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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Hard Cheddared (Normally Stacked & Milled) => Topic started by: H-K-J on November 09, 2012, 10:26:28 PM
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I decided to make dthelmers fast ageing cheddar, just so I can cut something soon and have a good chunk, it also looks easy enough that maybe I can make it :-\
FARMHOUSE CHEDDAR
dthelmers Fast ageing
5 gallons of P/H milk
¼ teaspoon MM100
¼ teaspoon TA 61-62 (Streptococcus thermophilus)
3/16 tsp. dry calf rennet (mixed in ¼ cup distilled water)
1 teaspoon of calcium chloride
2 tablespoons of kosher salt
Heat the milk to 76ºF and add MM100
Let ripen to pH 6.4, about 3 hours. It will smell buttery.
Increase temperature to 92ºF and add S. Thermophilus. Let ripen for a half hour.
Sprinkle rennet into mixture by pouring through perforated spoon, stir for 30 seconds, about fifteen up and down strokes with a strainer.
If using the flocculation method, the multiplier is 3. Otherwise, check for a clean break at 30 minutes.
Cut the curd into 3/8” cubes and let rest for 10 minutes.
Heat to 102ºF taking 20 minutes to do it, stirring very gently at first, then more thoroughly as the curd hardens and shrinks.
Target drain is pH 6.0. If you’re not using a pH meter, this is when the curd really wants to mat and feels more solid, like well-cooked scrambled eggs.
Drain through cheese cloth in a colander, lifting, turning and pressing the curd to get whey to flow out.
Gather up the corners of the cheese cloth and put in a mold and press at about 2 psi (light to medium pressure) for one hour. (107 lbs. on 8.25 diameter mold)
Take out of the mold and tear into olive sized pieces. Toss with the salt, and place back in the mold and press at about 3.5 psi (heavy) over night. (187 lbs. on mold)
Let air dry, turning over twice a day for several days until the surface feels like a clammy Handshake, Age in the cheese cave at 55°f, Tastes OK at one week, better at two, better texture at 3.
One question I have is about the weight's in the press do these seem right for this cheese or should I bump them up or bring-em down?
any thought's or changes anyone can suggest?
H-K-J
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Well OKeee ::)
Started a 7:30 this morning, Sterilizing, milk out of the fridge gettin the chill off, setting up my double boiler.
Started heating the milk about 8:40, temp started at 55º F, reached 74º F, at 9:10 and sprinkled the MM 100 on the top let sit till 9:20, stirred in culture temp was 77º F and started the 3 hour wait. Checked the temp about an hour in, it had reached 78º F, took it out of the double boiler and will wait it out till it is time to warm up to 92º F for the TA 61-62 about another hour and a half to go. :)
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We finished it up yesterday, heated to 92º F sprinkled in then stirred to mix the TA and let it ripen for 30 min. added the rennet.
I had one of the fastest flok time's ever, never had one faster than 13 min and no more than 16 min on any cheese, this one was 8 min, I did add just a little more rennet than normal wanted the faster time but surprised me when it went off so quick :o
cut the curd let it rest, started heating it up to 102º F and stirring constantly till it hit target temp drained, slapped it in the press inside a pot that was inside a pot with hot water and wrapped that with a heating pad and towel, pressed at 105 lbs. for one hour, took it out broke it up, tossed with 2 heaping table spoons of pickling salt (as fast as I could, didn't want to loose the heat) back into the mold and pressed at 160 lbs. (3 lbs/sq.in) for two hours, still heating the pot. removed, re-wrapped, back in the heated pot pressed for 4 hours with 240 lbs. (4.5 lbs/sq.in) removed, re-wrapped, flipped, replaced in press, pressed at 375 lbs. (7+ lbs/sq.in) over night :P
At first I was worried about how it was going to knit, not to worry, :D
Being my first try at any cheddar I am happy with the way it went and as usual I had my freak-out time, yet all-in-all I think it went fairly well 8)
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Today makes 5 days of drying the rind/cheese out, should I vacuum bag it now? the rind seems dry.
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I have no advive, have my first cheese just gone in the cave!
But looks good!
Its the heating blanket and all that needed or are you just through?
Deffinatley wanna know how it goes!
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What is happening with the heating wrap and blanket is in a thread Sailor started, explaining why and what for ^-^
just a precaution I was taking to make sure the curd would knit after milling.
Go to this link Sailor explains it better than I can; A New Technique For Pressing Cheddar (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,3221.0.html) :) (Thank you Sailor) It works fantastic. :D
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Well that's an oldie. ;)
Be aware that the additional heat will also accelerate bacteria growth and acid production.
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I pressed with the heat for the first hour then milled the curd as the recipe required and salted as fast as possible so I wouldn't have to much loss of heat.
then pressed in the heated pot for two hours redressed and flipped and pressed again with heat for two more hours then flipped and pressed naked for one hour, then flipped and pressed overnight 14 hours.
It looks good one side has some obvious but very small cracks, like I say it has been drying for 5 days, feels dry,
hopefully the added time in the heated pot didn't do anything bad now I wonder if it is time to vacuum bag and start the ageing process at 50 to 55 deg?
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Personally I would say bag that sucker now! (before it gets too dry). If I dried a cheese here for 5 days it would be closer to a brick than a cheese. lol
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Yes I believe I will, sometime today, it seems to be pretty dry.
Hope I didn't wait to long :o
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Probably not...am pretty sure your humidity is higher than ours is and your cheese is twice the size of the ones I make. Looks really good!
Does the cheese have a little give to it when you press on it with your thumb?
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Yup, it does have a little give to it
bagged it yesterday and off to 55 deg. bed ;D
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Cool! I have a few cheddars in the cave aging...I think I dried the first one or 2 too much before caving them. The latest ones have that little "give" to them.
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I should have added these on the last post ???
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Very nice looking! I have not mastered the smooth knit yet, but I am progressing.
My best knits to date are my gouda and colby...the cheddars are still challenging me. I recently added a cast iron pot to my pressing operation with some success...I heated the pot and then pressed the forms inside the pot, covered with a towel to help maintain the heat.
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I just took my first Gouda out of the press and it as well as my Gruyere both seem to have a good knit, but thats why I am holding off on the cheddar, the extra processing the curd needs before actualy forming a cheese has me wanting some practice and successes to bukild confidence.
The heating pad and opot are a great idea, but my press isnt wide enough, Guess that means back to the wood shop and amp it up a bit! ;)
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The heating pad and opot are a great idea, but my press isnt wide enough, Guess that means back to the wood shop and amp it up a bit! ;)
Yeah, let's build over spec! ...just in case. ;)
-Boofer-
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YUP ;D I am sure glad I had this setup in mind and built for it or I would have been disappointed when it wouldn't fit ::)
The outside pot is the biggest one I have in the house so I just made sure it fit just in-case ^-^
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It has been 5 weeks of ageing for this one, I will have to cut this up tomorrow or Wednesday,
need to get it wrapped and boxed for Christmas gifts and sent out so it gets there on time :D
Of course I will have a few bites to see if it is worth sending wouldn't want to send something no one is going to eat :o
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You're going to need my address then??? LMAO
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Cut up the farm house cheddar and our Caerphilly this one was 5 weeks old.
has a nice flavor although a little dry and crumbly, it has a nice mild cheddar flavor still creamy.
Thinking if left alone for a few more weeks it would have come together with a little more flavor, still a very eatable cheese :D
I think it was just to young, oh well I still have half of it and vacuum bagged it for further ageing.
Very happy with the overall flavor and texture, gonna do this again :)
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It looks good.
I think my next make will be a Caerphilly. I haven't seen it in the shops here.
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I think my next make will be a Caerphilly.
But I think this was the Cheddar....
Wow, 5 weeks is rather young. Patience. Resist the temptation to cut a cheese before its time. Now you have a better idea of what a 5-week-old Cheddar is like. ::)
-Boofer-
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I think my next make will be a Caerphilly.
But I think this was the Cheddar....
-Boofer-
My mistake. :-[
I assumed wrongly based on the 5 week comment.....
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Wow, 5 weeks is rather young. Patience. Resist the temptation to cut a cheese before its time. Now you have a better idea of what a 5-week-old Cheddar is like. ::)
-Boofer-
I know for a normal cheddar it is a little young (DDUUHH by about six months) this recipe was supposed to be the quick ageing one (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,7523.0.html) that is ripe as early as three weeks, I made it just for that reason and that allot of my friends and family don't like very sharp cheeses (wus up wif dat?) ::)
so then the young cheese, some of these people think a medium store bought Tillamook is to sharp, anyway this one will fit the bill for what they like.
I will be making a traditional cheddar soon it will be aged much much longer 8) I do like a cheese that bites back.
back in the eighty's a friend of mine brought back a 15 year old cheddar from Wisconsin from that day on I have been hooked on sharp cheese :P
the only way I will be able to taste that again is buy it, don't know if I will be around that long ??? If you believe the dooms dayers we aint gonna be here tomorrow so what the hec ;)
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I duh'no but this one is quite dry, it's tasty but it is crumbly, havin some on crackers for a little snack,
I need to figure something else to do with it.
isn't to melt-able, maybe turn it into a spread some how, HHHMMmm
any ideas out there ;D
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I did a farmhouse cheddar not too long ago and only aged mine for 4 weeks and like yours it was somewhat dry and crumbly, it had good flavor but I agree with you in that a few more weeks in the cave would only improve the flavor.
Patience is a virtue but I can only take so much, I had to sample it and besides I didn't have much else in the cave at the time.