Welcome to your new cave family dear butter cheese

[Danbo]

I've just put a new butter cheese in the brine...

The 24 liter / 6.3 gal make went as planned except that the curd was probably too soft when I started the pressing.

We'll see how it turns out...

I added a little Geo. According to a recipe from Cheesemaking.com it should help the rind to dry and be easier to maintain.

I made a mini cheese to be able to measure PH while the real cheese was in the press.

The new butter cheese will be joining 3 goudas already in the cave.

I'm planning to age it for 1 month. My earlier butter cheeses was fine after only a month.

:-) Danbo

Ps.: Sorry that the last images are not rotated correctly.

[AeonSam]

Really nice set up Danbo. I'm jealous!

Sam

[AnnDee]

Great looking cheese and cave, Danbo. I'm glad the new PH meter is working out well.

[Danbo]

Thank you both. :-)

I've just turned the cheese in the brine. It's the middle of the night here (why is it that I don't plan my makes a little better?)...

Well... The cheese probably will turn out a bit strange... it has small pockets of whey just under the skin. I haven't tried that before but I'm sure that I drained the curd too early. It simply was not ready when I drained.

Lesson learned...

:-) Danbo

[AnnDee]

Or maybe you press it with too much weight too soon?

[Danbo]

That was not the case... I started real slow and didn't put a lot of weight on...

I remember thinking that the curds was "raw" in the middle and I think that is the problem...

Should have followed my instinct and waited a while more before pressing...

[Gregore]

So if you pressed too soon for the curd , was the ph correct ?

Nice cheese set up by the way

[Al Lewis]

Beautiful work, as usual!  AC4U my friend! 

[Danbo]

Thanks Gregore and Al. :-)

The PH was fine but the curd was way too soft I guess...

It is a relatively moist cheese and I plan to age it for only a month. Maybe it will be allright after all...

Let's see around Christmas.

:-) Danbo

[Gregore]

I ask about the ph because if the ph was correct for hooping and yet the curd was not cooked enough and all other things were correct like temp and such then there was too much culture by a little bit .

If you notice that the ph is dropping to fast for the curd  readiness you can lower temps to gain some time.

That is not to say that this change would give you the same cheese as if everything went perfectly to plan , but it is better than curds that are too wet

Just expect a wetter curd to age faster than recipe calls for .
 

[nosphalot]

Hope this is still on topic for this thread. Danbo, what are you using for heating that water bath? Haven't seen that immersion heater before. Almost looks like lab equipment or sous vide. Are those steam table pans? Do find any problems with rectangular vats over cylibrical pots? Awesome water bath setup.

[Danbo]

Gregore:

My aim was a fast ageing cheese but I was just surprised that the curd had pockets af whey when it was pressed.

The timing, tempetature and PH was almost perfect. I suspect that I made two "mistakes"...

I cut the curds too unevenly and perhaps the difference in curd size resulted in some of the curd not being quite ready.

I should have removed 8 liters of whey in a single step and then gradually added hot water over a period of 10 minutes (remove x liters of whey, add 1 liter of water, add 1 liter of water etc.).

Instead I removed the 8 liters of whey gradually (removed 1 liter of whey, added 1 liter of water, removed 1 liter of whey, added 1 liter if water etc.)...

The results are that the curd/whey was not raised to quite the right temperature giving a softer curd when pressing.

Also the whey acidity must have been a bit higher as the whey was not dilluted as much as usual.

Not huge differences but probably enough. The cheese still looks allright in the cave though. :-)

[Gregore]

i too think that you left some curds larger than others possibly even a bunch clumped back together as you were stirring /cooking

I do not think  the other stuff you mention will lead to a pocket of whey .

[Danbo]

Nospahlot:

I'm very happy about my setup. It allows me to make 24 liter (6.3 gal) batches and I found the pans at a good price.

The immession cooker is in fact a sous vide thing... This is a nordic brand but I found a similar machine in the US: https://youtu.be/ZZl7EdVoEWI

There are advantages and disadvantages using these pans...

I have a pan inside a double size pan. The result is a lot of water to be heated. The heating element is 1500 watts but when faster temperature changes are needed I have to manually add some boiling water / use an additional heating source.

It's very easy to maintain the correct temperature. The sous vide immersion cooker is set at a temperature 1.5-2 deg C higher than the required milk temperature.

It can't be heated using a normal stove (haven't tried gas).

It's easy to cut and stir because the pan is not that deep. Aotomatic stirring on the other hand would be hard to make compared to a normal vat.

It's easy to drain the pan and you can get lots of accessories (drainpans, lids etc.) And you can even get transparent versions (plastic) if you'd like.

I have tried different vats but they all rust. The real good ones does not but they are expensive compared to these pans.

The oans aren't heavy and they are easy to handle. The smaller pans can fit in my dishwasher if I remove the top drawer and insert a spray nozzle for large items (came with the dishwasher).

The pans stack and does not require much storage space.

Sometimes I wonder if I should start using vats again and my conclusion is that it's just a matter of taste...

You will probably find this link useful:
http://www.perfect-cheese.com/rectangular-pans

:-) Danbo

[Danbo]

Gregore: I think that you're right. I really want a curd cutter from Perfect Cheese. I have asked him if he can make a custom cutter (my pan is deeper than his standard pans. Waiting for his response... It's quite expensive for me to buy because of import taxes and fees but I think that it is worth it...