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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Semi-Hard "Sweet" Washed Curd => Topic started by: Cheese Head on September 19, 2009, 03:59:17 PM
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This is my third Havarti cheese making, records of first posted here (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1874.0.html), second here (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1939.0.html). This one with the addition of Dill Weed (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2131.0.html).
MILK CULTURING- Sep 19, 2009, 11:10AM: Poured six 1 US gallon jugs of store bought pasteurized homogenized Randalls/Safeway Lucerne brand whole cow's milk from store into stockpot on large gas burner ring on stove. Milk reached 6-7/8" out of 11.5" to top of new 10 US gallon/38 liter stockpot vat. Readings 47F/8.3C & 5.67 pH (on my uncalibrated cheap gauge). Started warming slowly on gas setting #3 (stirring occasionally to reduce hot spot on bottom).
- Sep 19, 2009, 11:35AM: Measured 1.5 grams Danisco's Choozit Brand DVI Mesophilic Starter Culture MM100 onto mini digital scale, (roughly 3.5 times manufacturers up to recommendation as mine is now 1 year old). Tapped off onto milk, let rehydrate a few minutes, then stirred with new large slotted ladle.
- Sep 19, 2009, 11:45AM: To give cheese a safety net over it's rind, puffed 4 puffs of Danisco's Choozit Brand Freeze Dried Geotrichum candidum 13 (http://cheeseforum.org/Making/Starter%20Cultures%20-%20Manufacturered%20Products.htm#Choozit_Geotrichum_candidum) into milk, let rehydrate a few minutes, then stirred with new large slotted ladle.
- Sep 19, 2009, 12:00PM: Milk at target 31C/88F, measured pH at 5.79, turned off heat, covered and set aside 30 minutes for culture to ripen.
CURD MAKING
- Sep 19, 2009, 12:30PM: Measurements 31C/88F, 5.78 pH, additives time:
- As milk pasteurized, to standardize - help coagulation, trickled and stirred in 1.5 teaspoon/7.5 ml diluted CaCl2.
- To give cheese the typical Havarti cream colour, diluted 36 drops (6 drops per US gallon) CheeseMaking.com's Annatto food colouring in 1 cup water, trickled and stirred into milk.
- Measured 0.58 gram CHR Hansen Brand powdered rennet onto mini digital scale, diluted in 1 cup cool water in new clean container, not Annatto dilution container, trickled into milk and stirred slowly up and down for 90 seconds. Covered and set aside for curd to set @ 12:40PM, set timer and went for afternoon nap.
- Sep 19, 2009, 1:35PM: OK curd set, wait few more minutes.
- Sep 19, 2009, 1:45PM: Good curd set, cut curd into ~0.4"/10 mm square rods with new long spatula, let rest 10 minutes, then stirred gently intermittently for 15 minutes. Let rest at end for curds to sink. Measurements 88.0F/31.0C, whey pH at 5.71.
CURD WASHING
- Sep 19, 2009, 2:15PM: With sieve and large measuring cup, bailed out whey equal to one third of original milk volume.
- Sep 19, 2009, 2:25PM: Poured boiling water from kettle and cold tap water into bowl to bring up to 130F/54.4C and added to curds until volume of whey replaced and curds-whey-water at slightly higher than target at 102F/39C. Used 1.5 of my kettles of boiled water to hot tap water.
- Sep 19, 2009, 2:30PM: Stirred in 45 grams of salt and then stirred intermittently, gently for 30 min to stop matting, then let curds settle to the bottom of vat for 5 min.
PRESSING
- Sep 19, 2009, 3:15PM: Removed and drained whey until 2 in/5 cm covering over curds, stirred curds hard to break up matting-kniting, drained remaining whey. Curds are consistency of scrambled eggs. Stirred in 2 Tablespoons dried Dill Weed, had to use large perforated ladle to slice up curds and mix in Dill Weed as curds knitting and forming a mat.
- Sep 19, 2009, 3:20PM: Placed drained curds in new 1.5-2.0 kg Kadova mold, will not all fit, placed follower on cheese, pushed down hard to compact, added more curds, repeated, just barely got all 6 US gallons of curds in. Pressed with 10 pound/4.5 kg weight for 10 minutes.
- Sep 19, 2009, 3:35PM: Turned cheese, replaced weight and pressed for another 10 minutes.
- Sep 19, 2009, 3:45PM: Turned cheese, placed cheese in mold on tray on bathroom scales, weight 4.0 kg, placed one end of stepladder onto follower, weight 14.5 kg, thus one end of stepladder is 10.5 kg/23 lb.
- Sep 19, 2009, 4:10PM: Ridge on cheese, turned, replaced 23 lb stepladder weight.
- Sep 19, 2009, 5:00PM: Ridge on cheese, turned, replaced 23 lb stepladder weight.
- Sep 19, 2009, 6:00PM: Ridge on cheese, turned, replaced 23 lb stepladder weight.
- Sep 19, 2009, 7:30PM: Ridge on cheese, turned, replaced 23 lb stepladder weight.
- Sep 19, 2009, 9:20PM: Ridge on cheese, turned, replaced 23 lb stepladder weight.
SALTING
- Sep 19, 2009, 10:00PM: Bulked up used saturated brine from cold household fridge with whey from household fridge to 3.0 US gallons/11.4 liters, added salt to bring brine up to 20% (measured with new salometer (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2081.0.html)), pH at 4.95, temp at 15.0C/59F. Poured brine into picnic cooler on kitchen counter.
- Sep 19, 2009, 10:10PM: Removed cheese from press an Kadova Gouda shaped 1.5-2.0 kg mold after almost 7 hours, slight ridge on cheese (tough to avoid as soft cheese), weighed at 2.75 kg/6.05 lb, placed in 20% brine for overnight bath. Note, assuming cheese has same density as water (wrong but good enough for this estimate, brine to cheese volume ratio = (128*3.0) : (6.05*16) = 3.97:1, ie 4:1. Less than recommended 5:1 (http://cheeseforum.org/Making/Brine%20-%20Using.htm).
- Sep 19, 2009, 11:30PM: Turned cheese so that top floating side gets brined.
- Sep 20, 2009, 5:30AM: Turned cheese after 6 hours overnight with top floating side unexposed to salt.
- Sep 20, 2009, 1:20PM: Removed cheese from brine after 15 hours (2.5 hours per pound of cheese) and placed on mat to dry. Measurements 65F/18C, 5.15 pH, 19% salt, dropped ~1% salt even with 4:1 brine to cheese.
AGING
- Sep 20, 2009: Age 1 day, weighed after brining, 2.685 kg/5.91 pounds, shrunk 2.36% by weight, even with increase in density from absorbed salt. Placed cheese on mat in plastic box with Havarti #2 in cheese cave fridge with lid cracked to control humidity.
- Sep 30, 2009: Age 11 days, turning cheese every ~3 days, nice fine white G candidum mold appearing (picture below), placed on clean mat in clean plastic box with Havarti #2 in cheese cave fridge with lid cracked to control humidity.
- Oct 08, 2009: Age 20 days, turning cheese every ~5 days, heavy fine white G candidum mold and bad blue P roqueforti (picture below), rubbed to remove some of mold and placed back on mat in plastic box with Havarti #2 in cheese cave fridge with lid cracked to control humidity.
- Oct 27, 2009: Age 39 days, cut cheese, hard rind, had to use knife to start cut before using cheese wire to cut rest, rind is not too hard to eat. Pate is firm, too firm for Havarti, flavour is mild as still young, dill amount is visually correct.
- Mar 4, 2010: Age 134 days/4.4 months, this cheese had sadly been very ignored at back of cheese cave unwrapped. Rind was very dry moldy and smelly, cut off rind and surprise a nice looking cheese. Light dill flavour, nice taste, hints of blue from rind, see picture below with texture, note small bluing in top left vacancy.
- Apr 5, 2010: Age 165 days/5.5 months, this cheese had still sadly been very ignored at back of cheese cave unwrapped. Rind was very dry moldy and smelly, scrubbed clean in sink with little water, let dry and cut. Light dill flavour, very nice taste, hints of blue from rind, see picture below with texture.
NOTES
- Need a better larger brine container to bath and store brine in household cold fridge.
- Need to take better care of ny aging cheeses.
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Pictures #1 . . .
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Really nice shape. What kinda mold are you using?
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Man that looks awsome! You did a great job Giovanni! I use a large tupperware bowl and it just fits with one cheese.
I love Havarti but it goes to fast. That's why I split the batch. Luckily it's a fast aging cheese.
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Both, thanks, does look good, so far, aging phase is normally my problem :(.
Sailor, one of my two new Kadova brand (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1959.0.html) 1.5-2.0 kg Gouda shape molds via Debi who had two spare.
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Give it a few days then oil it and vac pack it. Those guys dry up really easy!
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Debi, never did oil or vacuum pack or wax this 5.9 lb cheese and yes it has dried out some. Next time . . .
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I don't know why but it dries out quicker than any other cheese I make if you don't protect it really fast.
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John - in pic#24, your cheese looks quite dry after the immersion in the brine. did you dry this out before taking the photograph ? I followed your instructions for the steps before this but could only use weights till about 16lbs. Did this for 6hrs, flipping the cheese initially every 30mts for the first 2 hours. How dry does it have to be before I put it in the brine ?
Regards
Raol
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Havarti is a very moist cheese but it will dry out really fast if you don't protect it. Salt washes will dry it too. I only air dry it so it's slightly dry to the touch then bag it if possible. I have aged it in the cave alone but it requires a lot of attention. Don't let the mold get to it!
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Oh John what an Awesome looking cheese. So were you please with the final cheese? Would you do this one again?
I keep trying to convince myself that I don't need a Kadova mould, but that pic is wearing down my resolve. :D
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Tea -
One thing about those molds is the time you save. No dressing or redressing, no pre-draining, no need for a collander really the mold has one built in sort of. You can almost elminate cheese cloth except for washing. No wrinkles!
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Thanks for the info Debi. Will definetely keep my eye out for mould.
I got into this with no mat, so using kitchen towels, changed intermittently to keep the cheese on. i dont have a cheese cave atmosphere, but use my home refrigerator for now.
Raol
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Hydro I don't have a cave either, but for the initial aging/humidity etc, I just use an esky with bottles of ice, which I change a couple of times a day. It I need a greater humidity, I just add a container of water.
Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it will suffice.
Once I have the cheese going well, I then transfer into the fridge. HTH
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Tea - thats an interesting idea. Didnt think I could keep it out. Must try this out. not sure if i've done any permanent damage by directly keeping it in the fridge after pressing and 'brining'.
I check after 24hrs, no mould, but still a little wet. Reminds me of the goose that laid the golden eggs - I'm checking on this everyday :D
By the way, whats the least time I should wait for a natural rind to form ? I'm wondering whether there is a range after which I assume its not going to happen and I'll have to dispose the cheese.
Thanks!
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I think Sailor was saying that he waits 4-6 weeks for the rind to harden/yellow, but I would think that times would be different for different cheeses. SOme of the harder cheeses seem to form a rind quickly, and the softer cheese, seem to take a little longer. If I am not happy with how a rind is forming, I have scrapped back, cleaned and washed with a brine solution, and started over again. Probably not preferable, but it will save a cheese.
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The 4 to 6 weeks would be fine for cheddars and other hard cheese but havarti is supposed to be moist and rindless.
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I agree. My 4 to 6 weeks was for most cheeses. There are several cheeses that I air dry for just a couple of days and then vacuum bag. Havarti is definitely one of them.
I believe that Francois pointed out in another thread that he (and his company) often vacuum bag soon after pressing to get a rindless cheese. For us home cheesemakers, the rind can be a huge waste on a small wheel.
I am trying several different approaches. I have cheddar with natural rinds, cheddar that was bagged after aging 4-6 weeks, and cheddar that was vac bagged young. They are all still too young to compare, but my gut feeling is that the ones bagged young will be just as good (and no rind) in the 4 to 6 month range. A 2 year old Parmesan MIGHT be a different story.
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My Havarti is turning translucent on the edges. Is this the rind forming ? made this on Sunday, today is day 4. I notice that the cheese is getting a little thicker in texture, almost rubbery, but with a lovely stringy nature on the inside. Not sure whether this will eventual develop into havarti as long as its edible at the end I'm ok.
Still no mould formation so guess I could hope that something comes of this :)
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Sounds like it is drying really fast. To little humidty. Havarti shouldn't really have a rind per se. It is a soft cheese.
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Debi - thanks for the warning. What i've been doing for the last couple of days is keeping the lid of the container resting on the top, not closed - thats probably whats drying it out. If you say its low humidity, I will move it to a different part of the fridge with an accompanying container of water.
rahul
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Hydro do you have a vacum sealer? I'd seal up that beauty before it dries out to much. Although not usually done on havarti even a rub with olive oil will help seal it some.
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John - in pic#24, your cheese looks quite dry after the immersion in the brine. did you dry this out before taking the photograph ? I followed your instructions for the steps before this but could only use weights till about 16lbs. Did this for 6hrs, flipping the cheese initially every 30mts for the first 2 hours. How dry does it have to be before I put it in the brine ?
Rahul, sorry for being absent from this thread, sounds like you've gotten some great advice. On your questions above:
1) No, I didn't use cloth or paper towel to dry it but it may have been a couple hours after removing from brine that I took that picture.
2) My Havarti is too firm, low moisture content, I think I will use less weights like you next time.
3) How dry before brining? Good question, hard to describe, not very, you are not trying to press all the moisture out of the cheese. You can in futire dehydrate your cheese during aging as sounds like you have done.
Also, I agree that store bought Havarti's are rindless, to be authentic I think you do have to vacuum bag, I just wanted a natural rind. Next time once reasonably dry I will oil the rind to get a humidity and mold barrier as otherwise long term aging will cause a thick rind, especially if small cheese like Sailor says.
Good to hear yours is working out ;D!