Curd washing technique

[lazyeiger]

I am thinking of making this alpine Tomme http://www.cheesemaking.com/alpinetomme2.html

I have a question about this washing technique from the recipe

    "Allow the curds to settle to the bottom of the vat/pot
    Remove about 25% of the whey
    While stirring add back the same amount of hot water (120-130F) slowly over about 20 minutes

The final temperature should be about 108-110F. "

Adding hot water back over 20 minutes seems a bit cumbersome to me, is thare any reason that I couldn't remove 25% of the whey then add the same amount of water back at the same temperature then gradually heat  with my water bath while stirring to 108-110F over 20 minutes? it seems like that would be a lot more controllable/repeatable.

Thanks

Jon 

[Gregore]

I have 2 issues with the recipe

First they imply that the removal of the whey is what is Lessening the lactose but it really is the addition of the fresh water that is also at a much higher ph , tap water is in the 7 ph range .



Second issue is the heating to 108 to 110 , my understanding is tommes are not heated above 100 .

Not that it will not make a delicious cheese if heated above that , just that it will not be an alpine tomme , it will be closer to a Gouda .

Adding warm water back in a little at a time is actually quite easy ,  use a quart size canning jar and count how many you remove of the whey  , and have some warm water in a pot and use the same jar to add the warm water back in over the 20 minutes .  Adding too fast will cook the outside and hold the whey inside .

As for adding it all in at once not sure if this would effect the way the curd releases moisture or not .

I used this technique to save a tomme once that was dropping really fast in ph . ( not all tommes  are washed  curd tommes , which is what this recipe is . )  and if you choose not to wash it just treat the recipe the same but do not remove the whey and do not add water . But do cook for the same amount of time

[Gregore]

I also just noticed that they do not mention how to add the rennet by stirring for 1 minute to make sure it is well mixed ...... Unless I missed it some how .

I look at you posts and seen that you made enough cheese to know this just thought I would mention it for newer cheese makers that follow your link .

[awakephd]

It is an interesting question - whether adding back water at the same temperature as the whey, then heating to the final temperature, would give the same results as slowly adding in the hot water. I will say that I would greatly question whether 120-130° water is actually hot enough to raise the overall temperature to 108-110°.

If you are so inclined, try it and see what happens - and of course, report back the results!

[lazyeiger]

Well I am very nervous about this make, I started making cheese a couple of years ago and had great successes with unpressed cheeses like brie and Stilton. However as a UK expat living in US I really want to make a good Cheddar. My attempts where not good, everything tasted like processed cheese, you know the orange slices people like to put on their burgers!  So I gave up for about a year, now I am back, I have made 4 Camembert's and a blue Brie, all fantastic in fact the blue Brie was made with a P/H milk that was just horrible, the curds looked like egg drop soup! it is probably the best cheese I have ever made everyone loves it.  The a friend visited from Switzerland and brought us a beautiful Bergkase I love this cheese so much!  Then I came across the recipe for the Alpine Tomme and it seemed like a good compromise. so round 2 pressed cheese! I also found some raw milk for $10 a gallon, so I will try that as well!

[awakephd]

Well done on the bries, and glad you are back making cheese!

But we really can't let you give up on cheddars. Give us some details about your makes, and let's see if we can't get you on the path to success. Even with the P&H milk and UP cream that I am limited to, most of the cheddars I have made are so far beyond anything store bought that it is astonishing. Not trying to toot my own horn, because I'm confident that some of the others on this board can make mine pale in comparison! And I still don't feel that I've gotten all the variables right, at least not all at the same time. But I am wanting to encourage you to give it another go ... especially if you have raw milk to work with!!

Notice that I said, "most of the cheddars I have made." The first couple were totally uninspiring. But then I began to get the hang of it a bit more, and even more important, I began not even to think about trying them until they had aged at least 6 months. If you were trying yours any younger than that, it may be as simple as just giving them more time before consuming them - quite astonishing the transformation that occurs between 3 months and 6 months ... and 9 to 12 months is even better.

[lazyeiger]

well the topic turned out to be moot, as I decided not to do the wash at all. Here it is after brining, I was not sure how long to brine this, the original recipe said "The cheese now needs to be set in the brine for about 1.5 -1.75 hours per lb." However when I look at very similar recipes posted by Alpkäserei like this one https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=10373.msg77662#msg77662 he talks about brining a cheese made from 1 gallon of milk for 6 - 8 hours. anyway I went with 3 hours per side for a total of 6. here's what it looks like after brining.

[Danbo]

Very nice!

[awakephd]

Lazy, if you find that the cheese is undersalted when you try it, you might try putting it back in the brine to absorb more salt. I did that with some cheese a couple of years ago - I don't even remember which one. I tried it after a couple of months, and it definitely needed more, so I figured I'd give it a try, and it seemed to work, even though it had already aged for a while.