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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Hard Cheddared (Normally Stacked & Milled) => Topic started by: wharris on March 14, 2009, 09:34:49 PM
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Most of my Cheddar seems to be too acidic. That is ok as i think i know what caused it and I think i can avoid going forward.
But in cutting some of my waxed wheels open, several wheels drained at least 3 tablespoons of whey.
That can't be good.
those wheels were waxed withing 2 days of final pressing.
Anyone else ever see that?
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Yea.
I had cut into a farmhouse that I made in Jan of this year and rewaxed after tasting. I cut into it again today and whey was dripping out of it.
I am sure this is due to my old pressing regimen. After helpful info from the major members of this board, I am using about twice the weight I used to use, due to the size of my mold. I'm guessing that what I was doing before wasn't enough weight to express the whey.
Brian
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So do you think this is a pressing issue, or not enough whey expelled during the "cooking" stage?
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Good question Tea
I am still thinking about it
I really do not think it is a pressing thing.
I think my cooking/milling phases are messed up. I need to re-think it all.
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So what part of the cooking/milling phase do you think that you have messed up?
Do you think that maybe in the long term of aging that this liquid would have been re-absorbed back into the cheese and is maybe part of the aging process?
Just throwing around some thoughts.
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Wayne....
Watching this thread with interest since Cheddar is a new cheese to me.
Any information you can come up with, I would be very interested in since this is one cheese that I would like to perfect.
Dave
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I'm afraid to have another go at Cheddar. I know I need to, but I'm a bit gun shy. My failure ratio is pretty high.
So far, I've lost 6/10 wheels.
My next cheddar effort will concentrate on the acidification at all stages. I think if I tame that beast, the rest of my issues will fall in line. I will also be watching my temperature very closely.
My goal is to ensure that my acid levels reach target leves at the same time that some of my time cook time targets.
- Texture (waaaay too "crumblier")
- Taste (sharp to the point of sour)
- Smell (definately off)
- Feel (some was to wet from trapped whey, <may be a seperate issue>)
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3 TBLSP. Wayne you're lucky. I just refilled my humidifier tonight and the one wheel remember way long ago I had to unwax, redry and rewax? Every few days when I refill the humidifiers I find a puddle of cat sick on the floor. Of course I'm kind of stupid and only tonight after scrubbing for 10 minutes did I put a pan under the alien cheese. I can't belive that much whey is coming out STILL, it's been months.
Anyway, Tea, I think it has to do with lots of reasons, first acidity in the cheese, not sure how this plays a part but I belive it might. Next during the cooking phase most of use, even the ones using PH now, need to be testing the curds to see if they are of the right consistency before moving on to the next step. And finally pressing. If you're not using cheese cloth in the mold and not properly draining the curds before pressing and pressing lightly at first to make sure the majority of the when is removed, then you'll have problems.
Early on when making dry cheese I figured it was too much pressing, but the more I learned dry cheese comes from to high acidity levels, or low PH. Pressing high at first only traps whey in the curds because it plugs up the drain holes instantly. The higher pressing are to remove whey but mainly to compact and knit the curds together creating a uniform shape.
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could the problem be in the cheddaring phase??
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Could be for some but the ones I make are farmhouse cheddars and don't have a cheddaring phase at all.
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I think the problem is set in motion quite a bit before any cheddaring.
I think by the time I am done cooking there is already a problem.
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Wayne...
As you know, I'm not an expert on cheddar, but to me it really looks as if the key to cheddar is hitting the Ph marks every step of the way.
Of course I have a few months to wait to see if my theory is correct, but I was absolutely amazed at how quickly the Ph could change in every stage of the make.
It's funny how most people treat cheddar as one of the best "beginning" cheeses when in reality it's probably one of the most difficult to do correctly.
I know I won't give up on it until I turn out the wheel that I'm looking for.
My hopes are that this will be the first wheel of traditional cheddar that I have aging but I doubt that's really a realistic hope.
Dave
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Cheddar is damn difficult.
I think I need to revamp my process a bit.
I am following the written recipes pretty exact, but I am still having trouble with my Farmhouse being off and a bit sour.
I have never been one to pay attention to Ph, but I think I might start paying more attention until I become more familiar.
so frustrating to work hard and have high hopes only to be crushed as soon as you crack the wax...
Back to the drawing board...or cheese board...haha
Estes
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I read somewhere that the cheedar families are the hardest because they can mess up anywhere in the operation from the cold milk to the final waxing.
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I believe it! I've been trying for 3 days to make 'squeaky cheese' (cheddar curds).... I can't even seem to get the curd right! I keep ending up with something a lot closer to cottage cheese. >:(
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Wayne -
You are tough on yourself. I don't know what your cheeses taste like but if they taste anything like they look I'd be proud of myself. I've have bought cheese in stores with bigger air holes than you have.
Stain -
I made a jack cheese last night that made some awsome squeeky cheese curds. Really simple recipe to I think it's almost the same as posted in the recipe section.