My 12th Caerphilly

[JeffHamm]

Just over three weeks, so time to cut into this caerphilly.  Normally I would advise anyone just getting into making cheese at home that press cheeses really do require about 2 months minimum, and some much more, before they are really ready.  Caerphilly, however, is the one exception and I find this cheese is one of my very top favorites when cut into at 3 or 4 weeks, and that it doesn't age well.  This one is no exception, and in fact I think this might be my best caerphilly yet.  The texture is wonderfully moist, and has a smooth creamy consistency to it.  The flavour has a strong tang to it, like sour cream, which is the flavour I associate with caerphilly.  It is a young, tangy cheese.  There's absolutely no bitterness, and no off flavours of any sort.  The paste has no mechanical openings but it is nicely solid all the way through.  I've had my share of ho hums, but this, I'm very pleased to say, is not one of them.  It has been awhile since I've made a caerphilly, and as it is generally one of my favorites, I'm quite relieved to find it's come out well.  The one I made before this was made last year on Feb 2nd, but I didn't cut it until Sept 6th.  I wasn't pleased with the outcome, and my notes just say "Curious flavour.  Not cheddar like".  This one, as you can see, has produced a rather larger stream of comments. 

[awakephd]

A great way to jump back in after a pause in cheesemaking! AC4U.

I love the Caerphillies that I make, and the speed with which they are ready. I tend to alternate making a Caerphilly and a Lancashire just to keep cheese in the pipeline while I wait for some of the longer-aging makes.

[H-K-J]

Wow great outcome Jeff the natural rind on this is beautiful
AC4U 
I just opened the one I made on November 27 (without lipase  ) mine is much more crumbly though.

[Stinky]

Very nice.  A cheese for you.

[JeffHamm]

Thanks all! 

Andy, I also use both Caerphilly and Lancashire as my "temptation diversion" cheeses.  Butterkase is another one I'll throw into the mix as it is good at 2 or 3 months too.

Thanks H-K-J!  I would like to reduce the black-spot I get when the humidity is a bit high, but it doesn't influence the flavour so I'm not too fussed.  And it does add character.

- Jeff

[Danbo]

You are the master of Caerphilly - one more cheese for you! :-)

[qdog1955]

Jeff----Being the King Of Caerphilly----you are the one to answer this question------I have made 4 Caerphillys--- --three were disappointing -----the 4th turned out very well------I used a recipe that Scanersky had posted https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,12885.msg100098.html#msg100098 ---the only difference, I used 4002 culture and aged 6 weeks----everyone loved this cheese.
  Can you compare her spread sheet to your latest, greatest, and see if and what is different. I know that's a lot to ask, but up until this last Caerphilly I was convinced it was a loser cheese----now I'm thinking it's a great cheese----if I can reproduce the results.
  If you don't have the time, I understand---all's well.
Qdog

[JeffHamm]

lol!  Hardly the master or king, but I admit, I like caerphilly and recommend it to anyone new to cheesemaking.  It's a great cheese to learn from.

Anyway, qdog, I've had a quick comparison of the two protocols, and here's what I've noted:

Differences noted:
I used only P&H store bought cow's milk, scasnerkay used P&H cow + 1 cup raw goat milk
-   Potential difference are cultures from the goat milk plus, well, it's goat milk and it may add some additional flavours

Cultures: I just used store bought buttermilk, this has similar types (but probably different strains and proportions) of bacteria as is found in flora Danica. 
-   Again, we're dealing with differences of cultures, which can result in different flavours.  However, I've made Caerphilly with buttermilk, flora Danica, and MW3 (which only contains Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris and Lactococcus lactis susp. lactis.) and all have turned out very nice. 
o   Potential difference : I may just like Caerphilly more than most people so anything in that flavour ballpark is really good to me!

We both warm the milk to about 30 C (86F), pretty typical milk temperature for a UK type cheese.

I ripened for 30 minutes, scasnerkay ripened 60 minutes – as scasnerkay is using a pH meter, she's tracking the cultures as they work.  I'm basing mine on previous makes that have worked for me because I don't have a meter.  Depending upon the acidity curves, we could be at the same, or different place in the action right about now.

I add my CaCl2 before warming the milk, scasnerkay adds hers after ripening period.  CaCl2 is to help strengthen the curd as P&H milk tends to form weak curds and you get shatter sometimes.  I read way back someone's post where they found adding the CaCl2 earlier works better for them.  I started doing that too.  Haven't made a systemic study of this though, but it seemed to help.  Could be confirmation bias.   Anyway, the main difference would be we may have different curd strengths for many reasons (i.e. different brands of milk is enough to consider this as a potential source of difference), and curd strength influences moisture and fat retention.

I cut my curds to about an inch, scasnerkay cuts to ½ inch.  Cutting smaller curds results in more whey expulsion.  All other things held equal (which, as we see they are not) I would suspect my make would result in a moister cheese.  This is good for my purposes because I'm cutting at 3 weeks.  If I wanted to age a caerphilly out for a few months, or more, then cutting the curds smaller is the way to go because too much retained whey will result in off flavours.

I hold my curds around 30 C the whole make, though the actual temp will rise and fall a bit as I move the curds in and out of the hot water bath, they usually stay within 30-32 C.  Scasnerkay has a cooking period, where the temperature is raised from 30 – 33.3 (86 – 92), which again is a process that helps with whey explusion.  The raising of the temp will help force more whey out of the curds, so again, like the smaller cut size, scasnerkay's protocol is aiming towards a drier cheese, more suited to longer aging and mine is aiming towards a moister cheese that is to be ready very quickly.

We both stir for about an hour, again, a process to remove whey, which in this case is equal for the two protocols.  After that, there's draining, salting, hooping, and pressing.  We both salt the curds, which halts the acidification, and press overnight. 

So, in the end, the major differences between the makes that I've spotted are:
1)   Different cultures are being used
2)   Procedures in my protocol are aimed towards higher moisture retention, suitable for cutting when young, while scasnerkay's protocol is aimed more towards a drier cheese that is more suitable for extended aging.

[Al Lewis]

So Jeff, after making 12 of these, what do you consider the best texture and taste for a Caerphilly?

[qdog1955]

Thanks a million, Jeff------that was more helpful then you can imagine-----very clear and precise answer----and I would bet, very helpful to others, too. I think her P/H markers helped me take out some of the guess work that I was dealing with in my previous makes. Once again, thanks for taking the time.
Qdog

[JeffHamm]

No problem qdog.  Glad it was helpful.  It was a good exercise for me as well as it forced me to look carefully at what I do and think "why do I do it that way?", etc.

Al,

For the caerphilly I make, and given the time I cut into it, I expect it to have a good tang to it, sort of sour but not as in "off", like sour cream.  The paste should be moist and crumbly.  It should have a good creamy mouth feel.  I tend not to salt the rind during pressing so much any more, though when I did I would expect the salt to be noticeable, but not to the point where it is overpowering.  Basically, it should have a strong flavour profile, not subtle at all, but not one that might scare someone who is a cheese newbie but rather make them go "oh, that was refreshing and nice". 

- Jeff

[Al Lewis]

Thanks Jeff.  I want to make one of these but have never eaten it so I need to know if it came out right.  Make sense?  Now I know!

[Schnecken Slayer]

Hi Jeff, a cheese for such a detailed answer to qdog's question. Very helpful.

[JeffHamm]

No problem Al.  And yes, makes sense.  When trying to make a new cheese, especially one you've never actually tasted before, it can be tricky to tweak your protocol if you're not sure where you're trying to get to.  If you follow the protocol in this thread (first post), you'll see step 9 has two options (the bag and twist versus put some weight on it methods of removing whey).  I found this make protocol in an old newspaper (Marlborough Express, Volume XL, Issue 15, 18 January, 1907, page 4; found this in an internet search a few years ago).  I did it that way at least once, maybe twice, but the cheese turned out too dry the last time I did it (as per the warning in the article; which I'll paste below in case anyone is interested in working from the original).  The weights version has worked better for me, but I should work on my "twist the bag" technique to improve it.

Anyway, it's a really nice cheese, and the way I make it, it is not suited for long aging (I aged one out to 7 months, and while edible, it wasn't worth repeating).  For a longer aging version, cut smaller, stir more, and maybe instead of keeping the temp at 30 for an hour and stirring, include raising the temperature to 33 to 35 C over the first 30-35 minutes of that period. 

So, here's the original article, and a few extra bits and bobs that I found with respect to some of the measurements:

Caerphilly Cheese:
Marlborough Express, Volume XL, Issue 15, 18 January, 1907, page 4

This is one of those makes of cheese for which there is at the present time a steadily growing demand. So large, indeed, has the consumption of this cheese become (writes C.W. Walker-Tisdale in the Farmer and Stockbreeder) that we know of one firm of cheese merchants which is having Caerphilly specially manufactured in New Zealand, Holland, and Denmark, and sent to it in order to make the supply anything like equal to the demand. It appears to me that the prospects for this cheese are better than for almost any other variety, and considering the number of Cheddar makers who are turning their attention to Caerphilly makes, the production of Cheddar cheese is likely to suffer in consequence. The advantages of producing Caerphilly cheese as compared with Cheddar are: 1 Greater weight of cheese is obtained, as it is sold fresh when in a moist condition. 2. Being sold at the end of a fortnight after making, very little storage room is required. 3. The sale being effected so soon after making, money is quickly returned for the milk, which is not the case where Cheddar cheese is made, as this does not fully ripen and become ready for market in a less period than three months. To manufacture this cheese new milk is taken, regulated to a temperature of 86 deg. Fahr., and rennetted in the proportion of one drachm of rennet to three gallons of milk (rennet being first diluted with cold water.) In the course of about an hour the curd will be firm enough to manipulate, which can be tested by seeing if it breaks clean over the finger. It may then be cut by using American knives' (vertical and horizontal), and reduced to small cubes of about 1in in size. When all the curd is reduced to this size the temperature of the whole contents of the vat should be raised to 86deg. Fahr., as by this time it will probably have fallen several degrees, so should be raised to the same temperature as that at which it was rennetted. The curd must now be stirred by hand for about an hour, or until it becomes slightly firm in nature. Some makers stir the curd for thirty minutes, allow it to pitch or settle in the bottom of the van (sic; I assume vat) for ten minutes, when it will be time to draw off the whey. The whey is now drawn off, and the curd is placed in coarse cloths and placed on a table to drain. To help the expulsion of whey the cloths are tightened now and again by taking three corners and using the fourth as a binder. This drainage is allowed to go on for about an hour, during which time the cloths will have been tightened about five times. This tightening to expel the whey must not be excessive, or the curd will get too dry. The curd is now broken by squeezing it in the hand and out between the fingers, almost as a potato-masher works. It is next placed in the tin moulds, which are lined with cloths to receive, and the curd pressed in with the hands. The curd in the moulds is left for two hours before being put to press, during which time only small weights are put on the followers to keep the curd together. The curd in the moulds may now be turned and put to press under just a small amount of pressure – say, 5cwt or 6cwt overnight. In twelve hours' time (next day) the cheeses are taken out, rubbed with salt, turned, and replaced in the mould with a fresh cloth, and put under a pressure of about 10cwt. Twelve hours later this process is repeated, the total amount of salt used being half an ounce to each pound of cheese. On the third morning from making the cheese may be taken out of the press and removed to the curing-room, which, if the cheese is to be ready for sale in two weeks' time, should be at a temuerature (sic) of 65deg. to 20deg. (sic : 70?) Fahr. If not required to be ripe so soon it must be kept at a lower temperature. In some cases makers prefer to salt their cheese by brining them instead of rubbing with dry salt. This may be done by having the cheeses partly immersed in brine for a couple of days or so, being careful to turn them frequently. The common size of the Caerphilly cheese is 6lb, but they are made in sizes from 5lb to 10lb each. In the case only of the larger cheeses the pressure may be increased to 15cwt instead of 10cwt for full pressure.

----------- end of article -----------------------------

For noting: cwt is a hundredweight, or "centum weight". In the UK (and here in New Zealand), 1 cwt = 112 pounds, while in the US it equals 100 lbs.

And a drachm is 1/8th of a fluid ounce according to "thefreedictionary.com"

I've also found reference to the traditional sizes being 10 inches in diameter and 8lbs. Assuming 10 inch diameters then 5cwt would produce roughly 7.13 psi, 6 cwt would give 8.56 psi, 10cwt = 14.27 psi, and 15cwt = 21.40 psi

[JeffHamm]

Thanks for the cheese Schnecken Slayer!

After having done this, I think it's probably a good idea to do this when you see a protocol that is different from what one does.  This comparison process, along with the thoughts as to what change it might produce, can really help sharpen the understanding of why we do things.  It certainly made me think a lot about why I do things in this make, and what changes might produce larger and smaller effects on the final cheese.

- Jeff