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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Hard Other => Topic started by: Kern on April 25, 2015, 06:58:59 PM
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I completed a 6# Caerphilly in my new 8-inch full size steam table vat yesterday. The recipe was straight out of Caldwell's Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking with only a preplanned change in the cultures. Caldwell called for MA-4000 and I substituted an equal amount of MA-011 combined with TA-061 in a 2:1 ratio - 3/4 tsp MA-4000 changed to 1/2 tsp MA-011 plus 1/4 tsp TA-061. Both recipes called for 1/16 tsp of mycodore and I retained that in my batch. The only issue was that my culture combination dropped the pH much faster than I expected having used the MA-4000 several times in the past for similar cheeses. This kept me hopping and I finally caught up with the goal pH as the curd was draining in the tilted vat right before salting the broken up curd. It remains to be seen if the momentum of the pH drop was halted in time to prevent the cheese from becoming too tart.
The deeper pot presented a little challenge in that my curd cutters were designed for the 6-inch vat. As you can see in the photo below I solved this by using 4 small cable ties to marry the 1/2 and 1 inch cutters together to at least get the horizontal cuts. The vertical cuts were done with a knife.
Here are the photos and comments:
Caerphilly 2 - Six gallons of Pure Eire vat pasteurized whole milk.
Caerphilly 3 - Warming the milk in hot tap water. Took ten minutes to go from 38F to 76F saving about 50 minutes verses the vat heating.
Caerphilly 4 - The married curb cutters.
Caerphilly 5 - The cut curds.
Caerphilly 6 - Cutting the blocks after draining in a tilted vat. I do the cheddaring in my laundry room heat to about 93F with a little electric heater.
Caerphilly 7 - Broken and salted ready to load the press.
Caerphilly 8 - Pressing in an 8-inch mold.
Caerphilly 9 - Finished 2633 gram cheese after brining into ripening box for rind formation. Go mycodore, go! :)
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Nice cheese Kern----hope you got the PH in time----I hesitate using the TA-60 series anymore ---for that very reason----when the ph does start to go, it goes really fast----and I'm not always fast enough to keep up. I'll blame it on age. Let us know how it turns out.
Qdog
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Looks great!! Great knit!! AC4U!!
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AC4U!!!
Where did you find an 8" steam pan?
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Thanks for the cheeses. The vat came from Katom Restaurant Supply (https://www.katom.com (https://www.katom.com)). You'll have to search the site. Mine was a full size about 8 inches deep.
Kern
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There should be a manufacturer and model number stamped on it. Any chance of getting that info?
The site shows zero in the way of 8" pans. 300+ units to look through and...nada. Lol
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Very nice! AC4U
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There should be a manufacturer and model number stamped on it. Any chance of getting that info?
The site shows zero in the way of 8" pans. 300+ units to look through and...nada. Lol
Here's the link to the 8" pan I bought from Katom: https://www.katom.com/002-S2008D.html (https://www.katom.com/002-S2008D.html) The actual pan I received was a Polar Ware S2008D. Polar Ware is located in Wisconsin and has a website. I Googled "Polar Ware S2008D" and came up with a number of sellers. ;)
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There should be a manufacturer and model number stamped on it. Any chance of getting that info?
The site shows zero in the way of 8" pans. 300+ units to look through and...nada. Lol
Here's the link to the 8" pan I bought from Katom: https://www.katom.com/002-S2008D.html (https://www.katom.com/002-S2008D.html) The actual pan I received was a Polar Ware S2008D. Polar Ware is located in Wisconsin and has a website. I Googled "Polar Ware S2008D" and came up with a number of sellers. ;)
Full-sized steam pan, the nomenclature used by Katom, lists 297 options, none of which mention 8" or any such descriptor in the list of thumbnails. Nor did using 8", 8 in, 8 inch or eight inch yield any results. A rather annoying factor in Katom's search feature.
Having the manufacturer, Vollrath or Polarware, and the model number is an immense help. Thanks much.
Another C4U. Woot! Three cheers for Kern!
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Kern, based on a number of similar experiences, I've come to the conclusion that TA061 is a potent acidifier, at least in combination with MA011. I wonder if either there is just a pinch in MA4000, or if the ST used in MA4000 is more like the TA050 series -- supposedly a slower acidifier.
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Thanks for your input Dr. Awake. The next time (if indeed the is one) I'll cut the MA-011 and TA-061 in half and/or tweak the ripening period. I had heard that the combination was pretty good for aging (we shall see!). The combination of the two in the amounts I used was extremely fast. It was a continual game of catch up. But, I got all the steps done and the cheese looks pretty good. Now waiting for the mycoderm to do its thing. ::)
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Nice result Kern and another cheese for you for the 6-or-so-pounder. I used my 8" deep Volrath exclusively (even for 2 gal. makes) until I switched to the 8" deep polycarb because it was easier to install a drain and you can "see-it-all".
Just be careful though, because if you marry two curd cutters you may end up with more (I hear they like rabbits in that respect ;)).
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One wishes the smaller curd cutters could be selectively bred to produce larger ones! ;)
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I think it works the other way around -- big (grown up) curd cutters breed little ones ... :)
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Nummy nummy?
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Nummy, nummy??? ???
Here is the cheese at one month. Looks like the mycodore may be getting swamped by Geo. I am thinking or removing the mold with a stiff brush while the rind is still hard. Any thoughts on this?
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Hi Kern
I've done quite a few Mycodore tommes and I did do some brushing. I had one that I couldn't keep under control....it was like a shag carpet within 4 days of a good brushing. I had fun experimenting with washing it with straight ACV, whiskey, tap water, etc. all choices were mere setbacks to its regrowth but that was okay with me. I think the full strength ACV did the most. It was a really yummy cheese.
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When are you planning to cut it? ;)
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In about a month. :P
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Kern,
Thanks for the link to that food service supply company. You wouldn't believe the trouble I have had in my neck of the woods finding something as simple as a bakers bench scraper. And it has given me a few ideas for when I expand my cave and move to bigger cheese makes. Nice write up on the caerphilly also, AC4U.
John
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Thanks for the cheese jmason. (Did you remember to click the "thumbs up" below my name following your pronouncement? That is how cheeses are actually awarded.)
The mold on my Caerphilly was removed by scraping. This left a pitted surface where the darker molds appeared prior to the grey white mold (which I assume is Geo). I brine washed it following the scraping and made a brew of mycodore and misted it this morning. It is now in its ripening box. I'll post a photo when there is some action. :)
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Hi Kern, Just one thing that might help next time is hand salting the outside as you re-wrap and press. it doesn't take a greate deal - about 1/2 teaspoon each time and I redress and hand salt three times. I find this sets up the natural rind nicely for a 4-5 week ripening period and to keep the black mould away from the rind. I have my Cheddars in the same same as my Caerphilly and got nerry a spot of black - tho the cheddars have a nice little crop one shelf below. The two legged cheese mites don't let it get much older than that :)
-- Mal
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Mal, as usual you come up with some great hints. I shall try this. My recipe was from Caldwell's book and I had added the optional mycodore. Does this produce a black mold?
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No, I'm pretty sure fromthe description is 'Poil De Chat (Cat's Hair) Mold'. I love it when the first hit for a cheese 'Thing' on google is our forum ;D
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=3101.0 (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=3101.0)
As far as I know mycodore should produce a tan coloured 'Felt Like' matting. Yours looks like an electrified black sprout.
-- Mal
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pretty sure I did Kern, did your number of cheeses increase? if not I'll hit ya again. Sure from watching some of your makes that I'll be doing that anyway. And thanks also for the advice you posted re: my caerphilly questions
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Looks like it did now. Thanks. :)
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I cut the six pound Caerphilly this morning. It looks pretty good. The rind appears to be well developed. The paste is somewhat crumbly with just about the right moisture. The flavor is quite good with early notes of mild cheddar with after notes of very slightly salty tang. Eating about a quarter of it now with the rest vacuum packed and put back in the cave for a few more weeks. All-in-all a "keeper" that I'll make again. ^-^
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looks very nice Kern, about 7 weeks old now if mental math is right. It looks to have a creamy quality to the paste as well. And indeed the rind looks excellent.
AC4U
John
ps now you got me anxious to cut into mine, holding off as long as I can
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The rind appears to be well developed.
So the rind was mycodore only? Did you add Geo? Looks great, Kern. Glad to see that your earlier concern about the falling pH didn't prove to be a problem after all.
Kudos and a cheese for your success.
-Boofer-
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Boofer, John thanks for the cheeses. The mycodore was added to the mix as noted above. It picked up some dark mold almost immediately during aging and likely some Geo with the mycodore. The photo at the top of page 2 shows the spots of dark mold. Following this photo I wiped everything off with a salt/vinegar blend, let the now clean rind dry a couple of days and then sprayed it with mycodore. Within a week the white molds had covered everything and no more of the dark mold showed up. There was no softening under the rind as I expected from Caldwell's recipe.
The knife doesn't do much for scale but it is a knife with a ten-inch blade. The cheese is about 7.25 inches in diameter. I took it out of a 93%RH ripening box about a week before cutting it and the crack in the photo showed up since then. The crack is only in the outer (mold) rind.
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A cheese to you for a great looking caerphilly! The taste sounds spot on as well. Nicely done.
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Thanks for the cheese, Jeff. Took a little wedge of my Caerphilly on vacation to the coast here in Washington State where the temps are only about 28C (84F to you locals). Nothing like sitting in a chair, watching the surf and chomping down cheese and crackers while a fresh salmon cooks on the grill! ;)
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Just curious if you eat the rind on a cheese like this? I recently made a Caerphilly as well, without the mycodore, and am under the impression it would not be a terrible idea to simply let the rind run wild while patting the molds down a bit. I am asking not so much if the rind would be tasty, but more if it would be safe or if I should maybe consider cutting the rind off of any pieces before eating them?
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Being of the mind that discretion is the better part of valor, I chose not to eat it. It was kind of hard and stiff anyway.
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Being of the mind that discretion is the better part of valor, I chose not to eat it. It was kind of hard and stiff anyway.
Or you can say being of the mind that the rind can be un-kind you chose to find one more refined (like maybe a Stilton ::)) Hope the mobile vacation was a good one Kern.
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Ouch. I didn't know so many things rhymed with rind. Or semi-rhymed, if you're in a bind. But having thus whined, I'll cease to opine, lest in work I fall behind.
:)