Well... so much to talk/post about. LEt's start with me buying a herd share of goat's to get access to quality raw goats milk in Ohio.
Once I had the goat's milk I've always had my eye on a montasio. So after reviewing Peter Dixon's recipe and Boofer's recipe from 6/2014 I set out to make it.
4 gallons Costco Whole milk (i've found that costco milk works very well for me parma makes)
2 gallons D&L Meadows raw creamline goats milk
Divided this into two separate 3 gallon makes and made this simultaneously. (2 gallons cow/1 gallon goat in each)
1/2 tsp Thermo C (TA + LH) in each batch.
1/2 tsp CaCl2, mixed in 1/4 cup distilled water in each batch.
3/8 tsp rennet, dissolved in cold 1/4 cup distilled water in each batch
Initial pH: 7.1/7.08
-I raised the milk to 60F, added the Thermo C and CaCl2, and ripened for 45 minutes and brough temp to 94 F.
ph 6.94/6.95
Added the rennet.
-Used a floc multiplier of 3: floc'd in 10 minutes. After 30 total minutes, I cut and let heal for 5 minutes then using a whisk cut it down to corn kernel size.
Cut pH: 6.84
-Heated and stirred the curds to 110F over 25 minutes, then to 114F in another 10 minutes.
- Then increased temp to 119/120F in another 15 minutes (total time now is 45 min).
- Kept stirring occasionally at 120F for another 15 minutes.
pH 6.83
-Hand-packed the curds into a 8 inch Tomme mold with cheesecloth under warm whey.
-Pressed with 0.5 psi for 17 minutes under whey to knit the rind.
pH: 6.65 at time of packing mold
-Flipped & rewrapped and pressed without whey at 1 psi for 30 minutes
-Flipped & rewrapped and pressed without whey at 1 psi for 60 minutes
-Flipped & rewrapped and pressed without whey at 2 psi 12 hrs
-Flipped & rewrapped and pressed without whey at 2.2 psi 4 hrs (final pH was 5.34 - see pH curve below)
-Brined it for 22 hours. well over 5 pounds - my scale maxes out at 4.5 pounds. oops need a new scale!
-Flipped halfway and removed from brine this AM.
- Now drying at room temp today
Notes:
a) I saved some whey and made near saturated brine from this whey and added this to my brine. Also added more calcium chloride to my brine.
pH of my brine is now 5.2 (was 4.9). No slimy cheese this am!
b) Goat milk yields more cheese (right?) - i was surprised at the fullness of my tomme mold as I have made an 8 gallon parmesan without issues but was worried I may not fit all these curds into my mold...
c) I still calibrate my pH probe before each use. I can't help it.
d) i love my pH probe.
e) this will be honey rubbed after about 10-14 days of developing a rind and aged for 6 months minimum...
Trent
