Cheddar - What cultures to use?

[shaneb]

Thanks Mal. I'll see how this one progresses, but I found it much easier and cleaner than wax despite lard being involved. The bees wax impregnated cloth sounds interesting, but yeah pretty expensive. How much do you think you'd need for one of your standard cheddars?

Shane

[OzzieCheese]

That a bit of an unknown at the moment but seeing as the melting point is relatively low it might be as easy as doing a 'Plaster Cast'.  Might see what I can dig up at the markets on the weekend.

-- Mal

[shaneb]

Be sure to let us know what you find out.

There are some spots of mould starting. I'm still flipping and rotating twice a day at the moment. See photo below of how it presently looks.

Shane

[shaneb]

Here's another photo update. It's looking okay at the moment.

Shane

[OzzieCheese]

Lookin Good Shane..  Cheese fridge maintenance day today..

-- Mal

[shaneb]

Thanks Mal. Today I'm trying to improve my humidity situation in the cave. It's looking good right now with a botch. I'll have to get a more permanent solution in place though. The ultrasonic foggers that I'm using were wanting to draw a lot more current than I was expecting. The power supply must have been running on current limit as it certainly wasn't rated for how much they really draw.

Good luck with your cleaning.

Shane

[OzzieCheese]

Cheese cave maintenance completed.  One of my Cheddars looked like all the green mold in the world had hopped on board. Armed with my trusty brush and bottle of vinegar, put paid to that little problem.  Nearly time for the June Cheddar

-- Mal

[shaneb]

Very good Mal. My humidity control is an ongoing task for tomorrow. I thought I had it right, but it's not quite there. I'm sitting at 75% right now, but that's with the fogger and fan running 100% of the time. That's not going to work....

Good luck with your next cheddar. I think my next cheese will be a Butterkäse and then I might try another cheddar. Twelve months is a long wait when you're new to this hobby.

Shane

[OzzieCheese]

Hi Shane,
I think the trick is to find another that you like making and do those to distract you from the waiting cheddars.  I use the Caerphilly for that and the Malemberts ... and all of a sudden it's 'Cheddar Time'

-- Mal

[shaneb]

I have made a couple of Caerphilly and I didn't like either. I'm not sure whether it was my doing though or not. I suspect both were made with the Mad Millie vegetable rennet tablets (I need to check my make sheet). Both cheeses had a very bitter taste. I still do have the last one in the cave which is probably 6 months old. Is it likely to have improved in that time or is that too long for a Caerphilly? It is vacuum packed.

Shane

[OzzieCheese]

@Shane - Mate I think the Caerphilly is at its best 3-5 weeks.  The Rennet tablets are not good and I haven't used them in years for that reason.  If you can get some - calf rennet is the "Gold Standard' but the liquid rennet I use from Green Living is excellent with no bitter effects - CHY-MAXTM Plus from Chr Hansen.
I usually find Caerphilly a very enjoyable, creamy with a slight tang.  If you leave it too long it becomes a bit bland.  Here is my make

It's a bit of a post but is how make it -

https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,13984.45.html

-- Mal

[shaneb]

Thanks Mal. I just looked in the cave and I think I must have turfed the Caerphilly. The make record shows I did use the rennet tablets. It was the last cheese where I used it. Since then I've been using Chymax vegetable rennet from Cheeselinks. I also have a bottle of this in my fridge which I haven't used yet. I'm assuming it's calf rennet. The strength is about half of what the veggie rennet is.

http://www.countrybrewer.com.au/products/Traditional-Rennet-%252d-140-IMCU%7B47%7Dml-50ml.html

I guess I'd better give it a go again then.

Thanks for the link to your make.

Shane q

[OzzieCheese]

Check out the the IMCU number.  They say it's 140 and the one I use is 200 IMCU so if you are using my make sheets you will need to do a bit of math to correct.  Example 3 mls of 200 IMCU = 4.28 mls of 140 IMCU 200x3=xtime140 for the ratio = 600/140 = 4.3 (give or take a drop or two). But this all depends on the milk,temp,pH and how you hold your hat!  But it's close.

-- Mal

[shaneb]

Thanks Mal. Yes, I kind of assumed that. The numbers are the same as yours. Have you used calf rennet before? I haven't used it yet. What are the expected differences? Will the calf rennet provide a better overall flavour in the cheese?

I have my humidity control hobbled together, but quite reliable now. My issues were voltage drop over the wire preventing the ultrasonic foggers from running effectively. I'll tidy it up soon and provide photos.

Shane

[shaneb]

Finally humidity control is working. I've got it set to 85%, but I suspect it may be a fair bit lower at the bottom of the cave. In in the process of replacing the shelves with timber and will look to improve on the air flow through the cave. Below is an updated photo of the cheddar, plus my humidity control equipment.

Shane