"First Cheese" Camembert #1

[rgreenberg2000]

Well, after gathering up the stuff I needed to make cheese, I finally got my first one done today (well, in the cave anyway.)  This is actually my second cheese.  I made a brie about 5 years ago, then life got in the way, and it took until now for me to get back to making some cheese at home.  Anyway, I made what was supposed to be two camembert cheeses, however, one of them did not survive one of the flips, so all the pressure is on his remaining twin! :|

I used the recipe in Mary Karlin's book, and adjusted it for two cams (good things, else I might have none!)  Everything other than the one erroneous flip went pretty smoothly, and I ended up with what I think is a pretty nice looking wheel of camembert:



That pic was just before salting, which is now done, and I have the cam resting in a plastic box in my repurposed homebrew fermentation fridge.  It looks lonely in there, so I think I'd better get moving and make up some more to keep it company!

Anyway, happy to be in the saddle again, and looking forward to seeing some white mold growth soon.  I'll post back some updates here as this progresses.

Thanks for lookin'!

Rich

[rgreenberg2000]

In case anyone is interested, and to create a history here for myself, here is the recipe and steps in the make process (none of which are likely to be very new to anyone here!)   The original recipe in Karlin's book makes a single wheel, so the quantities below are doubled from the recipe for two wheels.

6 qts           Whole milk
1/2 tsp   MA4002 mesophilic starter
1/4 tsp   Penicillium candidum powder
1/2 tsp   Calcium chloride (diluted in 1/4 water)
1/2 tsp   Rennet (diluted in 1/4 cup water)
10 Tbsp   kosher salt

Time of Day   Step Time   Temp   Step
11:15 AM           0:15                      Add milk to pot and heat to 90 degrees
11:30 AM           1:30           90           Sprinkle starter and mold powder over milk, rehydrate then stir in for 1-2 minutes
1:00 PM           0:05           90           Add calcium chloride and gently stir.  Then add rennet and stire.  Cover until clean break
1:05 PM           0:05           90           Cut curds into 1/4-1/2 pieces and let sit for 5 minutes.
1:10 PM           1:10           90           Stir gently with a spatula then ladle off 1/3 of whey.  Gently stir in salt.
2:20 PM           1:30           90           Ladle curds into 4" mold, let drain at room temperature until set enough to flip
3:50 PM           2:00           RT           Flip cheese, then flip every hour for 5 hours (or until it stops draining)

[River Bottom Farm]

Looks good so far RG. That is a lot of pc in my experience though. It shouldnt hurt anything but usually a small scewer tip (like a kabob scewer) is enough to inoculate a batch of around 3 gallons unless you are using scrapings from the rind of another cheese. AC4U and your very complete post with a good looking cheese!

[rgreenberg2000]

RBF, thanks for the feedback!  It did seem like a fairly large amount, but I just went with what was in the recipe.  Pretty sure it'll make cheese nonetheless, but I'm a fan of not squandering ingredients where I don't need to.

I was a bit concerned that I had offended the gods of cheese by killing off one of my camemberts, so I whipped up another make this morning which seems to be going well so far.......at least, all of the offspring are still accounted for anwyay!



Cheers,
RG

[River Bottom Farm]

Nice! Hope they all work out for you! Are you using a ripening box in the cave to keep them happy?

[scasnerkay]

Congratulations on getting back into making cheese!! Enjoy!

[rgreenberg2000]

Nice! Hope they all work out for you! Are you using a ripening box in the cave to keep them happy?

RBF, yes, using boxes to keep the humidity up.  Things are going well so far, just waiting on the PC to show up!

R

[rgreenberg2000]

Congratulations on getting back into making cheese!! Enjoy!

Thanks, Susan!

[rgreenberg2000]

Good morning, CF!  So I went in this morning to turn the Camembert, and I've definitely got yeast.  There is quite an aroma of baker's yeast present, and currently, they look like this:



I'm going to drop the humidity a bit to see if I can beat back the yeast.  Anything else I should do here?  Any major concerns about where this cheese is heading?

Thanks!

R

[CarlB]

Morning!

Looks to have developed quite a rind in a short time.  Here's a pic of my brie this morning, I made it on Jan. 2 (it defies gravity):

Not wrinkled but a nice coat of PC.  My cave is 43 degrees F and I keep the lid cracked on the container.  I'm sure others will chime in.

[Dorchestercheese]

Two things I found that worked for me after my first few attempts which melted down to a gooy paste quickly.
I dry mine after coming out of the mold well over a few days until the surface has no real moisture. Then drop the temp  50s and increase moisture. Wait flip twice daily. When I get a good coat of PC. They go in the real fridge 43F for two months wrapped in cam paper.

[rgreenberg2000]

Two things I found that worked for me after my first few attempts which melted down to a gooy paste quickly.
I dry mine after coming out of the mold well over a few days until the surface has no real moisture. Then drop the temp  50s and increase moisture. Wait flip twice daily. When I get a good coat of PC. They go in the real fridge 43F for two months wrapped in cam paper.

Interesting approach!  We'll see how these go, and I think I'll definitely give your process a go the next time I make camembert or brie.  Just curious, what %RH do you shoot for when you are doing your cave aging on these?  Karlin says 85%, Carroll says 95%.  95% seems just to wet to me, so I've been trying to keep my current ones at about 80-85%.

Thanks for the feedback!

R

[Dorchestercheese]

I keep them in a box lid ajar in the cheese fridge. I suspect around 90 as my fridge is at 85 or so.

[CarlB]

Best of luck

[awakephd]

In case anyone is interested, and to create a history here for myself, here is the recipe and steps in the make process (none of which are likely to be very new to anyone here!)   The original recipe in Karlin's book makes a single wheel, so the quantities below are doubled from the recipe for two wheels.

6 qts           Whole milk
1/2 tsp   MA4002 mesophilic starter
1/4 tsp   Penicillium candidum powder
1/2 tsp   Calcium chloride (diluted in 1/4 water)
1/2 tsp   Rennet (diluted in 1/4 cup water)
10 Tbsp   kosher salt

Time of Day   Step Time   Temp   Step
11:15 AM           0:15                      Add milk to pot and heat to 90 degrees
11:30 AM           1:30           90           Sprinkle starter and mold powder over milk, rehydrate then stir in for 1-2 minutes
1:00 PM           0:05           90           Add calcium chloride and gently stir.  Then add rennet and stire.  Cover until clean break
1:05 PM           0:05           90           Cut curds into 1/4-1/2 pieces and let sit for 5 minutes.
1:10 PM           1:10           90           Stir gently with a spatula then ladle off 1/3 of whey.  Gently stir in salt.
2:20 PM           1:30           90           Ladle curds into 4" mold, let drain at room temperature until set enough to flip
3:50 PM           2:00           RT           Flip cheese, then flip every hour for 5 hours (or until it stops draining)

Interesting differences in your make from what I have used. For a long time now I've been using a slightly modified version of "Malembert" (recipe from Mal, OzzieCheese on this forum).

• If I remember my cultures correctly, the MA4000 series contains some thermo as well as the primary meso culture. I think this will give you a more "stabilized" result - longer ripening time, longer shelf life. Take this with a grain of salt - I am just getting back into cheese making after a one-year hiatus - though two of the five cheeses I've made in the last two months have been camemberts.
• As others have said, way too much PC. It shouldn't hurt, but you don't need to use it up that fast. For a 2+ gallon make (2 gallons of whole milk plus 1 pt of cream), I use 1/32 tsp of PC.


• Most recipes I've seen, including the one I use, call for a little Geo added as well - I use 1/64 tsp in my 2+ gallon makes. Geo occurs naturally, so maybe not needed ...


• Here's the one I really find surprising: most recipes that I have seen, including the one I use, add the salt only after the cheese has been in the mold for a day or two. I would be concerned that adding the salt before the curds go into the mold would slow down the acid development too much - you want the curds to hit pH of 4.6 or so, basically to "bottom out" in the acid production. Then the action of the PC slowly raises the pH until the magical transformation from chalky, crumbly curd to gooey goodness occurs. A side benefit of salting after rather than during the make is using a lot less salt. FWIW, when I take the cams out of the mold - after at least 24 hours and having flipped several times - I use a total of 1-1/2 Tbs of salt rubbed onto the outside of the cheeses made from 2+ gallons of milk. Since I make 3 6" cams in this make, that works out to 3/4 tsp of salt per top and bottom of each of the 3 cams.

Of course, in the end, the question is not what recipe you use, it is getting results that you enjoy. More than one way to skin the cat ... or the cheese! I look forward to hearing how yours turns out!