The last weekend of January we made a Caerphilly.... We basically used the recipe from Debra's "200 Cheeses" book, using the MA 4002 culture.... The milk was 8 litres of 2% P/H and a litre of 18% coffee cream, for a total of 9 litres of 3.8% BF.... We used a Floc. multiple of 3.5X, and it weighed 2 lbs. 11 oz. out of the mold (and was VERY soft), but after brining and drying for a week, that dropped to 2 lbs. 4 oz. and it was reasonably firm.... Here is a photo after waxing....
We will be aging it 1, 2 and 4 months....
PS.... We tasted the Caerphilly today at 1 month.... It was a very mild cheese, slightly crumbly.... Good but not spectacular....
PPS.... As it ages, it becomes a bit less crumbly and a bit easier to slice.... It peaks at about 3 months.... Last Sunday we made a Montasio, based on the recipe in Ricki's book.... We used 8 litres of 2% P/H milk and 1/2 litre of 18% coffee cream, for 8.5 litres of 2.8% BF.... We used 1/2 pkt. of Meso and 1 pkt. of Thermo cultures from NEC, 9 drops of Annatto, and a Floc. multiple of 2.5X.... After cooking the curds to 102*F, we drained off the whey (5 litres to the curds!) and added 125*F water back to the original volume, raising the temperature to 111*F.... It only took 20 lbs. to knit the rind, and the cheese weighed 1 lb. 11 oz. out of the mold and 1 lb. 9 oz. after brining and drying for 2 days, a yield of 8.7%.... It is very firm, and we vacuum bagged it to age it for 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.... Our cheese cave is now full, so we are dropping back to only making a cheese every other week, as that is about all we can reasonably consume, averaged out over a year.... Here is a photo of the Montasio after brining....
PS.... We tried the Montasio after 3 months of aging.... It is quite a soft cheese, very pliable and slices beautifully.... It is quite mild, with a slight nutty taste which I think will develop more as it ages further.... Surprisingly, it has significant eye development.... PPS.... At 6 months, the Montasio is a lot stronger flavour, with a bit of a bitter aftertaste.... a big change in flavour since we first tried it....
PPPS.... At 12 months, we threw it out!.... It had dried up a lot, sliced well, but the bitterness was more than we could take.... .... However, we are pretty sure that was the incorrect rennet, and lack of Holdbac, so we will eventually give it one more chance, maybe in 2023.... So, our initial push is over, we made 26 different cheeses in that many weeks.... Now it's time to repeat a few favourites and do some experimenting with added flavours....
Bob