Chilipepper's Cheese #008 - Camembert

[chilipepper]

Well I took off on another adventure this past weekend. We'll see how it goes. I had a lot of fun making this one as it was very interesting to see the curd compress without the addition of weight. Now I'm just waiting for the mold to grow.


Cultures from thecheesemaker.com - mix of Mesophilic, Penecillium Candidum & Geotrichum Candidum


Milk in water bath coming up to temp (90 degrees F).  Rested at 90F for 90 minutes. Added Rennet and held for another 60 minutes at 90F.  I did have to use liquid rennet as the included rennet didn't set for me.


Cut the curd fairly large.  But cut it none-the-less as I contemplated not cutting it and ladeling it into the moulds.


Drew off the whey


Filled the moulds


After 2.5 hours and turn


Another 1.5 hours and turn


Another 1.5 hours and turn - rest overnight


After the overnight rest.


Salted and placed on mats in aging container.  Moved to cave at 45-50F and roughly 90% humidity in the container.

They really look and smell good now. We'll wait now for the fuzz to start.

[Cartierusm]

Chili, what kind of milk are you using? Your curds look good too. I'm wondering if in small batches its easier to get solid curds, but when you upscale it, it makes it harder to control fat and protein leaking out of the curds?

Then again I haven't tried using any store bought milk other than Safeway out of state crappy Lucerne. We'll see I'm going to do the 15 gallon batch on Friday. Haven't decided whether it's going to be stilton or parmesan. I'm leaning toward parmesan as I've yet to make a stilton that any mold has grown, so I'd like to wait a week or so to make sure mold is going to grow.

[chilipepper]

Cartierusm, Thanks!

I guess I forgot to put the milk type in the description.  This was from one gallon of raw Jersey with cream.  The process sure seems like it would be scalable and work out well.  If this batch turns out I will try it in larger quantities as this is one of our favorite styles. 

I will be anxiously waiting to see some picts of your big batch of stilton or parmesan in your converted kegs.  I do have a keg question however, do you think there would be any potential shortcoming to using the same converted keg kettle for both beer and cheese making??

[Cartierusm]

Of course not, I would be more concerned with make a blue type cheese and then a regular but all were talking about is sanitation. The whole point on stainless is it resists everything. Do as Alton Brown does, Multitasker! Use a SS for everything, wash your kids in it for god's sake. Just use Star San to sanitize it after. I've used litteraly every kind of sanitizer out there and Star San is the best. Just go and a get a 5 gallon bucket with a tight sealing lid and after you use it save it. Every month before you go to use it still a PH meter in it and if it's PH 3 or below it's still good.

[chilipepper]

Cool. Thanks for the info.  I will now have to try some bigger batches, I will just have to get creative with the molds!  I have been using Star San for years and I totally agree it is the best out there and the 5 gallon pail is the way to go. I've kept it active and under a ph of 3 for almost 6 months.

Now on to the Camembert... I've got a really nice layer of white mold growing... however, I'm getting a couple spots of not so white mold growing.  Any advice??  They are probably right where my fingers touched when I turned them.  I did take extra care to make sure and wash my hands before and after turning.

[Cartierusm]

Just scrape it off gently. If it then comes back rub with a damp cloth of salt water or vinegar, I prefer salt.

[saycheese]

Cartierusm,
You might want to try some Bayview Farms Milk (it's from Lathrop, CA).   It is cheap and seems to set the most curd even without CaCl of any of the other milks I've tried (Costco, Whole Foods).  Granted it's not the good stuff (raw milk) but--- Our local Raley's and Lucky markets carry it.  Worth a try at $4.60 for 2 gallons.

[Cartierusm]

Thanks I'll see if I can find it.usually stores that carry local items usually stay local. At my luckys they have sunside farms, pretty cheap looking stuff, but I haven't tried it. Do you have a link to their website, I checked and it didn't come up on google. I'll keep looking.

[saycheese]

The milk is produced by Super Stores Industries -- website --
http://www.ssica.com/

[Cartierusm]

I guess Sunnyside is the same stuff, I'll try it next time, thanks.

[Tea]

Hey Chili those look great.  I too have found that rubbing a little salt over the "infected" area seems to work a treat.  Otherwise I find that if the mould has already developed that you just end up smooshing down the mould surface where you touch it with you fingers. 
Keep the pics coming.

[chilipepper]

Update 1/15/09: White mold growing back nicely over the areas that I rubbed off the gray/blue stuff.  White bloom is looks to be very thick and subsided.  Was aged since 1/1/09 at 45-50 degrees F in tub at approximately 90% humidity. 



I wrapped this in the 'official' Camembert paper and put it back in the tub in the back of my cave at 42 degrees.  Now the patience has to kick in and forget about it for a few weeks and see what happens.

[Cartierusm]

Wow Chili, I'm impressed all of your cheeses look very good. Very professional looking. I like the pattern on the camemberts.

[Tea]

I agree, I like that drying mat.  Is it a "proper" one or something that you found?

[chilipepper]

Thanks and I very much appreciate the comments.  I just hope they turn out well. They are in the back part of my root cellar (aka cave) at 42 degrees right now.  Under the cover of those wraps you can't see what is happening though!

I would assume after about 4-6 weeks I should be able to start telling they are getting soft?

The mats (diamond shaped ones) are some that came from a kit my wife got me for Christmas.  I've been looking for a source but can't seem to find one.