Pepper Jack #1

[John@PC]

This is one of my favorite cheeses so it's a mystery why I waited so long to make it.  Maybe it was because my first one was a dud but it was very early on.  With exception of the pepper addition I followed Caldwell's recipe (times were a bit shorter as pH dropped pretty quick:

Ingredients:
-  2 gal. whole cows milk (low temp pasteurized)
-  1/4 plus tsp. MA11  (this was some 3 yr. old culture so I bumped it a bit)
-  1/16 tsp. CaCl2 powder; full 1/4 tsp. SS rennet
-  2 tsp. dried red chilies + 2 tsp. diced fresh jalapeno
-  3 tsp. salt

1.  Toasted jalapeno's a bit; boiled red chili pepper then strained peppers and reserved water
2.  Warmed milk to 80F; added cultures and continued heating to 88F
     (bone-head error here as I added the reserved pepper broth to the milk at this point; cultures didn't seem to mind though )
3.  Held at 88F for one hour (checked to see that pH was dropping to make sure I didn't kill the MA)
4.  Added about 20 drops of Annato for color; added CaCl2 then rennet:
5.  Clean break after 30 min; cut curd 1/2"; rest 5 min.
6.  Raised temperature to 102F over 45 min. stirring as needed
7.  Held at 102F stirring for 10 min to target 6.2 pH
8.  Removed about 1/2 gal. whey and replace with 60F water until whey was less than 88F
9.  Stirred washed curds for about 10 min., let settle 5 min.
10.  Whey'ed off as much as I could drain; did this in intervals stirring curds in between to prevent matting
11.  Added peppers and 1.5 tsp. salt; mixed and let mellow 10 min.
12.  Added balance of salt
13.  Transferred curds to mold; press as needed

Some comments:  Years ago I played around with a cloth-less 6" cylindrical polycarbonate mold with moderate success.  Thought I would try again with some finer mesh screen.  Along with not having to dress and redress all I'm doing is removing the mold, inverting it with the cheese inside and putting the follower on top.  So far so good but we'll see.  The press was one of my first (and still my favorite) compact press prototypes.

[DoctorCheese]

I just recently bought some MA11 for this exact use! What are the chances? I think you will be really happy with this cheese. In the future, maybe consider adding some chipotle. My chipotle pepper jack has been my most successful cheese. AC4U

[awakephd]

John, you've come back full-bore from your sabbatical. This is what, at least the 6th or 7th cheese you've made in the last couple of weeks? AC4U!

[cbenner33]

John those curds are a thing of beauty. I also love your mold what size is it and where can i get one?

[John@PC]

John those curds are a thing of beauty. I also love your mold what size is it and where can i get one?

Thanks.  This is a 6" ID x 1/8" thick polycarbonate cylinder mold that we used to make back when we were selling cheesemaking equipment but discontinued a couple of years back.  Right now we have our business on hiatus because I wanted to have time to (surprise) start making cheese again .  I also have some projects ongoing including updating our curd cutters (which do make some nice looking curds).   I'm also working on updating our product line and may bring back the "Clear Molds" now that we have a CNC router that we use to cut polycarbonate lids for our sous vide pans.    Will be a couple of month or so before we're back selling on our website and I will post a notice on the board.  Since this is a "non-retail aligned" forum I try to avoid anything that could be construed as advertising (at least overtly ).