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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Semi-Hard "Sweet" Washed Curd => Topic started by: MrsKK on November 18, 2009, 06:39:49 PM
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I made a 5 gallon colby last week and liked the process so much that I made another yesterday.
My problem arises from the fact that it had been over 3 months since I'd last used my press, which is two wooden boards with holes drilled in each corner for wooden dowels. Evidently, the wood warped just a bit and didn't allow for freedom of movement for the top board. So my colby from last week wasn't pressed nearly as well as it should have been. I pressed according to directions, ending up with 50 lbs pressure overnight, but the curd was still not knit very well.
I sanded out the holes for the dowels some more, then pressed the cheese for another 8 hours at 60 lbs, at which point the curd looked well knit. However, it has been out of the press for 8 days now and still gets wet on the bottom. I am turning it every day.
I'm thinking that not enough whey got pressed out - will this cheese ever dry out enough to coat (I'm planning on a lard coating for aging) or should I just eat it as a new cheese? I expect it will be quite bland.
Any advice/input is appreciated.
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Seems like you drained the whey while the curds were still too moist, making for a more moist cheese. If there's too much moisture, it will not age well beyond 60 days because proteolysis will be too fast. It will be bitter and sour/crumbly. How much salt did you use? I'd target a 2.5%-3% to try and slow down proteolysis and keep bitterness down.
I'd salt the rind and keep drying it out until there's no whey seepage, then wrap in a plastic wrap and age at 55F for 4-6 weeks. It's a middle ground between tasteless young cheese and overaged, too moist cheese.
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Thanks for the input, Linux. I have started to salt the rind and it seems to have slowed down the seepage.
It really isn't seeping a lot, just that the bottom has been really moist when I turn it, so maybe not all is lost. This recipe recommends aging for 1-2 months.
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Mrskk, I have had the same problem with colby. It took forever to dry out and when I cut into it, it looked like swiss on the inside. And it had plentyyyy of pressure! I am going to try again now that I have a ph meter and see if maybe I have been making some kind of mistake with my process. I wound up not being able to wax mine; I just cut it and vacuum sealed it.
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So how did your's taste, JD? I don't care if it is open/holey, just so long as it has good flavor.
I don't wax cheeses anymore anyway, so I'm just planning on coating it with lard for the ageing.
In all honesty, I will probably never buy a pH meter or even test strips. This is a hobby for me and I'll live with my results!
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In all honesty, I will probably never buy a pH meter or even test strips. This is a hobby for me and I'll live with my results!
I liked that alot.
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I may get different opinions here but I find colby more likely to have openess in the curd than cheddar when pressed.
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I went ahead last night and opened this cheese (6 days before a full month) because the seal was compromised and I was going reseal it. Wow! I was very shocked. It tasted great except that I added too much salt. The texture was exactly right. My daughter gave it the ultimate compliment: "Dad this is good, it almost tastes like real cheese." :)
I did press in it the 12 inch hoop which doesn't get as much pressure as the 10 inch hoop but I think Debi is right about open texture because this is twice this has happened.
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My daughter gave it the ultimate compliment: "Dad this is good, it almost tastes like real cheese." :)
Kids can be are best and worst critics! ;D
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I'm glad to hear that you had good results in just under a month, JD, as my first Colby will be about 6-7 weeks "old" just in time for giving for Christmas. I have one friend in particular who has been asking me to learn how to make Colby ever since I started tinkering around with cheesemaking. She's been waiting almost two years now...not sure why I haven't tried this one before.
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I like Colby with pickled jalapenos ... yummmm!
but then I like almost everything with pickled jalapenos! ;)
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I finally larded the wet Colby early this week, two weeks after making it. I also larded the second Colby. It dried in a more predictable manner than the first one did. I'm really eager to taste them, but will wait a couple of weeks yet to sample the first one.
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Good luck Karen. Colby is a little wetter than cheddar it will be fine!
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Karen,
What did you do differant this time that allowed it to dry more predictably?
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My cheese press was operating properly!
The press is made of two hardwood boards that slide on dowels in each corner. I hadn't used it for several months and I think it was warped. As a result, the top board didn't move freely, so the cheese wasn't pressed properly at first. I did sand out the holes and pressed it some more, but I don't think it was enough.
The second cheese was at least an inch shorter when it was done pressing than the first one was.
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Karen maybe you could replace the siding board with a cheap cuttting board from the dollar store - they don't warp.
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The situation's been taken care of. From now on I will check that it is free moving before walking away.
I really like my set-up, as these are 1 inch thick (true measurement) oak. If my grandson ever decides to become a cheesemaker, he could probably use it someday when I'm no longer making cheese.
Yeah, right. When they pry it from my cold, dead fingers!
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That would be a nice thing to hand down someday.
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I like the thought of teaching my grandson my homesteading skills such as milking a cow and making cheese from her milk. He is just 3 1/2 and hasn't had a chance to visit Grandma's farm yet, though, living so far away.
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Those are skills he's going to need someday to survive IMHO. You teach him all you know Karen and he will do fine!
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I'm big on survival skills. Never know when you'll need them.
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My kind of Gal! I am too (probably could tell huh?)! :D
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Oh, just a little bit, Debi!
My latest venture will be candlemaking. I've got access to all kinds of free beef tallow - I just have to render it. This week's experiment will be adding a bit of carnauba wax (just because I have some) to see if it helps stablize the tallow. If I don't have to buy beeswax for this, it would be all the better.
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MrsK, let us know how you find the tallow candles. I was threatening to make some here some time back, but as I had just rendered down a heap for soap making, the family just about had a fit at the thought of more rendering. Have made bees wax candle a number of times, but the tallow interests me. Maybe a little olive oil, might soften it a bit too.
On the Grandson thought, I was punching down the cap on a mead the other day, and my GD who is two wanted to have a look and help. So I showed her what I was doing, and of course she wanted to take over, so I let her stir. Well next day my youngest son wants to get in the action too. Can't miss out on all the fun. Well Lydia would have none of him helping, gripping the stirrer while pushing John out of the way, she yells at him, "I make. I make, not you!" lol
Not sure what she is going to do when she find out she can't have any. ::)
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"Not sure what she is going to do when she find out she can't have any. "
I love it!
The year my grandson was born, I made a couple of batches of raspberry-rhubarb wine. It turned out pretty good, so I have a jar set aside with a label: "Connor's wine. Only to be opened after August 1, 2027 and has to be shared with Grandma."
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Karen I don't know know where you'd find it but back in the mid 1970's ... 75? 76? Fall sometime Mother Earth News had a great spread on candle making. don't know if they keep achives or whatever they do but maybe they can direct you to it.
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Thanks for the tip, Debi. I know someone on the KFC forum just recently posted an article on house cow ownership that had been published by MEN in the mid-seventies, so I will go out to their website and see if I can search for candlemaking.
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I just cut into my Colby from 11/09/09, and am pleased with the results so far.
It has holes in it like FarmerJD's pictures of his Colby, so I'm thinking that might be fairly normal in a Colby, especially at such a young age (six days short of a month).
The curd is not wet, nor is it acidic. I did try just a bit of it to see what I thought, but will now let it breathe for an hour to be able to appreciate it's true flavor.
Most of the wheel will be re-larded and put back into the cabinet to age some more.
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Karen I would love to see pics of the larding process sometime.
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Nothing special, JD. I just use a spatula to put a coat of lard on the wheel of cheese once it has dried.
As mine are six inches wide, I put them on a paper plate, then have another one on top of the cheese so I can flip them over without getting lard all over my hands.
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I almost larded the last one, but I chickened out at the last minute for fear of the messiness. I guess the paper plate thing would work but would Styrofoam palates be better since the paper will absorb the grease? And do you buy your lard or is it home rendered?
By the way, the new format on the site is kind of hard to get used to. I like it but I am nostalgic. Where are the smileys?
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I use home rendered lard because I always have a good supply of it. In fact, that's why I got into soapmaking originally.
Because the lard soaks into the paper plates a bit, the cheese doesn't slide around on the plate, as I imagine it would with a styrofoam plate.
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I just tried the second batch of colby again - Wow! Just under two months old, it has really good flavor. I sent a big chunk of it to South Carolina in a care package to my son and his family for Christmas.
I really think this is the cheese I want to be making. It has good flavor, is moist yet not wet, and has a good firmness to it. I brought some into work with me last night and had a midnight snack of cheese and crackers.
I also brought in some cheese from another experiment I tried. It is a pressed cheese that starts out just like a cultured (yogurt) mozzerella. Rinse the curds in cool water, then pressed at gradually increasing weights, ending up with 120 lbs for 12 hours. It is a moist, slightly crumbly cheese with a lot of flavor.
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Congrats on the colby Karen! Have you posted this other experimental cheese somewhere? It sounds interesting but I am not recalling the process. Could just be one of my brain farts ... :-\
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Good show with the Colby, Karen. What recipe did you follow for it? I'm specifically interested in your ripening time.
-Boofer-
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Debi and Boofer, I'll have to bring my log book up from the milk room and post specifics for you.
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That would be greatly approeciated Karen. Alway nice to learn to tricks.