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
6/30/125:30AM 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
7/1/128:00AM 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
I can see by these
that my wheels need to be a little taller.
-Boofer-