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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Semi-Hard "Sweet" Washed Curd => Topic started by: curiouser_alice on January 29, 2018, 08:49:29 PM
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Going to start my first swiss tomorrow. The recipe I have calls for waxing, and I have wax. The brush I was planning on using is silicone. I was thinking it wouldn't be a problem, but does anybody have experience using a silicone brush?
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I always dip when I wax. Tried brushing once, not a good result. BTW Make sure that cheese is done "gassing" before you wax it.
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Well, we shall see. I have two pots, side by side, and one has a clean break and the other does not. I'm combining them into one cheese, so I added a tiny bit more rennet to pot #2 and am waiting.
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more or less success; I got the two pots kind of matching and then mixed everything together before putting it in the mold. Pressing overnight.
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If it were me I would simply dip the cheese. I think you would get a more consistent coverage and less messy.
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Will try to dip. I think I can fit it into a double boiler top to melt, and if I plan accurately, will be able to dip.
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My recipe calls for aging at 50 degrees for the first while. I'm thinking this won't make any difference to the other cheeses I have in there - an alpine style tomme and a gruyere - and the lower temperature is important to the swiss.
Do others adjust this way? I have only one cheese fridge for aging.
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I had a small wax split, which I waxed over this morning. Is this a weak spot, and when I increase the temperature and it starts to swell, will it break again?
How do people address this?
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I have not waxed a cheese of this type but I suspect that the wax will split once you start the warm phase, especially if it was splitting before that.
Another problem that I have encountered is with whey oozing from the cheese and collecting under the wax. For this reason I leave my cheeses until they are 3-4 weeks old before I wax.
You might want to consider removing the wax and re-waxing after the warm phase.
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In my limited experience with Swiss style cheese I'm not sure yet am thinking, if you are about to start a warming faze and this has already been waxed, you will most certainly have cracks in your wax as the warming is more than likely going to make it swell.
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Thanks! I will certainly consider removing and re-waxing. We'll see how it goes.
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Your cheese should expand like a ball during the warming phase. You should have taken my original advice.
Make sure that cheese is done "gassing" before you wax it.]
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Agreed, but I waxed because I'm trying to get a moister cheese...I can remove the wax and do over after the warm phase.
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Well, I made it through the warming phase and my cheese did NOT swell. Should I wait awhile longer to see if it does, or just say it's done and put it back in at a lower temp?
It looks good, but the wax did crack. If I take it out of the warm location, I will re-wax. Just not sure I've gotten any holes.