First try with a Cheshire

[scasnerkay]

An English woman that I volunteer with, proclaimed her favorite cheese to be Cheshire, but she said she cannot find it here in California. So I decided to try to make one for her. I followed the guideline on Cheesemaking.com, which called for an overnight resting of the milled/salted curd, and then a 2 day pressing schedule. If I had pressed right after the milling and salting, I think the knit would have been fine. But it was very difficult to get a satisfactory knit on this one. I finished pressing with 30# hanging on the lever arm of my Sturdy Press, with the pin in the 9x hole. Lots of creaking going on, but it held! I will have to do something about the uneven surface on this one...

[Kern]

I made a nice Cheshire using one of Caldwell's recipes.  I am very leery of recipes that don't use goal pH data and make statements like "press overnight", "press for 12 hours", and otherwise give time guidelines in lieu of pH numbers.  Cheeses are finished when a certain pH has been reached.  Hopefully, one is done pressing by that time.  Otherwise you miss the pH target and make something different than intended.  The beauty of the pH meter is that you know when your make is late (the goal pH occurs before the cheese making is finished).  If this occurs then you simply cut back on the amount of culture the next time around.  This will slow the pH drop relative to time required to make the cheese. 

I think that the problem with your Cheshire is that the curds dried out before being pressed.  Salting would have slowed/stopped the pH drop.  I don't understand why the salted curds would benefit from sitting overnight.  Most of the whey drains in the vat as the curds are manipulated in the "stack".  So, I agree with you, Susan, press the curds right after salting when they are somewhat warm and still have sufficient moisture.

[john H]

hey Kern what make and model PH meter are you using?

Thanks John

[Kern]

I use the Extech PH100.  Costs about $80-$100.  Amazon has it.  Be sure to get some a bottle of pH 4 and pH 7 buffer solution for calibration.  This will measure the pH of both the whey and the drained curds.  Checking curds usually puts some grease (butter fat) on the probe so you need to clean it each time you measure the curds for an accurate reading.  I use dishwashing soap and warm water rinsing well.  I've found that grease can throw the reading off by as much as 0.2 so cleaning is important between readings.

[AnnDee]

Will the PH test strips be sufficient?

[awakephd]

Ann, I've not used them, but general wisdom is that the pH test strips will not be satisfactory. Not only is the reading approximate at best, based on the accuracy of your eye in matching colors, but also, I think you can only test whey, not curds -- and most often the time that it matters is when you have curds with little or no whey. For example, I have an Asiago now, made last night, pressed, finally put in the fridge because pH was dropping so slowly; now back out of the fridge and waiting for the pH to get to 5.3 or so before salting. No whey to test at this point, just the cheese itself.

[AnnDee]

I have that feeling that the strips if off by a little and yes I can only check the whey. I am ordered digital PH meter, I don't know when that will arrive...
Do you think a swimming pool ph meter will work? It has prongs that can be inserted to the cheese.

[Kern]

The difference between two decent pH meters is mostly in the way the tips work (points versus flat, etc.) and in temperature compensation.  The meters we used in my chemistry labs years ago had two glass tubes filled with electrolyte with wires in them.  The tubes were 3/8 inch in diameter and separated by about 1.5 inches.  I am sure that a pool pH meter will work so long as it covers the proper range (4-7) with a large enough scale to differentiate between 5.2 and 5.3, for example.