South Texas Cheesemaking

[South Texas]

HELLO FROM SOUTH TEXAS!!!
HOME OF THE ALAMO, TEXAS COAST, HOT WEATHER
 
Looking for folks in hot climates who LOVE their cheesemaking.

[South Texas]

HOWDY!!

Living in a HOT climate, I am having problems with acidification, rapid acid formation, dry weather, and warm storage.

Despite my best efforts at raising pH, I consistently see a drop of about 1.75% in everything (cheddars, goudas, etc.) EXCEPT mold-ripened and washed rind from the time I start acidification to final product.  I've tried:
1. Reducing culture to about 1/4 of recommended dose
2. Reducing ripening time
3. Reducing cooking time
4. Reducing press time
5. Increasing salt

Anyone have any ideas at other ways to INCREASE pH and REDUCE acid formation, especially in cheddars?

PLEASE HELP, AND THANKS FOR YOUR REPLIES

[South Texas]

ME AGAIN

Forgot to mention that most of my problems come from store-bought, homogenized, pasteurized (NOT ULTRAPASTEURIZED) milk.  I HAVE FEWER PROBLEMS WITH RAW, NON-HOMOGENIZED, NON-PASTEURIZED MILK. 

[mikekchar]

Homogenised milk is hard to work with.  I feel like it needs completely different techniques to work well.  I've never used raw milk, but I have little trouble with unhomogenised pasteurised milk.

In terms of heat, I often make different cheeses seasonally.  While we have air conditioning in our house, I rarely have it turned on.  So that means that right now (during the rainy season), it's usually about 30 C in the kitchen during the day.  When summer hits, it will often be up near 40 C.  This is nice for cheeses that need to acidify, but not great for others.  Also, in the summer, it's sometimes over 30 C even at night so this is bad for cheeses where you want a long slow acidification period.

I do a few things.  First, in the heat of the summer, my cheese fridge is normally between 16-20 C.  That's quite warm, but I don't really find there is a problem aging cheeses at that temperature if you are careful to control humidity.  It's super humid in the summer here, so it means being *very* careful about wiping out the maturation boxes every day.  However, it's not really that bad.  This also means that I can easily dry off cheeses in the cheese fridge when I want colder temps.

This big thing, though, is that I just make cheese seasonally.  Honestly, having your kitchen at 30+ is great for some cheeses.  One of my favorite summer cheeses is Caerfilly style.  The high temps are great for cheddaring and it's common to half salt the curds when pressing to slow down acidification anyway.  I do a lot of fresh cheeses too: halloumi, crescenza, ricotta salata (or antothyros), and lactic cheeses.  Summer is great for feta-like cheeses as well.  In the winter I make things that require more control.  For example, the last date that I'll make a tomme is typically April.  It just doesn't work very well for me in the summer.

[South Texas]

Thanks for your help!  I've always thought of the heat being an issue, but seasonal makes sense.  Seems like it's hot year around.
Would also like to get some feedback on using less culture.

[mikekchar]

The amount of culture basically determines the speed of acidification.  Definitely adjust it based on what you want to do.  I always use mother cultures.  That is I create a yogurt from the culture and then use that yogurt in my cheese making.  My normal rate is about 1.5% of the milk by weight (i.e. 15 grams per liter).  However, again, I adjust that based on what the recipe is, etc.  Mixing thermophilic and mesophilic mother cultures is a bit of an art too (because you can't reasonably make a mixed "farmhouse" mother culture most of the time).

Keep in mind that you normally have 2 halves of cheese making.  When you first add the culture and you are renneting and cooking, you are well over 30 C (86 F).  So when it's 32 C in my kitchen, it means I don't have to (or barely have to) heat my milk to maintain the temperature.  But after you drain, you usually want to acidify at something like 22 C (72 F) so that it acidifies slowly as you are pressing.  You can't reduce the speed of acidification by reducing the amount of culture because you need the correct amount of culture in the first half.  So either you turn on the AC when you're draining, or you make cheeses that you don't mind acidifying quickly (save time on your mozzarella!).  That's why I like cheeses like feta, where it just doesn't matter how fast you acidify during draining -- an open rind is absolutely no problem and often you are draining super early anyway.  I mean, it makes sense.  Feta was traditionally made in very hot areas, which is why it's aged in brine.  If you really nail your curd washing, probably a gouda would be fine too.  Or even a Colby is likely OK.  I'd be avoiding the alpine cheeses, though, since they need long times in the press at very high pH.

Basically, I don't think changing the amount of culture is really going to help much (or at all) for making cheese in hot weather.  It's interesting that originally Camembert had 2 distinct seasons -- summer and winter.  Originally the cheeses were quite different because of the speed of acidification after it is drained.  There is still at least one producer (whose name escapes me) who still produces Camembert in an unheated/uncooled building for that reason.  To me, I think that's part of being an artisan cheese maker (even if you are a home cheese maker).  Each cheese is different and you just build up your skill as a cheese maker to change the cheese based on the conditions -- worrying only about quality and not consistency.  Or, at least that's my thinking.

[Aris]

I am from the Philippines and the hot temperature doesn't stop me from making any cheese year round. I utilize the fridge and Coleman coolers with frozen water bottles to arrest pH drop. For a Gouda type cheese which I don't press, I dry salt it when it has a pH of 5.2-5.3 (whey and cheese will have a slightly sour smell and taste) then it goes straight in the fridge or Coleman cooler with frozen water bottles to make sure pH doesn't drop. I've been doing this method for almost 3 years and it never fail. With Cheddar though, it is tricky if you don't have a pH meter because the curds are salted so you have to rely on smell. My latest clothbound cheddar was only pressed for 5 hours because I don't want it to over acidify. Cheddar typically has a post press pH of 5.1. You should use your fridge/cheese cave to cool down the cheese once it has the right pH and make the starter cultures stop producing lactic acid. This means you have to brine at cave temperature (50-55 f).

[mikekchar]

I just want to add that I have aged cheeses this way for years too.  However, it never occurred to me to drain in a cooler...  Good idea!  I haven't made *any* aged cheese this summer, though.  Just fresh cheeses...

[Aris]

Late reply but thanks. Fresh cheeses are nice especially Mozzarella which I love to make because it is so challenging. I need to make more fresh cheeses. Anyways, my pro cheesemaker friend and I had a chat before and Jim Wallace came up in our discussion. She said to me that Jim Wallace makes cheese in the basement/cheese cave. No wonder he can get away over pressing his cheese and using significantly more starter culture than me (I only use 1/32 tsp per 10 liters milk). So your comment about him living in an igloo is not far off.