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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Semi-Hard "Sweet" Washed Curd => Topic started by: bbracken677 on August 23, 2012, 07:44:41 PM

Title: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 23, 2012, 07:44:41 PM
This is my first butterkase make. I am using (for the most part) Mary's take on Boofer's Butterkase recipe...of course I have to add my own little spin: Since I don't have FD (LL,LLC,LLD,LMC) , I will be using C101(LLC,LL) + LM 57(LM) + MD 89(LLD).  I am not sure how the proportionality will work out compared to FD.
For the Thermophilic in her recipe, I will be using Yogurt.
Otherwise, it should be pretty much the same. Hoping for similar results, since her butterkase looked so yummy! 


                                             Butterkase – 1st Make

1.   Sterilize all pots, tools and utensils
2.   Heat 2 gallons raw whole milk with 1 cup cream to 102F (pH before heating:6.7 cold) 
3.   Once 102F is reached add C101 and 1/8th tsp LM57 and MD89 along with 3 tablespoons yogurt (40 min innoc time depending on pH)(mixed yogurt with a 1/2 cup and 1/2 cup milk to reduce the lumpiness of it all)
4.   Once pH drops .1 add rennet  ½ tsp diluted in water (non-chlorinated, sterilized)
5.   Wait for floc, use x5 multiplier (my floc time was short...5 min x 5 = 25)
6.   Cut curds into 1 ½ inch pieces vertical cut only
7.   Let rest 10 minutes (maintaining heat)
8.   Cut curds into ¾ inch pieces…vertical and horizontal (my curd cutting skills are lacking...while stirring I stirred up some rather large chunks that I cut up with the spoon)
9.   Let rest 5 minutes
10.   Stir 20 minutes (first 5-7 minutes are “jiggling” not actually stirring)
11.   Let settle 15 minutes
12.   Remove whey to level of curds
13.   Pour in water (170-180F) to raise temp of curds to 108 using the 2 degree rule: raise temp no more than 2 degrees every 5 min …temper hot water with room temp water to achieve the results.
14.   Keep stirring the whole time temp is being raised.
15.   Let settle for 15 minutes
16.   Pour off whey and smoosh the curds down a bit in the pot to remove more whey to drain off (or: drain in a cheese cloth colander)
17.   Pile curds into hoop (mold)
18.   Press with 10lbs for 30 min.
19.   Flip, redress, press with 18 ½ lbs for 6 hours or more
20.   Into brine solution (16%) for 6 hours
21.   Air dry till nice and dry without cracking.

Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: JeffHamm on August 23, 2012, 08:01:35 PM
OOoooo!  Looks good.  Make sure you include a photo once it's out of the press, and when you finally cut and taste it.  A cheese for your first Butterkase!

- Jeff
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 23, 2012, 08:06:16 PM
Thanks! I certainly will!  I will actually wind up with 2 small cylinders from this make...I hope holding the 2nd half in the cooled whey will work...should I refrigerate it while it awaits pressing?
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 23, 2012, 08:37:01 PM
Actually...I decided it might be best to stagger pressings...stage 1 on the first, then a partial stage 2, followed quickly by stage 1 on the 2nd with additional weight since the curds seem a bit more "developed" as they waited their turn.  Will complete stage 1 on the 2nd cheese and will do a partial stage 2, followed by a complete stage 2 on 1st cheese, finishing up with a complete stage 2 on cheese 2...   whew...say that 3 times really fast!

btw...ignore that beer bottle in the last picture....beer? what beer?   lol
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 24, 2012, 01:18:36 AM
Whew!  Next time I will make sure I have the proper size molds. Cycling 2 molds thru and trying to figure out the best way to approach the issue wasnt fun. I suspect I still have too much moisture left in the cheeses. In the photo below I already see some bulging.  Otherwise, they look like they will be cheese. haha

Everything went well, (up to pressing) except my floc time was short again using the recommended dosage of rennet....will have to reduce the dose next make.

Since I was cycling 2 molds in and out of the press, I decided to increase the weight from 18.5 lbs to almost 40, and shortened their stay so I could get both of them (supposedly) finished. I fear that I will regret that since it appears that there is more moisture left than would be desired.

I have put them back in their molds for further pressing....they still have whey to shed, apparently.



Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: Boofer on August 24, 2012, 05:28:33 AM
Yeoww! I got a crook in my neck looking at the pics. How about next time doing a 90 degree turn so they're straight with the world?

Yeah, I hadn't seen the beer bottle until you pointed it out. But there it was...lurking in the shadows. Cheesemaking lubrication, huh?

Why couldn't you press both cheeses at the same time?

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 24, 2012, 12:01:38 PM

Why couldn't you press both cheeses at the same time?

-Boofer-


Umm...because I didnt think about it until about 10 PM...so I put them both on. Funny how that thought came to me just as I was dozing off.  The thought of stacking them didn't cross my mind at all until then.

They are resting in brine right now...will take a picture and post when they come out.

I will do the 90 degree thing, soon as I figure out how to do it  LOL
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: Boofer on August 24, 2012, 01:10:32 PM
I will do the 90 degree thing, soon as I figure out how to do it  LOL
If your current software can't handle it, here's some free, open-source software that can. It's "Paint.NET (http://download.cnet.com/Paint-NET/3000-2192_4-10338146.html)".

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 24, 2012, 01:27:14 PM
Ha!  All I had to do was right click the pictures in the directory and choose clockwise or counter clockwise!   

So now I have triplets in the aging cave and twins soon to join them   haha

I really feel good about this make. I like the texture I am already seeing and the smell is very nice, and since re-pressing they are looking prettier! 


Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 24, 2012, 03:29:06 PM
Here is a pic of one of the "boys" ...first one out of the brine

Funny thing, in the pic he looks white as milk, but actually has a slight yellowish look.

Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: Sailor Con Queso on August 24, 2012, 04:32:26 PM
Classic Butterkase uses just a thermo culture so heating to 102F is perfect. However, several people on the Forum have been adding Mesos to the mix. That's fine, but if you want much effect, 102F is too warm for the initial addition of Meso starter. That is near the upper level of it's temperature range and will seriously slow the bacteria down in the critical early stages of reproduction and acid production. 104F is a critical point where some Mesos will start to die. So if you are starting at 102F and then cooking even higher, the Mesos are not going to reproduce very much and there may not be much point in using them.

Every strain of bacteria has a range and a sweet spot and you can use that to control growth and acid production during a make. With a Meso, the sweet spot is going to be in the mid 80s say 85F to 88F. It's a bit paradoxical, but as you heat the milk, the bacteria will actually begin to slow down. When you get to 102F, much of the reproduction and acid production will be at a snail's pace.

When doing meso/thermo blends you need to give the meso time to do their thing before pumping things up to thermo range. Yes, the mesos will still die off during higher cooking temps, but the bacteria will release enzymes that are important for long term aging.
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 24, 2012, 05:00:19 PM
For this make then, would it be appropriate to add the mesos at, say, 80F? Then while the milk slowly warms up to 102 they will have a chance to work?
I considered doing that....I was afraid of what that might do to the pH curve...was afraid that the pH would start to drop before reaching 102F...
Question 2 would be: if we did add at 80F and then slowly warmed to 102, would it cause problems if you didnt rennet until a .2 or .3 drop in pH?
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: JeffHamm on August 24, 2012, 05:53:41 PM
Hi bbracken677,

I just warm to 35C, which is 95 F, and then ripen 40 minutes at that temperature.  After ripening, which gives the mesos time to grow and such, then raise the temperature to 104 (in your case) and go from there.  You might even want to ripen at 80 or 85, and then bring up the tempertures for later.  My next butterkase make, I'll probably ripen at 32, and let it go for an hour or even 90 minutes, as I'm pretty sure much of the meso's are history once the temperature is raised to 42.  I'll go for the 5x floc too. 

- Jeff
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 24, 2012, 06:09:27 PM
Yeah...that sounds like a good approach. I can say that I can smell the buttery mesos in the most recent batch, so they didnt all die.

I did notice that once reaching 102, adding the thermo and mesos that it was almost 40 minutes exactly to rennet based on pH drop. As I recall my last butterkase consumption, there shouldnt be much acidity so sticking as close to the normal pH curve as possible would seem best.
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: Sailor Con Queso on August 24, 2012, 06:21:49 PM
Rennet pH is very important and you cannot alter that just to allow the Mesos time to grow. I know this is simplistic, and although it may not be exactly technically correct, I look at it this way. When you add rennet you start trapping everything in the primordial cheese soup into the curd matrix. That means a certain quantity of bacteria and a certain level of acidity becomes a permanent (but ongoing) part of the curd. Once the curd is cut, there are internal and external forces and processes that continue to evolve. BUT you have established a starting point for what is actually IN the curd matrix and not in the whey. So if you add rennet when the pH is too low, you end up trapping more bacteria and more acid in the curd. This in turn effects calcium bonds, texture, etc, etc.

So, what to do. There are a couple of choices. 1 - add the meso early so it can activate and reproduce (for a while) at an optimal level. 2- you can lower your initial temperature to something more favorable for meso growth. The catch is that the lower temperature is not the sweet spot for thermos. When I do meso blends, I typically add mother culture to cold milk then add the thermos later. Bacteria double their population every 20 minutes, so by the time it is up to higher starting temps, the mesos will have increased significantly. You can also add more meso to start with to boost things, and while that may be a tempting solution, don't get carried away. Thermos, especially from dry culture, are generally much slower to begin acidifying, so the mesos can contribute significantly.

There are tons of trade offs when you make choices like these and what you do ultimately defines YOUR cheese. So you do things a certain way and if you like the results, do it that way again. ;)
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: JeffHamm on August 24, 2012, 07:27:00 PM
Thanks Sailor.  Yes, there are so many things to take into account.  I'm playing with the ripening time in my recent batches to see how things change as a result.  Whether what works for me with my set up (frozen ice cubes of starter ; homognized/pasturized milk ; etc) will translate well to someone elses situation is hard to predict.  Unfortunately, with pH meters running well over $300 here, I'm not likely to get one soon, so I can't be sure where in the pH curve I am at any point.  I have to experiment to see what effect that has on the end result.  But, I do take into account the advice from those more experienced than I am when I start to tweak things.

- Jeff
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: Shazah on August 24, 2012, 09:34:00 PM
Whether what works for me with my set up (frozen ice cubes of starter ; homognized/pasturized milk ; etc) will translate well to someone elses situation is hard to predict.  Unfortunately, with pH meters running well over $300 here

Hi Jeff

I'm not sure if you know but our Farmhouse brand (purple label, silver top) is non-homogenised.  It's slightly more expensive, but I often get it on special at Pak'N Save.
I also purchased a small pack of PH strips from our local brew shop for $5.00.  I haven't used them yet, and I can see they won't give as precise a reading as a PH Metre but will be better than nothing for my first experiment (and Yoav didn't scream No, No, No when I told him I was going to use them)... phew that was a relief  >:D

Cheers
Sharon
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: Sailor Con Queso on August 24, 2012, 09:41:31 PM
I do have to add, when using Mother Cultures, even from frozen cubes, these are not as big an issue. The bacteria are already rehydrated and ready to go. So, it doesn't take long for early mesos to kick in.
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: JeffHamm on August 25, 2012, 04:11:17 AM
Hi Shazah,

Yes, the silver top is very good for cheesemaking.  I've used it a few times.  It's higher fat content as well.  I've found Home Brand Standard works fine as well, although it is homongenised. 

Hi Sailor,

So is the issue with the dry culture just mostly getting the time for it to get going?  With cubes, etc, wouldn't ripening time still affect where you are on the acidity curve because the cultures are still mutlipliying over time, etc.?  Or is it that since the mother cultures just get to work, they tend to produce enough meso culture even in a short time?

- Jeff
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 30, 2012, 05:19:41 PM
A picture of the "boys"...

So far, so good. I take them out for some air, brine wash and room temp for a couple hours every couple of days or so. They are looking good, nice dry rind and delicious aroma so far.

Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 30, 2012, 09:00:40 PM
Classic Butterkase uses just a thermo culture so heating to 102F is perfect. However, several people on the Forum have been adding Mesos to the mix. That's fine, but if you want much effect, 102F is too warm for the initial addition of Meso starter.

I think I will try another make soon and use just thermo....is there a recommended one?

I have ALP D and Choozit SU Casu (Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis, Lactobacillus helveticus)...Would one be more appropriate than the other?

Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: Sailor Con Queso on August 30, 2012, 09:37:05 PM
Thermos are generally not used as a single culture solution. The classic combination is Streptococcus thermophilus (like TA-61), which is the primary acidifier, and  something like LH-100 with Lactobacillus helveticus and Lactobacillus lactis. These two complete the lactose conversion. I have not used Su Casu but it does contain what you need. However, the ratios of the 2 sets of bacteria can have a big effect on flavor and texture. For example, I use a 50/50 blend of TA-61 and LH-100 with Swiss and a 20/80 blend with Parmesan. With a one packet multi species culture, you don't have the ability to change the ratio.
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on August 30, 2012, 09:41:36 PM
Thanks Sailor!  You have given me much to consider. I think I may try a small make with the Choozit CASU and see how it compares with the previous make once ripened.

Looking for the right texture and that buttery, creamy taste!   

Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on September 10, 2012, 05:01:21 PM
Question: I noticed that with swiss cheeses you apparently (after about 10 days) remove them from the cave (once the rind has formed) and let them age at room temp for about another 10 days to form the eyes.
Is this something that would be done with a butterkase? I didn't see anything about that in the recipe notes.
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: Sailor Con Queso on September 10, 2012, 05:04:56 PM
With Swiss, the room temp period is to activate the Propionic shermanii. That produces CO2 to form eyes, and it produces propionic acid which contributes to the Swiss flavor. There would be no reason to do room temp for Butterkase.
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on September 10, 2012, 05:07:30 PM
I put LM57 in it...which produces some CO2, and the butterkase I have eaten had small eye formations in them.
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: Sailor Con Queso on September 10, 2012, 07:21:04 PM
Propionic shermanii needs room temp to activate. The Leuc m. cremoris in LM57 does not.
Title: Re: Butterkase #1
Post by: bbracken677 on September 10, 2012, 07:22:13 PM
ahh...ok Thanks!