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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => ADJUNCT - Blue Mold (Penicillium roqueforti) Ripened => Topic started by: JeffHamm on November 11, 2013, 04:48:16 AM

Title: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on November 11, 2013, 04:48:16 AM
Hi,

Well, I've been watching so many wonderful blues being made I just had to try again.  I've more or less followed Pav's make, but I added a bit of weight during the draining phase (5 kg) as H-J-K does.  I didn't have time to give it the full 8 hours drain (kids to tend to, etc), but 6.5 hours with the weight I'm hoping will be enough.  I should have started the make a bit earlier, but I mistimed things.

Anyway, I harvested some mould from Mainland Blue Vein (Mainland is a big company here in NZ, but their blue vein cheese is quite good, a bit on the mild side, but that makes it enjoyable for Genesta, who is only 6 but who has a wonderfully diverse palette).  I'm hoping the resulting blue will likewise be acceptable. 

The curds look good.  As long as they hold together when they come out of the mould for smoothing, all should be good.  I'm thinking I might put 2.5 kg on top for a day, just to simulate the sort of weight a full sized stilton would produce on the curds.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll do that.

Anyway, will update as things progress.  Oh, and this is my 70th cheese.

- Jeff

Stilton Approximation modified a bit from Pav (Linuxboy)’s make (Sunday, Nov 10, 2013)

11 L Milk, Budget standard  3.3 g fat/100 ml ; 3.2 g prot/100 ml
300 ml cream (37.0 g f/100 ; 2.2 g prot/100 ml) (total p:f ratio – 0.76:1)
Mold from Mainland Blue Vein cheese.  (1/8th tsp scrapings maybe?)
6 ml Renco rennet
1 ice cubes Buttermilk
1 ice cube MW3
½  tsp 50% CaCl (put in milk before starting)
5.3 – 5.5 tsp Salt. Use around 2 tsp salt per gallon of milk (I used 5 tsp this make)
1 cup Distilled ice cold water, for diluting rennet.

Process
1)   heat milk to 30 C with 2 ice cubes from start
2)   add mould
3)   Ripen 60-90 minutes until pH is 6.45 (time 8:40 –98:14 temp 29.9 – 30.4 C)
4)   Add rennet (diluted in water) (time 8:14:00 floc time 9:31:30 17:30 4x = 70m 00 sec cut time 10:24)
5)   Cut curd into 2.54 cm pieces  heal 5-10 minutes (10:24-10:30 cut, 10:30-10:40 rest  C; 29.5 C)
6)   Stir 30 minutes to prevent matting (10:40 - 11:10 temp 31.3 – ??.? C;)
7)   then stir intermittently for 30 minutes more (11:10 –11:40 temp ??.? – 29.7 C)
8)   drain whey, cover, leave 8 hours or overnight (increase acidity) (left in lined colander on top of a pot, and placed 5 kg weight on top – wasn’t going to have 8 hours, closer to 6)
9)   mill curds into smaller pieces (6:00 pm; a bit short on time; milled to thumbnail sized)
10)   salt at 0.5 tsp/l
11)   pack curds into mould (do not press)
12)   turn mould every 15 minutes for 4 flips (flipped at 6:20, 6:35, 6:50, 7:05 pm)
13)   flip mould every 30 minutes for 4 flips (flipped at 7:35, 8:05, 8:35, ?:??) (missed the 4th flip)
14)   flip mould every hour 2-4 times (flipped at 6:00 am, ??:??, ?:??, ??:??)
15)   Leave in the mould for 4 days to continue draining, flip 1-2 times a day (room temp) (Tuesday, day 2 in the mould, added 2.5 kg weight to emulate weight of full sized cheese.  Can only do this when the open side is up; Wednesday, flipped cheese in mould, and put 2.5 kg weight on to press).
16)   Remove from mould (may show some blue) and smooth (Did this Friday evening.  Lots of blue.  Weight 1402 g).
17)   Place in cave and age 7-10 days
18)   Pierce all over, vertical and horizontally (Pierced Nov 27, 2013; 1294g - rings top/bottom and 5 spot pattern on sides; very creamy)
19)   Pierce after 3-4 weeks (Pierced ??, 2013; )
20)   Pierce again at 4-6 weeks
21)   Age minimum 60 days
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: Boofer on November 11, 2013, 03:03:26 PM
Oh, and this is my 70th cheese.
30 more and you get the Silver Century Cheese Award! :)

Should be good. Watching with interest, Jeff.

-Boofer-
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: H-K-J on November 11, 2013, 03:40:39 PM
Looks real nice Jeff, your curd looks a bit dryer than what mine turns out to be,
with the opening's between the curd, should produce a nice veining in the interior :)
the one thing I haven't done is cut and stir the curd, I will try that on my next one,
I want more interior blue in mine, and as usual, I want to try one or two other tweeks.
Nice job so far, really interested how blue it will be on smoothing day  ^-^
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on November 11, 2013, 05:29:25 PM
Thanks!  It's leaking whey still in the mould, but yes, the curds are dry.  I gave them a good stirring for the hour while listening to Robert Johnson, which I deemed appropriate.  I've flipped it with the open side of the mould up, so I've put 2.5 kg of weight on top of the follower, so the curds may compress ever so slightly.  This is more to ensure that they fuse a bit, so there is enough strength to hold it together during the smoothing and later aging.  My last make had good veining and blue development, but it had ammoniated slightly and was inedible.  This one, we hope, will be better! :)

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on November 13, 2013, 05:53:44 AM
So, it's now 3 days on, and the blue has sprouted through the day.  In the morning, there was not much, now, during the evening flip, the blue has really shown itself.  Smells good.  Still whey on the surface and needs a bit of mopping up each flip.  Will smooth it on Friday, and then it's into the cave.  Fingers crossed.

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: Geodyne on November 13, 2013, 06:24:30 AM
Wow, that is looking lovely. That's a rapid blue!
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on November 13, 2013, 10:26:04 PM
Thanks Geo.  Hopefully it won't get out of control, as slower is better with most cheese related things.

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: Geodyne on November 14, 2013, 12:06:51 AM
I was wondering whether the mainland Blue might be a quick-maturing, quick-to-pass strain. I'll be very interested to see how this will compare to the stiltons made from commercial stilton slurry.
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on November 14, 2013, 12:39:54 AM
I would not be overly surprised if this is a fast growing strain.  I was going to pick up a piece of Stilton, but the store didn't have any (I was in a Pack N Save, and sometimes their selection is a bit limited).   It was a surprisingly nice mild blue though.  I'm hoping this will be ready in about 6 weeks for around Christmas, but we'll see.

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: jwalker on November 14, 2013, 03:06:11 PM
I just put a Stilton in the cave yesterday , it didn't have openings between the curds nearly as big as yours , it smoothed over quite easily , that one could be a bit of a challenge to smooth out.

Mine still had no real blue at 3 days , yours is doing great !

So far all my blues have been good at 6-8 weeks , but my latest Stilton recipe calls for 6 - 15 months , I don't know if I'll let it go that long though.

Be sure to post pics afterwards.
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on November 14, 2013, 06:03:18 PM
Hi,

Yes, smoothing could be tricky.  My first stilton was much like this, and I suspect I could mill smaller to reduce the gaping caverns.  But, the last one smoothed out ok, though not as nicely as some of the ones I've seen here.  The important thing will be to fill in the gaps, not necessarily create a perfect piston.  The mould is really coming full on now, so I'll be smoothing this after work today.  Here it is this morning.  At least there is no question about whether or not I'll get blue mould development! 

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: H-K-J on November 15, 2013, 01:43:36 AM
And that's the way mine used to turn out, since I started to smoothin with a knife, the rind has changed, can't figure that out :-\
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on November 15, 2013, 05:04:27 AM
So, smoothed it today.  Was easier than I recall the first one.  Some bits crumbled off, but pasted back in.  Weighs 1402g after smoothing.  It's now in the cave at around 10 C.  Will flip twice daily, and give it some air during that time.  Will probably only age this around 6 weeks, as my first one ammoniated by 60 days.  That was due to the humidity being too high in the cave I believe, so I'll try and keep a closer eye on things that way.  Fingers crossed.

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: Boofer on November 15, 2013, 03:05:15 PM
So, smoothed it today.  Was easier than I recall the first one.  Some bits crumbled off, but pasted back in.
I guess I was absent from class that day...isn't it supposed to be smoothed before the blue shows up? Seems like the Stilton video showed them doing that while the cheese was still fresh & young.

I can imagine it being more than a challenge to try to get the blued curds to adhere to each other. :o

-Boofer-
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on November 15, 2013, 05:14:37 PM
Hi Boofer,

I think the smoothing usually is before the blue shows up quite this much, but the blue took off so quick that wasn't possible.  It still needed to drain, and the blue was coming on big time.  It wasn't too bad getting it to paste back in, but would have been easier had it just been moist paste.  I think this works in my favour, though, as I want to cut into this earlier rather than later, so well advanced blue may be fine.  Or, it may mean things are out of sync, and be less than it could be ; a sort of anti-army cheese.

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: Boofer on November 18, 2013, 02:16:38 PM
Or, it may mean things are out of sync, and be less than it could be ; a sort of anti-army cheese.
Cute. ;)

All will be fine, I'm sure.

-Boofer-
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: H-K-J on November 18, 2013, 03:26:58 PM
Where as you are ageing for just the six week's it will be young and blue :o
I'll bet this will be fine 8)
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on November 18, 2013, 05:31:26 PM
Thanks guys!  The conditions here are very condusive to fast growing blue mould.  I should use less in the make next time and maybe that will slow it down?  Anyway, as long as the paste isn't too young, I'm hopeful this will end up as a nice one.  Fingers crossed. 

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on November 26, 2013, 05:56:18 PM
Hi,

Pierced this today.  It now weighs in at 1294g.  The paste is very creamy, as can be seen by the extrusions around the piercings.  They taste quite good too.  I think this should be ready in about 3 more weeks, which would only be around a month or so, but my last attempt went too long at 60 days and had ammoniated so this time I'm going for around a month and base the next one on that.  Of course, I get to keep sampling it once cut, so that will also help determine the proper aging times for my conditions and tastes. 

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: H-K-J on November 26, 2013, 06:16:09 PM
Jeff that does look creamy :)
I have had to re-pierce mine, starting to bring on some of the blue taste ;D it will be 6 weeks tomorrow.
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on December 17, 2013, 06:03:04 AM
Repierced this the other day (it was 1168g).  Still very creamy, and has a nice flavour.  Took a picture, but can't find the card reader at the moment, so will post when that surfaces.  This will be ready to cut into quite soon I think. 

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: KTownCheese on December 17, 2013, 01:52:04 PM
were anxiously waiting for pics!
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on December 17, 2013, 05:11:43 PM
One of my children has hidden the card reader!  Will post when it reappears, most likely covered in peanut butter.

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on December 17, 2013, 05:32:37 PM
Found it!  Here it is after repiercing.  Weighs in at 1168g, still very creamy.  Still wet (hence sitting on the paper towel) actually, with a few drops of moisture leaking out of the holes.  Has a nice flavour (at least the bits that oozed out around the skewer).  This is now over a month old, so I think I'll cut into it soon as it is better to catch it too early than too late! 

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: H-K-J on December 17, 2013, 06:00:55 PM
WOW!! thats a scary rind  :o I'll bet it will taste MMMMmmmm guuuuud :P
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on December 17, 2013, 08:35:48 PM
It is a cheese more appropriate for Hallowe'en than Christmas, but one takes what one gets I suppose! :)  The early blue bloom that got smoothed makes it look quite frightening, and also, due to the moisture, it's got some linens in there too.  A very colourful rind has been the final result.  The few tastes I had of the soft paste that smeared out is very promising of good things too come.  I just have to make sure I don't over do it as my first one went south after reaching this point as I over ripened it.

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: jwalker on December 20, 2013, 02:35:39 PM
That is a nice rind , it's funny , if anything else in the house looked like that it would be thrown away instantly , but with cheese , it just gets better.

I can't wait to see it cut and read the review.
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on December 20, 2013, 11:01:21 PM
We're off to visit some friends, so it was time to test this one to see if it is "share worthy".  It weighs in at 1142g, no ammonia smell.  I cut a wedge to test with lunch, and it gets a big thumbs up.  Vanessa really liked it.  Wonderfully smooth creamy paste, very nice and definite blue flavour but not "spicy" or too strong (which suits the target market; i.e. my family!)  It's exactly the sort of profile I was going for, so I'm very chuffed right now.  The linens has introduced some nice tones underneath as well, but they are not so strong as to warp the flavour profile into something confused and trying to be too many things.  Thanks for making this make available Pav! 

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: H-K-J on December 20, 2013, 11:19:24 PM
It looks wonderful :o
A cheese to you MMMMMmmmmmmmm!
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on December 21, 2013, 06:42:05 AM
Thanks H-K-J.  When it warms up to room temp, it is much stronger!  I like it, but it may not have as wide ranging appeal as a milder one. 

- Jeff
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: jwalker on December 21, 2013, 01:48:35 PM
Very nice cheese indeed !!

Great texture , mine always come out more dense and not as crumbly , what am I doing wrong ?

A cheese to you.

Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on December 21, 2013, 06:59:18 PM
Hi jwalker,

This is only my second attempt at a stiltonesque, and my first one I aged way too long and it ammoniated.  Maybe compare the posted procedures from makes that look to have the texture you're aiming for with your own make notes.  See what differs, if anything.
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: hoeklijn on December 22, 2013, 09:56:19 AM
Also a nice one Jeff! A cheese for you in return :)
I think that the fact that mine was taller made the spaces between the curd much smaller and thus reduced the amount of blue. Maybe next time I'll try 2 smaller ones....
Title: Re: My 2nd Stiltonesque
Post by: JeffHamm on February 15, 2014, 09:06:42 PM
Ok, finished the last couple of bites of this one today.  It has gone past its best point (for me) and was getting a bit ammoniated so it had to be finished up before it was inedible.  I'm sure this has to do with not airing it out for the past while.  However, the texture was still very good and creamy.  I've been very pleased with this one.  I think next time I'll cut way back on the amount of blue I add though, as I think getting the mould to develop more slowly would be a good idea.  This one exploded with blue before I had a chance to smooth it, and slower is usually better with cheese.

- Jeff