4 cup chilled distilled water

6/30/12
5:30AM Added cubes and PLA with cold milk; heated milk to 88F pH6.60
5:48 Wow, what a quick drop: pH6.53; stirred in rennet

25 minutes to floc; I used a factor of 4 for 100 minutes until cutting the curds.
Edit 7/24/12: To clarify, this is 100 minutes minus the time it took to floc (25 min) => 75 min before cutting.

7:30 Cut the curds to 1 inch, rested 10 min
7:40 Used whisk to further cut the curds to 1/4 inch, rested 10 min; curds are very soft

8:00 pH6.46; Began heating curds to 94F, stirring for 20 min

9:00 pH6.43; curds to 4 prepared Reblochon (5-inch) moulds lined with Plyban.
9:10 Used a cutting board to spread the press weight; began pressing using 10 lb which delivered 2.5 lbs per cheese.
9:20 Flipped moulds, no rewrap; added 5 lb which delivered 3.75 lbs per cheese
9:40 pH6.40; flipped, rewrapped -- knitting well
12:30PM Flipped, no rewrap; still pressing with 15 lbs total
2:30 pH6.32; just checked, didn't flip
4:30 pH6.12; flipped, removed Plyban -- continued pressing, wheels look good
7:30 pH5.25; flipped
9:30 pH5.08; no flip, continued pressing
10:30 pH5.08; no flip, continued pressing
11:30 pH5.05; removed 15 lbs -- just cutting board on top of moulds

7/1/12
8:00AM pH4.96; put 15 lbs back on cutting board
10:30 pH4.92; removed 15 lbs - placed wheels into tall container with whey-brine; used mould to press top wheel down into brine; closing lid secured it beneath the brine surface. Eureka!! Huzzah! I have discovered a new technique for my small wheel brining.

12:00PM Flipped/rotated cheeses in brine. Perhaps this might not have been necessary, but with their closeness to each other, I thought it advisable.

1:30 Out of brine, total weight taken -- into minicaves to air-dry.

Now we wait.... :)

If all goes as planned, I anticipate the cutting/tasting in 42 (or 45) days as per the
video.
I can see by these
videos
that my wheels need to be a little taller.

-Boofer-
« Last Edit: July 24, 2012, 02:29:57 PM by Boofer »
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

hoeklijn

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2012, 06:15:18 AM »
I really love your photo stories! After summer holidays I want to try Reblochon again and also FdA. At the moment I'm only making pressed cheeses cause I can leave them unattended for 2 weeks....

george

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2012, 10:04:16 AM »
How did you get the Michelin Man to come help you make reblochon?  I see him putting that third one into the brine.   A)

Offline Boofer

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2012, 01:19:20 PM »
Oh, george, you may be needing a moment in the Time-Out Corner....   :-\

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

george

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2012, 03:49:58 PM »
What?  It looks like the glove got all air-poofed ... except now that I stare at it again, I guess it's just a bad angle, glove is a little small?  SORRY!! :-[

mtncheesemaker

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2012, 06:11:54 PM »
Boofer, I'm watching this thread with interest! I ate some "real" reblochon while in France this spring. It had a real "supple" feel to it, which my attempts are lacking. It's on my list to try again.
Had to chuckle at the "time-out" comment!

smokjunkee

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2012, 06:47:15 PM »
You do a great job on your pictorals...nice cheese too!
May I ask where you get your cultures?
I definately need to learn more about working with them.
SJ

Offline Boofer

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2012, 12:59:31 AM »
Thanks, smokjunkee.

For cultures, I've gone to Glengarry most recently. But you can also get them at The Cheesemaker, The Dairy Connection, or check the wiki here.

SORRY!! :-[
george, you know I was pulling your leg, right?  A)

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

george

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2012, 09:42:22 AM »
Oh, yeesh, THAT'S why I was walking funny yesterday ... one of them is longer now!

Offline Boofer

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2012, 01:59:01 PM »
Nope, still considering the Corner....  ::)

These are still drying at room temp, but they're weeping less. After drying off their bottoms this morning :), I misted them lightly with PLA in 3% brine.

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

iratherfly

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #10 on: July 09, 2012, 06:23:37 AM »
Okay Boofer, as I promised last week, I just posted the Reblochon AOC recipe with lots of guidance and tips!  I hope this will be useful for you and everyone else. Try it!

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,9928.msg72988.html

Offline Boofer

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #11 on: July 09, 2012, 01:38:40 PM »
Thanks for making the effort to get this down, Yoav.

Seems like some of my process is in line with yours, while other parts leave me baffled. I'll comment in your Reb thread.

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

iratherfly

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #12 on: July 10, 2012, 08:22:17 PM »
You are welcome. I just answered all of your comments.

These two wonderful videos you posted here actually show a lot of the process I discussed!
You can clearly see the stir-cutting action. You can see the quick and wet moulding action too. Notice the spruce boards, the yeasting room and how the geo grows back on the cheese at the end.  You can even see in both movies the little spruce disk in the packaging. In the first movie a machine wraps it, in the second it is done by hand.

I omitted the cheesecloth from my formula and the immediate first turn because I thought it would just make things harder but by all means, the immediate first turn will help. You won't be able to do that if your cheese drains naturally, so pack the cheese tight like they do here.  The cheesecloth slows down the draining but it is mostly used to capture the curd in between the moulds, like a curd distributor tray that you see in modern creameries.  It also makes a nice cloth pattern on the rind that helps it grow better.

Offline Boofer

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #13 on: July 21, 2012, 08:34:33 PM »
The Geo is a little bashful at this point. Linens is there but not out of control.

Everything is looking decent so far at the midpoint. Another three weeks and it will be done...hopefully.  ;)

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

JeffHamm

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Re: Gooey & Sinful...Third Edition
« Reply #14 on: July 22, 2012, 08:49:45 PM »
Those are coming along nicely.  Looking forward to the final result (as I'm sure you are too!)

- Jeff