Brine - Using Whey instead of Water...

[Baby Chee]

I'm very new to cheesemaking, but read somewhere that whey is good for the cheese brine because of the calcium.

Anyone else use their whey for brine?

I've salted and vinegared up my first whey to create a pH 5.0 brine.  Any advice from anyone?  The cheeses are just Gouda so far, but I will begin Havarti soon.

[Cheese Head]

Baby Chee, I re-use my brine so it has lots of whey in it and is Calcium balanced. I've built some info pages on brine that should be useful. But looks like you are set to go, I have seen some others on this forum using whey for building their brine, I think Wayne boiled his first.

[DeejayDebi]

I often use my whey for the brining agent it works well.

[Baby Chee]

Oh good.

I'm always worried I might be doing something that could have unexpected effects in 3 months.  So far the 4 wheels of Gouda I made this week seem good, though.

Yesterday I did a softer press on a 4 lb. Gouda, using only 9 hours in the 50lb. press.  It had a clearly softer feel.  I'm hoping it might pick up more brine/salt.

[Michelle]

Hi John,
With regards to re using your brine, you should stress that you need to keep the salt levels topped up over time.  I know you know this, as I've read your info pages (very useful thanks!), but someone just looking at this post might not realise this.

Regards,
Michelle

[DeejayDebi]

Good point Michelle. If you reuse the same brine over and over this is necessary. I never reuse my brines. They would sit for to long IMHO and there's always more with the next batch. Of course you do htrow out alot of salt - but to me it's worth it.