Large Vat Caerphilly

[Kern]

I completed a 6# Caerphilly in my new 8-inch full size steam table vat yesterday.  The recipe was straight out of Caldwell's Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking with only a preplanned change in the cultures.  Caldwell called for MA-4000 and I substituted an equal amount of MA-011 combined with TA-061 in a 2:1 ratio - 3/4 tsp MA-4000 changed to 1/2 tsp MA-011 plus 1/4 tsp TA-061.  Both recipes called for 1/16 tsp of mycodore and I retained that in my batch.  The only issue was that my culture combination dropped the pH much faster than I expected having used the MA-4000 several times in the past for similar cheeses.  This kept me hopping and I finally caught up with the goal pH as the curd was draining in the tilted vat right before salting the broken up curd.  It remains to be seen if the momentum of the pH drop was halted in time to prevent the cheese from becoming too tart.

The deeper pot presented a little challenge in that my curd cutters were designed for the 6-inch vat.  As you can see in the photo below I solved this by using 4 small cable ties to marry the 1/2 and 1 inch cutters together to at least get the horizontal cuts.  The vertical cuts were done with a knife.

Here are the photos and comments:

Caerphilly 2 - Six gallons of Pure Eire vat pasteurized whole milk.
Caerphilly 3 - Warming the milk in hot tap water.  Took ten minutes to go from 38F to 76F saving about 50 minutes verses the vat heating.
Caerphilly 4 - The married curb cutters.
Caerphilly 5 -  The cut curds.
Caerphilly 6 - Cutting the blocks after draining in a tilted vat.  I do the cheddaring in my laundry room heat to about 93F with a little electric heater.
Caerphilly 7 - Broken and salted ready to load the press.
Caerphilly 8 - Pressing in an 8-inch mold.
Caerphilly 9 - Finished 2633 gram cheese after brining into ripening box for rind formation.  Go mycodore, go!   

[qdog1955]

Nice cheese Kern----hope you got the PH in time----I hesitate using the TA-60 series anymore ---for that very reason----when the ph does start to go, it goes really fast----and I'm not always fast enough to keep up. I'll blame it on age.  Let us know how it turns out.
Qdog

[Al Lewis]

Looks great!!  Great knit!! AC4U!!

[Flound]

AC4U!!!

Where did you find an 8" steam pan?

[Kern]

Thanks for the cheeses.  The vat came from Katom Restaurant Supply (https://www.katom.com).  You'll have to search the site.  Mine was a full size about 8 inches deep.

Kern

[Flound]

There should be a manufacturer and model number stamped on it. Any chance of getting that info?

The site shows zero in the way of 8" pans. 300+ units to look through and...nada. Lol

[Danbo]

Very nice! AC4U

[Kern]

There should be a manufacturer and model number stamped on it. Any chance of getting that info?

The site shows zero in the way of 8" pans. 300+ units to look through and...nada. Lol

Here's the link to the 8" pan I bought from Katom:  https://www.katom.com/002-S2008D.html  The actual pan I received was a Polar Ware S2008D.  Polar Ware is located in Wisconsin and has a website.  I Googled "Polar Ware S2008D" and came up with a number of sellers.   

[Flound]

There should be a manufacturer and model number stamped on it. Any chance of getting that info?

The site shows zero in the way of 8" pans. 300+ units to look through and...nada. Lol

Here's the link to the 8" pan I bought from Katom:  https://www.katom.com/002-S2008D.html  The actual pan I received was a Polar Ware S2008D.  Polar Ware is located in Wisconsin and has a website.  I Googled "Polar Ware S2008D" and came up with a number of sellers.   

Full-sized steam pan, the nomenclature used by Katom, lists 297 options, none of which mention 8" or any such descriptor in the list of thumbnails. Nor did using 8", 8 in, 8 inch or eight inch yield any results. A rather annoying factor in Katom's search feature.

Having the manufacturer, Vollrath or Polarware, and the model number is an immense help. Thanks much.

Another C4U. Woot! Three cheers for Kern!

[awakephd]

Kern, based on a number of similar experiences, I've come to the conclusion that TA061 is a potent acidifier, at least in combination with MA011. I wonder if either there is just a pinch in MA4000, or if the ST used in MA4000 is more like the TA050 series -- supposedly a slower acidifier.

[Kern]

Thanks for your input Dr. Awake.  The next time (if indeed the is one) I'll cut the MA-011 and TA-061 in half and/or tweak the ripening period.  I had heard that the combination was pretty good for aging (we shall see!).  The combination of the two in the amounts I used was extremely fast.  It was a continual game of catch up.  But, I got all the steps done and the cheese looks pretty good.  Now waiting for the mycoderm to do its thing.   

[John@PC]

Nice result Kern and another cheese for you for the 6-or-so-pounder.  I used my 8" deep Volrath exclusively (even for 2 gal. makes) until I switched to the 8" deep polycarb because it was easier to install a drain and you can "see-it-all". 

Just be careful though, because if you marry two curd cutters you may end up with more (I hear they like rabbits in that respect ).

[Kern]

One wishes the smaller curd cutters could be selectively bred to produce larger ones!   

[awakephd]

I think it works the other way around -- big (grown up) curd cutters breed little ones ...

[Stinky]

Nummy nummy?