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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => ADJUNCT - Rennet Surface White Mold (Penicillium candidum) Ripened => Topic started by: stepb on September 29, 2012, 04:47:44 AM

Title: Cream ratio in Triple Cream Brie
Post by: stepb on September 29, 2012, 04:47:44 AM
What is the highest ratio of cream you can add to your milk before you begin getting problems?

Last week I made my second attempt at Triple Cream Brie. The first attempt 12 weeks ago turned out marvelous using a ratio of 200ml of cream to 1 ltr of milk (from the neighbour's house cow). Admittedly there was also plenty of natural cream in the milk.

Last week's batch I used the same ratio, but there wasn't as much natural cream in the milk. However now that it is in the 'cave', I am finding that the cheese has spread / slumped.

I also introduced a new step in the latest batch where I allowed the milk to rest for 40 minutes after adding the culture. The culture came from my mother culture not a direct set. Has this caused over acidity in the cheese and as a result caused my cheese to slump and perhaps be more runny come full  maturation time?

Title: Re: Cream ratio in Triple Cream Brie
Post by: bbracken677 on September 29, 2012, 07:14:48 PM
I doubt the extra cream caused the slumping. More likely just too much water retained (not enough draining) in the cheese. Did the curds shrink down to about 1/3 their original height after ladling them into your forms??  Actually, I believe that over acidification would result in drier curds rather than wetter. Perhaps, since you changed the inoculation step, the curds were under-acidified?

Title: Re: Cream ratio in Triple Cream Brie
Post by: stepb on September 30, 2012, 02:13:24 AM
Thanks for your reply.

No the curds ended up being still over 1/2 the height of the forms I used. So maybe it was a case of insufficient drainage. WOuld this mean I will end up with a cheese that is "runnier" early on in the ripening process?
Title: Re: Cream ratio in Triple Cream Brie
Post by: bbracken677 on September 30, 2012, 04:23:32 PM
I am thinking that your curds may have been under-acidic...which may mean that they will take longer to ripen than normal. There are also issues (which some know much more than I do) which can arise as a result of having too much water left in the curds in relation to the action / result of the ripening from the pc/geo growth.

All I can say is give it a shot...your brie may work out fine just taking longer to ripen. I would suggest, as was suggested to me, to reduce your aging temp to around 41-43F and the RH to 85-90% once you have full pc coverage....then just keep an eye on them as you turn and brush back (I just used my fingers) the pc growth. Let the cheese tell you when it is ripe as opposed to the standard ripening period.

Oh..and the additional cream will result in a longer aging time as well.  My triple cream cams are approaching the end of their 2nd month...they are ripening, just slowly.