Farmer's Cheese??

[citybounty]

Hi Everyone,
I am very new to this process.  I have made this recipe twice (plus 3 times had to throw it out due to not achieving a clean break)
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese98.htm

I started reading here today and already am finding several things that I can do to improve and even some things that seem to be completely wrong with this recipe. (temperature before rennet and keeping the temp constant during coagulation for example)

Can someone show me to a recipe for basic cheese (farmer's cheese I think) that is better.  I would like to make some small cheeses for Christmas baskets this year and want to have a fairly consistent finished product.

Also is a "cave" a necessary thing?  Can I put the cheese in my refrigerator or a closet shelf?

Thanks for any input.  I am currently overwhelmed by the info here and can't seem to find one simple first hard cheese recipe yet, but I will keep reading and look forward to understanding much more soon.
Pam

[linuxboy]

Please start here

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1591

Also is a "cave" a necessary thing?

Only if you want to age cheese

  Can I put the cheese in my refrigerator or a closet shelf

If you can control humidity by waxing/bagging, or using a humidifier, and also control temp to be within 45-55F.

[citybounty]

Thank You, Thank You!!!

I will make this Tomme as soon as possible and get back to you.  Couple questions first though.  MA4000 is a culture, right? where do I get that?

and what does this mean: "multiply by 3 to get total set time from the time you added rennet."

Thanks again,
Pam

[JeffHamm]

Hi Pam,

I really suggest spending time reading through the forum.  Read threads about the cheeses you know and like.  In there you will find all sorts of tips and tricks. 

The "mulitply by 3" to determine the set time, for example, is about using a flocculation multiplier to determine how long to wait after adding the rennet before you cut the curds.  It's not hard to do.  Take a small plasitc bowl (like a small snack bowl that you might put a handful of nuts in, or what you might store an infants food in), sterilize it, and float it in the milk just after stirring in the rennet.  If you give it a tap, it will sail around the milk.  Write down the time you added the rennet (exactly, including seconds; I always add my rennt at the 00 second mark).  For this example, let's say we added our rennet at 12:00:00 exactly.  Now, every two minutes, give the bowl a gentle tap on the side, and after awhile (approaching 10 minutes) you will notice it doesn't move as freely.  As if it's moving through thick swampy water.   Now tap every minute and as the bowl moves less and less, increase your testing to every 30 or even 15 seconds.  Eventually, it will reach the point where a gentle tap won't move the bowl out of it's place.  It will just lurch forward and get sucked back, like a cartoon character with their feet in ACME's glue.  That is the point where the milk "gelled", and is the floculation point.  Write down the time (12:12:30).  Figure out how much time has passed since you added the rennet, which in our case would be 12 minutes and 30 seconds (you usually want this to be in the 10 to 15 minute range). 

Take your 12 minutes and 30 seconds and multiple it by 3 (in this case, some cheeses use a bigger mutiplier, some use smaller: bigger = moister cheese usually), which gives you 37 minutes and 30 second.  Now, add that amount of time to your rennet time, so we're now talking 12:37:30.  That is the time you cut your curds.  You do not test for a clean break, you just cut them.

There are lots of threads explaining why one would do this, and how, so as you read around you will learn all sorts of neat stuff. 

- Jeff

[MacGruff]

Welcome on board the fascinating world of cheesemaking!  Many folks here will be able to guide you, although there is already a ton of information in the different areas of the board and you should probably spend some time searching for answers before posting.

My own minor contribution to this thread will be to let you know that the term "Farmer's Cheese" is more typically used for a softer white cheese that is NOT aged, nor does it use any bacteria. It is easy to make as it uses lemon juice or vinegar to coagulate the milk and is a quick and easy cheese. However, it does not fit into this area of the forum as it is NOT rennet coagulated.

If you really meant to say that you wanted to make a Tomme, then you are in the right place!

Good luck to you regardless, and have fun!!!
 

[Sailor Con Queso]

Jeff,

We suddenly seem to have 2 different floc timing systems going on the Forum and this is bound to get confusing to novices. I understand that some Europeans view this differently and in the long run it doesn't matter. The point is to evaluate finished cheeses, adjust accordingly and be consistent. However...

IMHO, this should be our standard for discussion:
Floc time x multiplier = TOTAL coagulation time.
Example: 15 minutes to floc x a multiplier of 3 = 45 minutes from the time you add rennet until you cut the curd.
You do not add 45 + 15 to get a total coag time of 60. This is a 1/3 increase in coag time and would produce a cheese with significantly more moisture.

This is the way that floculation has been presented in almost all discussions on the Forum.

[JeffHamm]

Hi Sailor,

I think I've presented total coagulation time didn't I?  I had, add rennet at 12:00:00, floc at 12:12:30, so 12 minutes 30 seconds, times 3 = 37 min 30 seconds, so cat at 12:37:30 (which is 37 min and 30 seconds after adding the rennet, not 37 minutes and 30 seconds added to when it floc'd in the first place.  At least this is what I intended it to say.  Have I made a mistake in my post somewhere?

- Jeff

[Sailor Con Queso]

Now, add that amount of time to your rennet time... Jeff

Your math was correct but "add that amount of time to your rennet time", was confusing.

Pam - I'm sorry if we have taken your question in a different direction. That often happens here, so I'm going to try to head it back.

The link for the recipe that you posted is not a normal rennet coagulated cheese and does not really involve floculation. However, this is an important technique and you should search the Forum. It's not so much the technique per se, but learning how things like timing change things.

Fankhauser focuses on simple, unsophisticated recipes, evidenced by the title of the recipe - BASIC CHEESE MAKING. This recipe actually calls for inoculating the milk and letting it sit overnight to ripen, then adding the rennet the next day. Even then he suggests that it may take 1 or 2 HOURS to get a clean break. Yada, yada, yada. I see all sorts of problems, discrepancies, and confusing points about that recipe (and many others).

There are tons of good recipes on the Forum, and Linuxboy gave you a link to his Tomme recipe. That's a good place to start.

[JeffHamm]

Ah, got ya!  Yah, I see what you mean.  By "rennet time" I meant the time you added the rennet in the first place, not the time until floc.  But I could have said it better.  Thanks.

I also agree that the important thing about the floc method is not so much the technique, but understanding why one would use it.  Those details are covered elsewhere, by those more capable than I in explaining them. 

Anyway, with that tangent dealt with, it's now, back to your regularly scheduled thread ....

- Jeff

[citybounty]

If a recipe calls for double strength rennet .8ml and I have single strength. (I guess it is single it doesn't say double anywhere) does that mean .16 ml? 

The ad says:  1/2 teaspoon will set 2 gallons of milk in approximately 45 minutes. 

Wow I am a total Newbie. lol I think I need to find a tsp - ml converter and brush up on my percents and decimals math. 

@Jeff I think I understood you correctly when you explained the Rennet multiplier thing.  Thanks Sailor for the clarification.

@MacGruff Thanks for the info.  I don't even know what most of these cheeses are.  lol I eat cheddar, mozzarella, and sprinkle some Parmesan on spaghetti once in a while.  I have never eaten Tomme, or Gouda, or any of the myriads of others I see on this site.  This is going to be a really fun journey.  Please don't hesitate to tell me if I put something in the wrong place.  I figured since it uses rennet it would go here but I wasn't sure at all.  Can hardly wait to try the Tomme.  I have Rennet, Calcium Chloride, and Culture coming.  I will post back to let you all know how it went.

Thanks to all for the kind welcome and the tolerance of my baby cheese questions.  I think I will like it here.

Pam

[george]

Regardless, Jeff, you still get extra points for the ACME reference.   

Welcome, Pam, and good luck!

[JeffHamm]

Hi Pam,

For conversion, 1 tsp is 5 ml, and 1 tbls is 15 mls. 

Rennet comes in all sorts of strengths.  It's measured in IMCU (International Milk Coagulating Units).  If you have one rennet that is 100 ICMU, and if you found that required 1 tsp to set your milk, then if you changed to a new rennet that was twice as strong (200 ICMU) then you would use 1/2 tsp to set the same volume of milk.  (NOTE, this will get you pretty close, but you may still find a bit of tweaking is required because the two rennets may be different in that one is calf, one is vegetarian, etc, and these may have properties that interact with your milk differently, but I've found this conversion works really well).

So, how much single strength rennet you should use based upon double strength depends upon how strong in IMCU the two rennets are.  They may say on the package, or you may have to look it up.  I'm not sure what the typical IMCU strength is for single and double strength, but I'm sure others can help.

Have a look around.  I've posted an excel work book with a bunch of different pages that can be very useful for doing various calculations like this.  It's called CheeseTools.xls. 

It's in the Library forum, under software; here's  a link to the relevant thread.

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,8828.0.html

- Jeff

[margaretsmall]

For conversion, 1 tsp is 5 ml, and 1 tbls is 15 mls. 

Except in Australia where 1 tablespoon is 20 ml. We just had to be different.
Margaret

[JeffHamm]

Ahhh, the problems of sharing the language but not sharing the meaning!

- Jeff