Sous vide/immersion circulator for "cheddaring"

[gravity84]

Out of curiosity has anyone used an immersion circulator for the cheddaring process?  I was thinking of setting it to 100 F and putting the curd slab in a big ziploc and placing in the water, then draining out the excess whey every 30 min or so.  I'm not sure how the cutting and stacking part would go though.  Anyone done this or have any ideas of how to go about it?

[OzzieCheese]

The important part of the Cheddaring (Texturing) process is the weigh of the slabs actually pressing under their weight. This weight as well as the syneresis (the release of moisture contained within protein molecules) is what actually changes the slab into the texture of cooked Chicken Breast.  If you float mass the results might not be the same.  Never tried it, I suppose that what this is all about - experimentation.  Give it a go - Take photo's and let us all in on the results.

-- Mal

[gravity84]

Yeah I get the weight of curds and the pressing part being different. My thought is that maybe the buoyant force of water pushing would maybe do a similar thing. Like you said though, never know till I try, worst case I guess I'll end up with some halfway stirred curd halfway traditional midwaypoint or something.

[qdog1955]

You could try my method----I use a perforated pan  over the heat source and stack my curd block in that -----it then stays warm for the two plus hours it normally takes.
Some pics included.
Qdog

[OzzieCheese]

Yo Q !  That looks good   do you keep turning the stack ?

-- Mal

[qdog1955]

Mal,
I usually cut into four pieces and alternately flip about every twenty minutes until I reach my p/h.  This has made the cheddar process so much easier----mostly because I can easily keep the curd at the temp. I want ( 95 degrees) and that makes the p/h goal pretty predictable.
Qdog