My First Gouda

[felku]

 This was my first Gouda and first pressed cheese. Thanks to this forum I found everything I need to make the cheese. I use the a kadova mold bought it from the perfect-cheese site from John@PC, the press I bought from smolt1  foldaway sturdy press and the cultures from artisan geek.

  I use raw milk, since it was my first cheese of this kind I could try it with store milk but since the raw milk cost me 1/3 of the store milk I decided to give it a try.

  recipe
           I use 2 gallons and a half
           1/4 teaspoon of danisco kazu
            1/4 teaspoon of calf rennet
             3 drops of Anatto
For press weight I used the one recommended by kadova.

I will leave it 5-7 in the cave and will wax it. Plan to aged at least 3 months if my wife let me do that.
 

[Danbo]

It looks really good - congratulations! :-) Have a cheese!

:-) Danbo

[felku]

Thanks for the cheese. I was very nervous doing that one. I also made a pepper gouda yesterday and will add the pics soon.

[Al Lewis]

That's a beautiful result!!  AC4U my friend!!

[John@PC]

A(nother)C4Y felku :).  The Kadovas are not cheap but the mesh eliminates cheesecloth and gives a "wrinkle-free" rind.  In my opinion you got the best press available from Smolt1 as well. 

I use raw milk, since it was my first cheese of this kind I could try it with store milk but since the raw milk cost me 1/3 of the store milk I decided to give it a try.

Let me get this straight: You have a source for raw milk that's 1/3 less than store :o???

[felku]

A(nother)C4Y felku :).  The Kadovas are not cheap but the mesh eliminates cheesecloth and gives a "wrinkle-free" rind.  In my opinion you got the best press available from Smolt1 as well. 

I use raw milk, since it was my first cheese of this kind I could try it with store milk but since the raw milk cost me 1/3 of the store milk I decided to give it a try.

Let me get this straight: You have a source for raw milk that's 1/3 less than store :o???

Thanks, and yes I got the raw milk very cheap, although I don't think the person will sell more to me for a while. Here is illegal to sell raw milk and the person sold me the milk a the same price he sell the milk to the industry or whatever is call. He even made me a discount of 10 cents so I ended paying 50 cents per liter so basically a gallon cost me $2.00 . Store milk cost here $6 per gallon. So it was a super deal for me , I bought like 10 gallons, basically I filled the fridge with milk(my wife didn't like that part).

[Kern]

Thanks, and yes I got the raw milk very cheap, although I don't think the person will sell more to me for a while. Here is illegal to sell raw milk and the person sold me the milk a the same price he sell the milk to the industry or whatever is call. He even made me a discount of 10 cents so I ended paying 50 cents per liter so basically a gallon cost me $2.00 . Store milk cost here $6 per gallon. So it was a super deal for me , I bought like 10 gallons, basically I filled the fridge with milk(my wife didn't like that part).
[/quote]

You might tell your seller that the milk is for you pet cats.  Several of the dairies around here sell "pet milk" out the back door.   ;)

[felku]

You might tell your seller that the milk is for you pet cats.  Several of the dairies around here sell "pet milk" out the back door.   ;)

  The problem with dairies here is they are afraid to lose their licenses. He asked me to get a license to make cheese since If I have a license and he gets his license he will be able to sell me. But this is just hobby and getting a license is out of the question. But I will try to convince him again to sell me , is not an easy trip since the dairy is on the rural part of Puerto RIco(inside the mountains) but working with raw milk was fun.

[LoftyNotions]

Wow, a great first pressed cheese effort, felku. AC4U.

Larry

[felku]

I couldn't wait much longer since it is my first pressed chesse and opened this one(I have others that I will let age more)
It seems it has some small holes, since I don't have many expirience can someone tell if the look okay but the picture.

[John@PC]

Nice cheese felku.  Those holes look good to me :).  I had the same thing happen with my first washed-curd cheeses and there are some very good tips here on the forum that help you eliminate the holes if you want to.  Also Kadova molds are great, maybe too much so because draining mesh lets the rind close so while the knitting looks great from the outside you can have some voids inside.  Personally I think small holes add some character. A cheese for your first Gouda.

[felku]

Thanks, I ended eating almost half of the cheese with my wife, and for a young cheese , it tasted great.

[Al Lewis]

Beautiful job!  Congratulations and AC4U for a great result.

[Danbo]

It looks very nice - I like the holes! AC4U. :-)