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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => ADJUNCT - Rennet Surface White Mold (Penicillium candidum) Ripened => Topic started by: Flound on March 16, 2014, 04:18:03 PM
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My first Brie. Why not? Got learn somehow.
Brie 1 14/03/16
4L Farmers 3.25% Whole milk
1L Farmers 35% whipping cream
2 cubes Arom B, 1 cube buttermilk
1.25ml CaCl in 60ml distilled water
1.25ml calf rennet in 60ml distilled water
Morge from existing brie rind
Temp 19.9C
6:45 put milk in double boiler temp 15.3C
6:55 added 2 cubes Arom B, 1 cube buttermilk, temp 18.4C, started to warm to 32.0C
7:12 added CaCl solution
7:15 temp 20.1C
7:24 temp 22.7C
7:35 temp 26.1C
7:41 temp 27.2C
7:47 temp 29.9C
8:04 temp 32.1C ripening 30 min, started at 7:55
8:26 temp 31.7C
8:28 added rennet solution, stirred, started floc timer temp 31.7C
8:36 temp 31.4C
8:41 12:30 floc ( 12:28.74 lol ) 6x floc, 1:02:30 to cut 9:43-9:44 temp 31.6C
9:02 temp 31.5C
9:23 temp 31.7C
9:46 temp 31.5C started cutting curd 2.5cm
9:50 temp 31.6C finished cutting curd, letting curd heal 15 min.
10:06 temp 31.5C started gentle stir
10:21 temp 31.8C Curds, even with gentle stir breaking into smaller pieces. Light golden bits formed in curd, not uniform color. Covered and letting curds settle.
10:40 Curds not very big, despite being cut into 2.5cm cubes. Very wet curds. Draining in cheesecloth before transferring to molds.
11:05 transferred to cheese clothed lined molds, follower placed on top, no weight.
12:35 flipped. Back into molds.
Not exactly sure why the curd was so fragile, but it didn't disintegrate, roughly about pea sized, so I think it may drain. Each was formed well, with seemingly a good knit on the flip, albeit soft and wet still.
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Hi Flound,
Homogenized and pasturized milk tends to break up, the bonds it forms are just not as strong as raw milk. It's much more noticable with things like brie, where the curds are cut a bit larger. Anyway, things are just completely different in these soft bloomy cheeses than with the hard pressed. It will drain a long time, it will seem like the curds are too wet for too long, etc. Getting the feel for these is learning a new touch compared to things like caerphilly, and lancashire. Just be prepared to put aside your expectations and learn some new ones. Also, get ready to get excited when your food goes mouldy! It is a proud moment.
- Jeff
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That makes sense, but curds I've made from store milk, in fact the same brand and type have been stronger. Heck, these didn't settle at all after stirring. And there was these light 'golden' curds scattered throughout.
Maybe there's a consistency issue with this particular jug.
Not really worried as this is all fun, learning and playing.
Anyway, here's the cheese after the second flip.
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They look good so far! Will be interesting to watch these progress. I've only made a couple brie/cam type cheeses, but there are others here who can give you much better advice.
- Jeff
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March 22nd. 8 days in.
I must say, I got a little excited about two days ago when I spotted the first bloom of white mold!!! But it was very faint. This morning it looked good enough to take a picture of each baby Brie.
I had the very good fortune to make the acquaintance of a budding cheesemaker of the commercial variety, who focuses on surface mold goat cheeses. A graduate of VIAC and fresh off a cheese tour of Europe, I selfishly invited this person for a drink and cheese talk. What a learning experience and treasure trove of cheesey knowledge.
As a result, I got some great insight into bries and camemberts. I learned to keep the RH around 90% which seems to have kick started the bloom.
Score for the Flound!!!
Fyi, I'm wearing gloves...my hands aren't that wrinkly. Yet.
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Looking good Flound! And great to hear you've got access to someone who specializes in bloomy rinds. They require a different touch than the pressed cheeses. What one tries to achieve in one case you try to avoid in the other. Get it right, though, and these cheeses are so much better than what you'll get in the store.
- Jeff
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Small miscalculation on my part. When figuring the date in my last post I used the year (14) instead of the day of the make (16) when I stated day 8. It was day 6 back then.
Which makes today's pictures the real day 8 photos.
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Molding up nicely Flound ^-^ nice n fuzzy :)
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6 months ago, had anyone told me that I was going to be actively encouraging mould growth on my food, to say I would've looked askance would have been an understatement.
And to think that I'd be pleased as punch as a result, equally off base.
It even smells like brie in the ripening container. Holy cow!
Every time something goes well and of course, as a direct result of showing someone, it's often remarked how impressed someone is by my efforts. The truly remarkable thing is their sentiment in no way comes close to my own.
Trust me, no one is more impressed by my efforts than I. That I, goofball of goofballs, through the hard work of others and what I presume to be an unearthly amount of fortune, can reproduce a reasonable facsimile of a known cheese blows me away.
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That's looking really nice! Pat the mould down each day. It will help keep the rind from getting too thick. Once you get complete coverage, you can wrap them and transfer them to the regular fridge. This will slow down the ripening, but often slower can be better. Or you can continue to in your cheese cave, and they will be ready sooner but if they go into overdrive they may end up runny, rather than gooey. If you've got a few cheeses, or at least 2, maybe do some each way.
- Jeff
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So whats the best thing to wrap theses puppies with? Wax paper, foil, a blanket from the tears of baby fawns?
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The blanket of tears really is the way to go, but if you can't get one, I've always wrapped with foil and it seems fine. You can get special cheese wrapping paper, which breaths and all that, and looks more professional, but not sure how much you gain (having never used it myself I don't really have any basis upon which to cast aspersions except for the shear delight of doing so). Wax paper might be ok too. You just want to make sure they don't dry out too much if you move them to the regular fridge, where it's hard to control the humidity, etc. They will slow down in their ripening, and like most cheese related things, slower is better. Think of deep frying a frozen chicken leg, the outside gets cooked before the middle. Not good.
- Jeff
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So, they been wrapped for two weeks thereabouts, still kept in the cheese cave, although it did move one into the regular fridge yesterday for a comparison.
Roughly when should one cut into a brie?
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I've had my best result after about 30 days from the make. It varies, depending upon the thickness of the cheese, and such, but around a month is probably when you could start checking.
- Jeff
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31 days after the make. Brie time.
Soft, with the right amount of firmness, gives way with slight pressure. Creamy, buttery and those lovely earthy tones.
Nailed it. ;)
Supper tomorrow just got better.
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A cheese to you! Very nice rind on that one. You'll find these much better than most you get in the store. The store bought ones are usually "stablised", which means they also include a thermophillic culture. This results in a cheese that has a longer shelf life, and it doesn't go as gooey as a mesophillic one and they also don't develop as deep a flavour either. They are ok, but I much prefer these (of course, I'm sure some people prefer the stablised version, it's subjective after all, but that doesn't mean they're not wrong! :) )
- Jeff
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I've had more with a cleaner palette. Plus it was a bit warmer so more of the flavours came through.
Creamy and buttery, earth tones, a bit a sweetness with a slightly nutty finish. Very pleasant mouth feel...
Man, color me impressed.
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there is something i really love about "miniature cheeses" a cheese for you for a great 1st brie!
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Second wheel opened on Sunday. Firmer than the first, but still soft. Just as tasty. Rave reviews...
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Nice! That's what we want to hear! Well done.
- Jeff