Cheddar recipe (adapted from a professional source)

[bbracken677]

I made a change to the above procedure: Step 9.  I removed the slicing of the curd mass into slices. In a professional artisan cheddar make, the batches are much larger than my 2 gallon make...their cheddar blocks are at least as large as my entire curd mass or larger.
It makes no sense for me to slice mine up into 1/2 or 1 inch slices...if I want to duplicate their make as much as possible then I should treat my entire curd mass as though it is a single one of their blocks.
Hence I will create a single curd mass and then turn it in the pot (pouring out expelled whey as needed) until it reaches the appropriate pH, at which time I will mill the mass (or as close as I can come).

[Tomer1]

Well... It depends on the moisture content you aiming for.   Your method will exert less moisture from the curds during cheddaring.

[bbracken677]

Seems like it would result in exactly the same moisture being drained as an artisan cheesemaker with a 100 gallon make who cuts his curd into 2 or 3 pound bricks, no?

If you stop and think about it, the pro doesn't cheddar with 1" slices of curd mass...so if we do with a 2 lb make, then we will be expelling considerably more moisture per pound.

[Hovard]

bbracken677, thank you for your recipe.

Step 13

13. Press overnight at 75 kPa (10 - 20 lbs/in2). Start with low pressure and gradually increase to 75 kPa.

Can you explain real pressure in your press? Because 10lbs/in2 equal 68kPa, but 20lbs/in2 is around 137kPa.

[bbracken677]

Those are not my conversion/numbers...I left those alone from the original notes. I cannot reach 20 psi on my press, so I settle for 10 psi.
Good point, in all honesty I didn't consider the metric side or how the conversion might compare...

[Al Lewis]

Could you just use the CH-19 culture instead?

[bbracken677]

Sure! I listed MM100 or Kazu because that is what I have that fit. They actually just used a single strain meso.

[Jabber]

The way they stack blocks during cheddaring is equivalent to a light pressing or thats how i interpreted the video's I watched.  When I do my three gallon batches I don't cut and stack as it doesn't seem practical given the amount of curd.  But I do lightly press my curd with 3-5 lbs and flip a few times to try to mimic block stacking and restacking. 

[bbracken677]

Makes sense....that is why I also do not cut and stack...I just flip the curd mass periodically.
Pressing lightly does make some sense however. I may just include that in my process for my next make.

[JeffHamm]

I think one of the differences, though, is that commercial makes end up with huge cheeses, while we're working with 1 - 2 kilo end products.  The slices may be more suitable for small makes, while when working on a larger scale the slabs need to be bigger as well (due to the final target size).  Will be interesting to hear how things turn out.  Do you have a "sliced" version for comparison?  Looking forward to the results.

- Jeff

[bbracken677]

I don't for this particular recipe. I do have a couple of previously made cheddars in the cave though, where I did slice the mass, stack and flip.
They turned out drier....but no taste test or formal opening ceremony yet...they are all aging nicely.
I expect to open one in a few months when it hits 6 months. Until then it's all guess and feel....

My thoughts on the subject are fairly simple...since they slice and flip larger masses, in order to match moisture levels I would have to go with a larger curd mass....even though their final cheeses are much bigger, the avg moisture level should be similar (I would think anyway). If I were to slice the mass into smaller slices that are less than 1/10th the size of theirs my cheese would be losing much more moisture and the end product would be much drier.

[Jabber]

...If I were to slice the mass into smaller slices that are less than 1/10th the size of theirs my cheese would be losing much more moisture and the end product would be much drier.

That was my thought also.  If I were to try to cut my curd I'd end up with a bunch of tiny slabs a fraction of the size of their slabs leading to excess moisture loss (and a PITA to handle).  As it was I needed over 10 psi to get a good knit.  Maybe could have gotten away with a little less if I'd used more warmth during pressing.  I just don't think 5 psi would have been enough regardless.  Sailor what temp do you press at?  Are you making a fairly moist cheddar? 

[Al Lewis]

I use a little Aroma B in my Wensleydales for example to make them a little sweeter that my other cheddars.

Any chance of getting a recipe for those?