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GENERAL BOARDS => Introductions => Topic started by: SalMac on August 12, 2008, 10:22:33 PM
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Im Sal. Just joined after making my first cheese.
Even after all the prep it didnt go entirely to plan :-) But husband says it looks good.
It certainly looks like cheese and smells like it. Well we'll see :D
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welcome Sal. give it a chance and with some aging i'm sure it will be good. what type of cheese did you make ?
reg
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Welcome Sal in UK to these forums! We are all learning and have all had problems, that's why it's more fun here with support and ideas from others rather than just from a book ;).
So far I've found it more fun and challenge than other artisan foods like bread, wine or beer.
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Hi Sal and welcome to the board. Great to see that you have made the first step. I think the first batch is the most nerve racking. SO what cheese did you make? Don't worry if it doesn't look right, as long as it is edible that's the main thing for now.
Cheese Head, are you saying that you have made wine and beer? You never said that before, or maybe I missed it. Do you still make your own beer? Just wondering.
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Tea, used to make beer and wine when teenager growing up in Vancouver, Canada, sadly not for a lot of years now.
Wine making is especially popular in BC due to the very high taxes on wine. Here in Texas, booze tax is very low so we can get some excellent Australian wines for $5-8.
Maybe if we retire there I'll take it up again.
Sal, as Tea asks what did you start with? Simple hung soft cheese or complicated pressed cheese?
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So when you going to join me making mead?? :D
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I made a gouda.
It didnt really set and looked more like junket but after draining the whey it pressed OK. But didnt get cut or cooked properly.
Also got cheese bits all over the kitchen after flipping the mould when our weights fell off the press! I have a proper mould but not a press.
So used 20 l of water to provide pressure on a piece of flat plastic placed on the mould and the water bottles on top. Water bottles slipped off plastic, plastic flipped up and catapulted mold into air. Ah well. :-[
And PFA a picture of my very modest attempt compared to some i've seen on here ! 5 days old.
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Sal, it looks great, congrats!
Yep presses are a tough thing and those weights if fall can damage things, not so much water bottles but more if metal weights as denser/smaller and more rigid.
Shame you didn't get a picture of your mold in mid air ;).
Now comes the tricky part, aging the cheese and controlling the humidity so that don;t get unwanted mould and don't get cracking from paid drying!
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Yes It looks fine after five days its in the fridge at 8 deg at the top, in the box you can see it on. I wipe it and flip it every day. So far it doesnt look any different from the beginning of the week and definitely no rind or skin which is beginning to worry me a bit!
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Normally in my experience you don't get much of a rind unless you do a salt bath.
I think I understand that you are aging it in that box for humidity control and keep box in top of your fridge where warmest at 8 degrees C / 46 F. Sounds good but little too cold for most recipes, but that's a function of your fridge. If you have a humidity gauge inside the box then you can control how much to crack it open to keep at your target humidity, if no gauge and you have condensation inside your box then your humidity is too high.
Hope helps.
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Yeah thanks i figured as much! Cant sort a cave at mo or specialised fridge.
Requirements are 3 weeks to mature at 10 deg and 85% humidity
Locally currently average day time temps is 12 deg and humidity 75%
Locally currently average night time temps is 17 deg and humidity 75%
Fridge is at 8 degree too low with prob too much condensation. Not sure what the humidity is (I will buy a humidity temp meter).
Could I leave it in the fridge during the day for about 8 hours and take it out at night? Kind of averaging the correct environment? Or is stability very important?
Thanks for all the help btw.
Not sure the cheese is going to survive anyhoo :) as my husband keeps looking at it and saying "3 weeks? Get outta here, it smells like cheese already" (We're making Gouda because of his bad Mature Gouda habit)
And I havent told him yet Mature Gouda takes six months lol
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SalMac
I would go for temperature stability and leave in fridge, even if it means slower aging as colder. Humidity is more important to get right. Without a gauge I would crack the lid until you have minimal-no moisture on walls of your container, that's probably around 85% RH. Also, if you haven't, you should raise the cheese off the bottom so that the bottom can also slowly fry. Many people use some sort of mat (http://www.cheeseforum.org/Making/Mats.htm).
PS: I think you can reduce rind washing and turning to every other day.
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Hey Sal, that cheese looks great, although I had to have a giggle at visions of it flying through the air. I agree with Cheese Head, what a pity you didn't get a pic of that. :D
I originally matured all my cheeses in the fridge, but this year I had another go at my "esky" cave. What I did discover is that the cheeses aged at the colder temps didn't have the flavour that the ones aged at higher temps. But then of course the toss up is, whether you have a cheese at the end of it or a rotten mouldy mess. If you don't have any other option for now, just stick with the fridge, realising that it is not going to aquire quite the flavour it would have otherwise.
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Gouda no 1 at day 7
It smells a little odd but bascically cheesey and has gone a bit yellow.
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Hi Sal
I haven't seen yellow like that before, you sure that it's not some sort of mold and that your humidity box is not too high humidity? If cheese when you take it out is wet to touch then I think it's too humid and you will get molds.
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Yes I think youre right, how do you control mould? Wipe it down?
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Yes, best way is wipe with clean cheesecloth and light brine or with brush if in deep, some people also use vinegar. Good luck ;)!
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Ok its now three weeks and the recipe recommends waxing at this stage. It has finally hardened up and formed a rind. Given its not been at the ideal temp (8 deg max) shall I wait a little longer to wax it or does the fact its got a rind mean its good to go?
Sal
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I think when to wax is more a function of moisture content and time rather than temp and time. Waxing forms a more impermeable layer to long term minimize moisture loss. If you further age the cheese at high humidity levels then the natural rind you have developed without waxing should be good enough. Another more modern option is vacuum bags. If you want to wax then I think it is whether you feel comfortable with the moisture level currently in your cheese, two moist/soft and the cheee may still be trying to expel moisture resulting in mold under the wax. Only you can tell this moisture content. Hope helps . . .
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No, btw great answer. It is too moist still and I understand now what the problem may be if I wax now.
Ive done one of these (gouda) a week now for 5 weeks and i'm beginning to understand what mistakes cause what results. ie inadequate pressing, brining etc Some are rubbery, some dense, some loose. Ive had a great difference in curd yield to the extent on one run I was able to make a second half gouda!
Completely bogged up the one I did today. Jeez youd think a 40 yr old could follow a recipe, well apparently not :-)
Todays gouda didnt go through the 'take off the whey and replace with fresh water' bit. It didnt set properly and I accidentally turned on the wrong ring and it cooked at 40-50 deg instead of 38.... Curds were very small and I used the finest material I could find to sieve it. But got a fair amount of curds in the end.
If it turns into cheese I'll post the bogged up recipe....
Thanks
Sal
PS On my last order to the cheese making supply company I added a draining bag. It turned out to be much more densely woven than standard cheesecloth and has been extremely effective.
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Thanks for the updates on this Sal. I agree it is frustrating to make mistakes, especially when we know what we are supposed to do. Great to hear about the bag too, I have wondered what the advantage of them was. Might look into one myself.
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Finally cut my first gouda.
Six weeks old.
Pretty pleased, a bit too salty but my husband likes it that way.
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If I turn my head it looks very nice ;D, congrats.
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Hi Sal and that cheese looks good. Looking at the colour of the rind. Is that the mouldy one or did you end up waxing?
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Hi Tea
It is the mouldy one but saved it and waxed it by painting, but when we cut it we were both very surprised how thin the wax covering was. I noticed from one of your posts you have a wax warmer and dip? Do you change the wax everytime or just reheat it sufficiently to nuke anything nasty?
CH
Sorry should have photod before eating :-) Might have had a bigger target....
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No I don't reuse the wax, I think you have to heat the wax to dangerously high heat to kill off any nasties.
I just put my wax into an old pot, that I no longer use and has a wide enough mouth to dip the cheese into, heat to 100C or there abouts, and then dip half the cheese at a time, and usually about 2-3 times just to ensure that I have a good covering. I then just let the wax cool in the pot, so that way it is ready for reheating next time.