Cheddar Cultures

[Gina]

Don't know if this will help, but the other day I cultured 2 batches of thermo. One was originally from a purchased culture, the other an experiment from an inside cube (blended) from store-bought Parm-reg. Both were cultured in covered sterile glass mason jars in heat-treated skim milk cooled to 110* that were placed (neck deep) in a large-ish pot of 110* water placed over the stove-top pilot light to help retain heat. A couple times during the day the water was brought back to temp (jars removed while over the flame).  The generic thermo was jelled within 12 hours, and the unknown parm-reg understandably took longer to coagulate but was jelled by the morning.

These were then stirred well and then put into sano 2 and 4 oz plastic take-out type cups and frozen. No pH readings possible.

I did make an asiago type cheese using both of these yesterday and all went well.

[homeacremom]

Cheesemaking has been delayed for me as well this year (resulting in lots of goatcream butter in the freezer), but in a week or two I've got to hit the cheddar making before milk production drops off.
Thanks for all the feedback on this culture!

[nilo_669]

Ive been using combination of Meso and Thermo for my cheeses  and its really nice, right now im creating a recipe for my Blue Buffalo, using MM100, Thermo Type B and Flora Danica , if a recipe calls for 1/4 tsp its a matter of combining 3 ingredients sum up to 1/4 tsp. 

[Sailor Con Queso]

You're using the same cocktail mix on all of your cheeses?

Why do you say it's "really nice"?

[FRANCOIS]

From memory, FD has all the same strains as MM100, so you are wasting your time adding both.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Flora Danica = MM100 + LM57 (Leuc. m. cremoris). The LMC brings in a diacetyl flavor and a little CO2. Not the best choice for many cheeses.

[linuxboy]

Cheddar complex flavors and aromas actually mostly come from nonstarter lactic bacteria (NSLAB). These are lactobacilli that start growing and multiplying after the wheels are formed, and then autolyse over time to form the characteristic cheddar flavor.

LM actually has some nontraditional uses for cheddar. I'm developing an extended life fresh cheddar curd, for example, that has better flavor due to the diacetyl than normal fresh curd with only lactis and cremoris.

[homeacremom]

How much bulk culture do I need to add to the 1% of batch weight for priming? 

[homeacremom]

How much bulk culture do I need to add to the 1% of batch weight for priming?

Trying again...

Do I use the same amount of culture in the priming 1% of batch as I would have used if adding the powdered bulk culture directly?

I'm thinking I should use only enough to get a good active starter in 12 hrs and drop the acidity to 4.5... Can anyone tell me what they add to...say a qt. of milk?

[linuxboy]

1-2% bulk equivalent. Meaning 6.5-12 DCU per 100 liter of final primer volume when using danisco culture or 10-20 U when using CHR Hansen.

So yes, add enough to get to 4.5 in about 12-14 hours for meso.

Still writing an article on all the different options with bulk, DVI, and other media. That should clear things up.

[Sailor Con Queso]

I think what he is asking is the quantity of dry culture to add to a priming batch. In other words if you normally use 1/2 tsp of dry culture when making a cheese do you add the same 1/2 tsp to the primer milk? I'm guessing that you can get by with say 1/16 tsp. The quantity doesn't seem important because the bacteria are going to multiply in the primer milk anyway. The more dry culture that you add, the faster the primer will set and reach pH 4.5. That's the real target. The ripening temperature will also play a big role. If you ripen at room temp, the milk will set much slower than if you incubate at 100F. Again, doesn't matter because the bacteria will get there anyway, just a function of time.

Once you have the primer culture ready, THEN you add it at the rate of 1-2%. Calculate the volume of your milk and just add 1%. For example if you are making a 500 ounce batch, you would add 5 ounces of the primer. Because the bacteria are already very active, you will NOT have to ripen as long as the recipes call for. Francois suggested about 1/3 of the time. If the recipe calls for 60 minutes, you would just ripen for 20 minutes or so. HOWEVER, keep in mind that what you are really looking for is a pH drop of about .1 so the rennet will work more efficiently. Without a pH meter, you will have to experiment.

[homeacremom]

Thanks, sailor. I was trying to break down 10-20 U per 100 liter down to my small batch size. Sheesh, the volume gets miniscule... Cheesemaking terminology is all self taught here, so I'm sure my wording can be confusing. 

I make cheddar in batches of 46- 50lbs of milk (about 6 gallons).  The night before I'll take 8 oz. of milk and innoculate with the bulk culture... Choozit MA 19 or the CHR Hansen R-707 from this thread are my two options right now.

And, I DO have a ph meter, and use the .1 drop for the addition of rennet, 3x floc, 5.9- 6.0 for cutting, and 5.4 for milling.  I still use a 1/8 -1/4 tsp for measuring dry cultures which I know is not ideal. Time to targets comes out pretty close each batch though, so I'm not real motivated to use a gram scale.
If using a primer culture instead of bulk DVI culture makes a difference in timing, I should be able to catch it. I'll be watching.  A shorter make time would always be helpful!!

So yes, I wondered if there is something special about "priming" that differs from making  the "mother culture" all the beginning cheese books reference. It seemed like 1/2 tsp of culture in 8 oz was overkill if the goal was to activate the culture and hit a 4.5% in approx 12 hrs.

This probably all going to be in the article you are writing, linuxboy....
But I'll ask now.... is there any reason not to use more bulk DVI culture in the primer culture? For example, will the culture strength or balance ( especially in a more complex blend than these) be different if the 8 oz milk for pre priming, are innoculated with 1/16 tsp for 12 hrs or 1/2 tsp for for 4-6 or 8 hrs?
It sounds like it might not matter as long as the priming culture has activated to the proper level, and added to the batch at the proper ratio of 1-2%.

[linuxboy]

I think what he is asking is the quantity of dry culture to add to a priming batch. In other words if you normally use 1/2 tsp of dry culture when making a cheese do you add the same 1/2 tsp to the primer milk? I'm guessing that you can get by with say 1/16 tsp. The quantity doesn't seem important because the bacteria are going to multiply in the primer milk anyway. The more dry culture that you add, the faster the primer will set and reach pH 4.5. That's the real target.

Right, Sailor, and just to add my understanding, you add the amount required to get to the final amount of primer at a bulk equivalent rate of 1-2%. Meaning if you wanted to make 100 liters of primer, you would add 6-13 DCU or 10-20 U and then refrigerate or freeze when the pH hits 4.5 (for meso). If the desired primer amount is something like 8 ounces, which is somewhere around .24 liters, then the proper culture amount would be .0154 DCU. In the Danisco world, a DCU is usually about .224 grams, so we're talking about an inoculant amount of .0034496 grams for 8 ounces of skim milk. But practically, what it amounts to is just putting in a tiny amount, about 1/32 or 1/16 tsp for the normal starter amount of 1-2 quarts for the typical batch sizes hobbyist makers make.

I will add that commercial culture rotation systems sometimes will use what we call in this thread a primer, then reculture that, and use the recultured product as the inoculant. In that system, the original primer amount is not 1% but more like 2-5%.

But I'll ask now.... is there any reason not to use more bulk DVI culture in the primer culture? For example, will the culture strength or balance ( especially in a more complex blend than these) be different if the 8 oz milk for pre priming, are innoculated with 1/16 tsp for 12 hrs or 1/2 tsp for for 4-6 or 8 hrs?
It sounds like it might not matter as long as the priming culture has activated to the proper level, and added to the batch at the proper ratio of 1-2%.

It's good to ask now. I won't be done for a month, not until after ACS is over. It actually does matter, but not always. It depends on the DVI culture you are using. If you are using a culture where individual strains are grown and mixed in after they are freeze dried, then you must ensure that the ratio of those strains is the same in the final primer product. This is easier to do when adding more starter to begin with. Also, there's a bacteria growth curve starting from lag phase, going to multiplication, going to maintenance. When you hit 4.5, you want the majority to be in a maintenance phase. If you severely under or overpitch, they may not be there. Also, the temp matters. Aromatic bacteria like Leuconostoc cannot compete with very aggressive normal bacteria like Lactococcus lactis when you get to the moderate range of temps, say above 85F.

For normal cheddar culture, it's very forgiving, so long as you refrigerate or freeze when it hits 4.5 to prevent acid damage and practice aseptic handling.

[Sailor Con Queso]

If you are using a culture where individual strains are grown and mixed in after they are freeze dried, then you must ensure that the ratio of those strains is the same in the final primer product.

This has been my hesitation about jumping into mother cultures. Some bacteria multiply more aggressively than others. So if you start with a 3 strain dry mix those 3 strains may be 25/45/30% respectively. However, if strain #1 is more aggressive you may end up with 45/30/25% after incubating a mother culture. The only real way to maintain exact ratios is to maintain separate mother cultures of each strain and add to the milk as starters in the correct proportions. Obviously that's not practical, so how do you maintain ratio integrity? That was one of the attractions for me when Francois mentioned primer cultures. Since a fresh batch would be cultured and used with every batch of cheese, on the surface this seems like it would hold ratio integrity better than a true mother culture. My rationale is that the mother culture is larger and typically used for 2 or more batches of cheese. Even at refrigeration temperatures, bacteria continue to multiply so the longer a mother culture is held, the larger the margin of ratio error.

[linuxboy]

Sailor, do you remember that discussion I had with JD in the cheddar pH thread? I recommended to make an initial batch of mother culture from DVI, freeze that, and only use that first generation. That will work for any culture, and the ratio will be very very close. The only thing you might need to do is watch the temps. Like for aromatic meso, have to watch the strain dominance and always culture at the same temp. If you're serious about using a starter, I would recommend culturing in an incubator or similar method of temp control.

A true mother culture, even for aromatic meso, has non-specific, often undefined strains. So you'll get 40-100 strains sometimes, and the cultures are fairly well established.

Also, at refrigerator temp, provided you have no psychotrophs, meso bacteria will just barely multiply. They do get damaged due to the acid, though.

With thermo, it's a bit of a different story because like for LH cheeses, they will actually start out with a low CFU/g in the cheese, and will multiply as the cheese ages. ST is a slightly different beast, so for ST cheeses, I would recommend culturing ST and LH separately. Same for bulgaricus, because bulgaricus will really crank up the acidity unless you use it right away.