Today I began my first make of Camembert triple creams. So far so good (I think).
Recipe:
1. Made sure all items were present and available
2. Sterilize molds, stirring spoon, knife, 2 gallon pot, draining mats, thermometer tip and small bowl.
3. Heat milk (1 gallon raw milk, 1 cup heavy cream) to 90F.
4. Once 90F is reached add MM100 (1/8 tsp and 1/16 tsp per gallon of each LM57 and MD88 cultures as well as a dash of PC and Geo
5. Allow milk to ripen for approx. 1.5 hours. (maintain 90F temp) Took less time: My records show that I had reached the desired Ph in 50 minutes
6. Add rennet
7. Use flocculation method (small bowl) to determine length of time to allow for curds to develop. Had a short floc time: 10 minutes so using a x5 multiplier, 50 minutes after adding rennet I went to the next step.
8. Ladle curds into molds for draining.
9. Flip the forms 4 times early on (every 2-3 hours) for even whey drainage. Once the cheese begins to settle, flipping should stop. They should drain 24-48 hours, the cheese shrinking to approx. 1/3 of original height. Once there, remove from molds and apply ½ teaspoon salt to top, then flip and get bottom and sides with another ½ tsp ea.
This is where I stand currently...given the time, current Ph, it looks like I will be salting the cheese tomorrow morning
10. Move to the cave. Aging at 48F and 95% humidity.
11. Turn cheese daily until mold growth complete.
12. Reduce temp to 42F…wrap cheese…monitor “feel” of cheese.
13. Hopefully, by 60 days the cheese will be ripened.
They look very nice currently. Didn't experience any problems except I let the heat get away from me and actually heated up to 93F before I caught it...temp at ladling was approx 89F. I did notice that I had very little whey left....percentage-wise I got the largest harvest of curds from a gallon I have ever seen. Total whey was 2-3 cups, including what drained from the cam forms. Only about a cup was left in the pot.