Author Topic: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)  (Read 23733 times)

Offline Boofer

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Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« on: July 30, 2012, 02:52:48 AM »
My month-old Reblochon #3 was just wrapped up today when I decided I would try to conform to iratherfly's Reblochon Dictum.

I tried to stay somewhat true to the spirit of The Dictum, but I did run into some tangential diversions.

Starting pH: 6.61

(Sorry, right off the bat I'm breaking the rules: I didn't use all RAW milk.)
1 gallon Pride & Joy Creamery whole raw milk
1.5 gallons Twin Brook Creamery whole creamline milk
.5 gallon Twin Brook Creamery 2% creamline milk
1 pint Twin Brook Creamery whipping cream

This culture mix has done well for me in the past. The only change is that I didn't use PC here:
1/8 tsp MM100
1/16 tsp TA61
1/16 tsp LH100
1/16 tsp Geo13
1/16 tsp SR3
1/32 tsp KL71
1/2 tsp CACL, in 1/4c distilled water
1/32 tsp Renco dry calf rennet, dissolved in 1/4c cool distilled water

10:05AM Raised milks to 94F, added cultures and CACL
looking for pH6.55

pH seemed to begin dropping almost as soon as the milk was heated or the cultures were added.
10:15 pH6.50, added rennet...pH6.47 (yes, it was dropping while I was adding the rennet)

10:31 flocculation in 16 minutes.

Here I break the rules again and plug in my favored 4x factor rather than the recipe's stated 3x factor. That makes the time to cut in 64 minutes...11:19.

11:19 pH6.40 (This is pretty active/fast culture and/or milk.)
11:20 Cut the curd to 3/4 inch. Rested 5 minutes.
11:28 Began further cutting with whisk closer to 1/4 inch. Rested 5 minutes.

I'm kind of in a race right now to conform to the recipe and not get beaten over the head by the pH rushing for the exits.

I removed 1/2 gallon of whey to make my whey-brine. (Oh-oh, breaking the rules again  ::)... brining instead of dry-salting.)

Then I prepared my four Reblochon moulds with their PlyBan.
I scooped the very soft and wet curds into each of the moulds, wondering if I was going to have too much curd for the moulds I had ready. Wow, the curds mounded up in the moulds, but I was able to use them all.

I then carefully placed the lids on each of the four curd mini-mountains and pushed down gently. Then I was able to place the cutting board on top of all four of them and stack the 15 pounds of weight on top of that. That effectively delivers 3.75 pounds to each mould. (I wouldn't call that a rule violation. 8))

12:30PM I flipped and rewrapped each cheese after 30 minutes. Wheels are very soft and pliable.

1:45PM pH5.70 I flipped and removed PlyBan after another 75 minutes.

3:00PM pH5.36 Time to brine...need to stop the pH freefall.

4:30PM Flipped cheeses in brine.

6:00PM Removed from brine, dried, weighed. Into minicaves and out to Black Cave.

My Black Cave has been cleared of all other cheeses and the controller has been reset to 58F +-1F. It has been running a little warmer than the set temp probably because of the warmer garage temperature.

This should be interesting.  :)

-Boofer-
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mjr522

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2012, 04:02:20 PM »
Boofer--

That looks pretty cool.  I'm always impressed by the cheeses people are making. 

As a side note: I teach an engineering mechanics course on statics, and your comment,

... Then I was able to place the cutting board on top of all four of them and stack the 15 pounds of weight on top of that. That effectively delivers 3.75 pounds to each mould. (I wouldn't call that a rule violation. 8))

sounds like something one of my students would say.  I would reply, "Are you sure?"  ;)  I'd then make them measure the distance from the center of the weights to the center of the cheeses, and if they weren' exactly the same (which is what is required for them all to have 3.75 lbf), I'd make them calculate how much force was on each cheese.  Sometimes, I'm a picky teacher...

Mike

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2012, 06:33:34 PM »
Glad I'm far away from my school days now.  ;)

I think the technical term that fits in here is SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess), or...(I used to work for the government, and it would be close enough for them.)

Pardon me while I whip this out...my slide rule, of course!  ::)

Then of course I didn't take into account the weight of the cutting board...or that it was adjusted slightly askew to account for the one slightly-overfilled mould where I wanted to bring more pressure to bear so the lid would fit.

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iratherfly

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #3 on: August 04, 2012, 01:05:36 AM »
Coooool!  Interesting stuff. I wonder how it would work out.  You did do a Camembert acidity again Boofer! haha...  If your acid builds up too fast you should probably reduce floc time, not increase it.

However... are you sure your pH meter was working okay?  16 minutes is a bit long for 6.4pH at rennet

Mike, I just calculate weight per square inch. I would totally fail your class  ^-^

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2012, 01:33:14 AM »
Never done a Cam but I see your point about reducing the floc if the acidity is racing.

I used the 4x floc because I'm looking for that exquisite gooeyness that your Reblotin pics showed.

What do you mean "16 minutes is a bit long for a 6.4pH at rennet"? My meter seemed to be doing okay.

-Boofer-
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iratherfly

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #5 on: August 04, 2012, 04:43:24 AM »
The goo comes from including more mesophilic and less thermophilic strains. It's not the quantity of acid that makes it, it's the type of culture and subsequent aging practice.  Creating more acid will give you a more tangy and less milky flavor. It will also cause the lactic bacteria to run out of nutrients faster and will alter the development of the rind. It will take the yeast and geo much longer time to deacidify a surface that is more acidic.

However... are you sure your pH meter was working okay?  16 minutes is a bit long for 6.4pH at rennet
What I meant was... you said your acidity was 6.4pH. My Reblochon formula at that point is 6.55pH and it takes 12-16 minutes to flocculate. At 6.4 it would probably take 7-11 minutes. getting down to 6.4pH so fast sounds suspicious to me... are you sure your pH meter was calibrated ok at that point? Maybe you were at 6.5pH and your meter was not on the up and up?  This would make a lot of sense for your reasonable ripening time and your flocculation time.  What was your starting point? 6.7-6.8pH?

Generally speaking, with many cheeses if you miss a pH point early on but shorten the next stage to meet your pH target, the cheese will meet its future pH targets on time and you can save it.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2012, 04:49:01 AM by iratherfly »

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #6 on: August 04, 2012, 06:23:43 AM »
The initial reading of the cold milk was 6.61. It was one of the lowest I've seen. For that reading I take a dribble from each bottle as I add the milk to the kettle. At renneting the reading was 6.50 and then I took another reading just after stirring the rennet in and it was 6.47.

As I mentioned, there were pH points in your recipe that I had trouble hitting. Perhaps if my milk had started at a higher pH level....

We'll see how it fares as time goes on.

-Boofer-
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iratherfly

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2012, 07:56:03 AM »
Best thing is to mix all the milks in the pot and then take a sample of the mixed substance.
What pH meter is this?
It's a bit strange that it's at 6.50 and a minute later (I assume you mixed for a minute) it dropped to 6.47.  Most meters take more than a minute to get to the proper material temperature rand calculate something useful.  Anyway, renneting at 6.50 is totally fine for this recipe, not a problem. Flocculating at x4 will work fine too. I am sure it will work out.

Did you put it in "yeasting room" conditions for the first 3-4 days?  Remember to give it the first wash only after it is covered with moccasse and then immediately move it to cave. Cave age it for only 2 weeks and finish it in the fridge - that's the trick to getting it right! I swear.

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2012, 11:58:22 AM »
I wasn't entirely sure what a "yeasting room" was. I removed all other cheeses from my Black Cave and adjusted the controller to 60F. That's where they have been in their minicaves. The mocasse (Geo slime) did appear a couple days ago. I washed them, but I left them in there at around 60F. I will go now and adjust the controller back to 51F.

I'll continue washing for the next two weeks and then use that fancy new paper I'll be getting from you to wrap them up and stick them in the regular fridge.

I'm not sure, but I think everything is on track at this point.  8)

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iratherfly

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #9 on: August 05, 2012, 06:57:45 AM »
sounds great. You may need to age it shorter time because you let it continue yeasting after the first wash. You need to move it to 50°F-55°F cave immediately following the first wash.  The "yeasting room" is exactly as you understood; simply your cave, turned up to 60°F-65°F for 3-4 days. I am sure this one will turn out great!

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #10 on: August 05, 2012, 07:35:10 AM »
You may need to age it shorter time because you let it continue yeasting after the first wash.
What happens if it stays in the yeasting too long?

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #11 on: August 05, 2012, 02:15:38 PM »
Trying to stay on track with iratherfly's newly instituted Reb guidelines....  :)

So far, so good. Geo is blooming nicely and the smell is enticing. The promise of future culinary delight.  8)

-Boofer-
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iratherfly

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #12 on: August 05, 2012, 05:19:43 PM »
What happens if it stays in the yeasting too long?
If you yeast too long it will develop sort of this bubbly skin and the geo may not grow back once you stop the washing regiment period.  Also, at 60°F the lactic bacteria is acidifying the cheese a lot quicker and you don't want it to run out of food too quickly...

However, your cheese looks beautiful!  Do you have a piece of spruce or similar wood to age it on? It will give it nice traditional aroma and rind development.

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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #13 on: August 05, 2012, 10:37:08 PM »
However, your cheese looks beautiful!  Do you have a piece of spruce or similar wood to age it on? It will give it nice traditional aroma and rind development.
Thanks, Yoav.

So the spruce is really that fundamental to the development of the cheese? I will assume so and begin searching for something suitable tomorrow. Any particular flavor of spruce? White spruce, Adirondack spruce, Blue spruce, Skunk spruce...? I had asked this question and then found a partial answer (from New England Cheesemaking Company) when Googling:

"What kind of wood

In France folks use primarily a wood called Epicea which is the spruce tree group. I have also seen folks including Larch in this group.

Wood and especially pine and fir harvested in the summer will be wet and full of moisture, yeasts, and bacteria that will cause a cheese to age poorly. But harvested in winter this will be drier and more suitable for cheese aging. Some cheese makers such as in the caves at Roquefort will dry the wood for several season before using.

These are some of the woods I have had experience with. If you have used other and would like to comment please contact me jim@cheesemaking.com:

Good

Spruce: is very open surface and a positive aromatic quality from the resins
Larch: is similar to spruce but not as aromatic
Pine: use clear without a lot of knots and resin
Cedar: some folks like this but it can be very aromatic and interfere with natural cheese aromas
Beech: is very tight surface slower to absorb and release moisture
Birch: is similar to beech
Ash: is good and strong and has an open grain structure for seed microbes
Oak: may be fine but is quite heavy to move when cleaning or transporting
Bamboo: is quite neutral

Not So Good

Maple: but this also can cause staining of the cheese

To Avoid

Walnut: will impart an off flavor and stain the cheese
Redwood: will stain the cheese
Teak: may stain and impart an incompatible flavor
Mahogany: may also cause staining and is too heavy
Avoid Exotic woods and woods that stain or leach natural resins. Many of these have been found to produce toxic resins."


-Boofer-
« Last Edit: August 05, 2012, 11:21:50 PM by Boofer »
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Re: Gooey & Sinful... Fourth Edition (fingers crossed)
« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2012, 10:44:33 PM »
Yesterday I grabbed the wife and trekked on up to Seattle to buy some cheese ripening boards. Today I fashioned the rough lumber into a couple boards for my Reblochon recipe and some boards for my medium size Tomme mould (Should I want to age anything on wood in the future.  :))  What am I getting myself into here?

The boards were rough-sawed and I coarse-sanded them down a bit, but not so they're glass-smooth, just so the terroir bacteria have something to latch onto.

Buying the little bit of spruce that I did was a little pricey at $7.35 per board-foot. But it's for the cheese, right? It's all about the cheese.  ::)

-Boofer-


Let's ferment something!
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