Our latest cheese was our attempt at a Sbrinz-style "extra hard, washed curd" cheese.... We found 3 recipes, 2 of which did not wash the curd, the other, which we basically followed, was in Caldwell's book "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking".... We used 8 litres of 2% P/H milk and a litre of 18% cream, for a total of 9 litres of 3.8% BF.... We used Su Casu culture, and added
1/4 tsp of Holdbac to prevent late blowing, which we have had a lot of in our brined cheeses.... They have all smelled and tasted fine, but often had large cracks and irregular holes.... The Holdbac is supposed to avoid this.... We used a Floc. multiple of 2.5X, and cut the curd to 1/4" and then whisked them down to about 1/8", and then raised the temperature to 129*F over a hour, at which point the curds were rice sized.... We then removed 1.5 litres of whey, and poured back 500 ml of cold water to reduce the temperature to 122*F, stirred 5 minutes, and then allowed to sit for 20 minutes before molding and pressing.... The rind was tight at 1.5 psi after 2 hours (the cheese was still warm to the touch), and the next morning (after pressing overnight) we brined the cheese for 12 hours, and then dried it for 3 days before waxing it....
After brining and drying but before waxing it weighed 2 lbs. 1 oz., for a yield of 10.4%.... Caldwell says to age this cheese 8 to 18 months, and we plan to start sampling at 8 months, consuming a quarter periodically until it is 2 years old.... This cheese is basically a Swiss Parmesan, and it is supposed to be great for grating, and when mature have a "butterscotch" flavour, so I guess in a couple of years we'll find out!....
PS.... At 8 months, this Sbrinz was lovely!.... It had a large split in the middle, but was semi-moist and sliced well.... The aroma was distinctly Cheddary, and yet there was not a hint of Cheddar in the flavour!.... It was very flavourful, creamy, with a slight Caramel taste....
I thought I detected just a hint of bitter from the vegetable (Mucor) rennet, as we didn't have Chy-Max at the time, but my wife didn't notice it.... There were no holes, indicative of late blowing, so I think the Holdbac LC did it's job well.... In one spot the crack came up to a corner, and I guess it cracked the wax there, as there was a small patch of mold just under the wax, which we cut out.... It didn't seem to bother the cheese, though.... Bob