Red Leicester (Almost)

[Beans]

Leicester cheese
It was supposed to be Red Leicester but my annatto was old and didn't color the cheese 

Ingredients:
5 gallons of whole milk
MA4001
1 tsp Calcium Chloride
11ml Rennet

1030 added culture and heated the milk to 85F
1130 added CC and Rennet
1145 Flocculation  15 x 4 =60 min
1230 cut at 1" and rested for 10
1240 cut to ¼ "
Slowly raised temp to 95 (1 hour)
1340 curd was moderately firm to the touch
Removed whey to 1" above curds
Drained remaining whey and scooped into square container lined with plyban. Placed a small cutting board and a gallon of water on top for weight.
1430 Started to cheddar - sliced in half and flipped
1500 sliced in half and flipped
1600 sliced in half and flipped.  PH was now 5.7

Broke mass in ¾" chunks and salted at 2.5%
Used my large M2 mold
1st press at 45lb for 2 hours
2nd press at 90lb for 12 hours
3rd press at 300lb for 24 hours

The knit looked pretty good so I covered it with lard soaked muslin and pressed at 300lb for an additional 12 hours. 

Placed into cave. Will most likely vac-pac at 5 or so weeks and age to 6 months.  Other than the old annatto problem the make went pretty easy.

[AnnDee]

Red Lancashire or red Leicester?
Whichever it is, it looks nice!

[Beans]

Red Lancashire or red Leicester?
Whichever it is, it looks nice!

Your right Ann, its Leicester

[nccheesemike]

Nice looking cheese!! AC4U!!

[DoctorCheese]

What do you use for 200 lb of weight?

[Beans]

What do you use for 200 lb of weight?

Made a pneumatic press a few years ago.  Found a used 3" cylinder on Ebay and went from there.  Makes pressing much easier.  With the use of a regulator you can press from 10lb to 750 by just spinning a dial.  If your interested I think the one i copied was somewhere on this site.