Ah... it never gets old

[OzzieCheese]

You are so right - Cut and paste error.  The rennet I have is rated at 200 IMCU and 3 ml. The extra fat is there - and it's a rough guess - to bring it up to the 5% fat content of Guernsey milk. I also found that the end product was tastier (subjective). I also increases the overall curd yield to produce bigger cheeses out of 10 Litres of milk.  1.1kg without compared to about 1.4 kg with. 

[mikekchar]

I'm going to have to give that a try.  It never occurred to me to do that with a cheddar.  It would help me to get a taller cheese, too.  I'm limited in that my paycheck doesn't extend past 4 liters of milk (I have to pay $4 per liter for good milk!).   Oddly increasing yield by adding cream is *cheaper* than adding another liter of milk.

[OzzieCheese]

Wow ! That is expensive. I'll keep you in mind when buying my milk on how lucky I am here in Australia. That would be a challenge making smaller batches.  Make sure the cream is just pure cream - don't use thickened or ultra pasteurized cream. The first does really weird thing to the curds - they don't form well at all and the the ultra pasteurized affects the overall curd setting and can add some funky tastes during aging (advice from my Cheese mentor). 
   

[mikekchar]

Yeah, I'm lucky in that I can get good cream easily (which is weird because I can't get good milk easily).  200 ml of 47% cream (unadulterated pasteurised cream) is only $3.50.  So that's 95 grams of fat if my math is correct.  So it adds about an extra 2.3% fat to 4 liters of milk.  My milk is also 3.8% fat, so this is well more than I need (my wife gets some cream pasta sauce :-) ).  I've used it for a few makes and it works quite well.

Actually, the milk I use isn't even the most expensive I can buy.  900 ml of Jersey milk (4.5% fat) is a whopping $7.  Gorgeous milk, though...  I've made a few cheeses with it, but can't really justify its use...

[pickles]

Examining the use by dates on the bottles of milk I realise that the secret to this great cheese must be to age the milk for five years first, very cunning !!  >:D

[then again, less exciting, maybe it is just the photos that are back dated]  A)

Looking forward to your cheddar write up, after the cakes are baked, of course.

[OzzieCheese]

Haha that's funny.... It a pretty old thread I thought I'd rehydrate.  :)