8 gl fresh milk Monterey Jack (pix)

[Dukesterct]

Hello everyone

This past Wed I got 8 gl of still warmly fresh cow's milk and proceeded to experiment with a Gouda/Monterey Jack kinda of cheese. I didn't have buttermilk Mesophilic culture so I settle for what I had (MM101).

Also I used Dave's aka Likespace recipe (thanks) for Gouda cheese which has work wonderfully for me. As I like to experiment, I decided to wash the curd twice instead of three times, while stirring the curds I pressed them in the pot and poured out most of the free run whey, mixed one cup the pickled hot peppers, and to the press it went.

This past May we went on Vacation to my Native Azores Islands, one of the small projects I work on my my Dad was to turn on the wood lathe a couple of 8 inch mold followers and 4 of 6 inch followers, using some African wood supposedly "harder than nails" (dad's quote).

As you can see one face of each follower has a concave face,



Took my time warming up the milk to 86 F degrees



Adding 3 smidgen of anatto




1.5 tsp of rennet gave me twelve minutes of coagulation, times three and 36 minutes later I cut the curds using this "special" curd knife made out of a 7/8 inch strip of Stainless metal sheeting. The vertical cuts are made with the long part and the horizontal cuts are made by running the "knife" along the edge of the pot moving it downward one  1/4 of and inch at the time as I go around, It works for me!   






Out of the mold and after shaving minor burrs around to top and bottom edges , I put it in saturated salt brine until tonight.



It looks rough to me and honestely I have no idea of what kind of cheese to expect here 

Oh I started pressing at 0.8 lbs PSI for 20 minutes, flipped it and did the same pressing, flipped it again and increassed the pressure to 1.5 PSI for 30 minutes on each side, after that I pressed overnight under 3.5 PSI.

All coments are welcome, thank you.

JoeD

[Boofer]

Looks great. Nice write-up & pics.

One question: with fresh cow's milk, why add the annatto? Doesn't it already have good golden color?

-Boofer-

[BigCheese]

You have the same Bayou Classic burner that I use. I have been doing a water bath with one 60-some quart pot and one 44 qt pot inside of it. Works great.

Boofer: The raw milk does not give much color. Also depends on what the cows are eating. My experience has been that my better is very yellow, but cheese has only the slightest hue w/o annatto.

[FarmerJd]

JoeD, great pics. Cheese looks great.


Boofer, My raw milk produces a nice, yellow cheese but something about the orange color "makes" it cheddar for my family, so we use the annatto too.

[Dukesterct]

Thanks all

In a couple of weeks the true color will start to show as rind develops. I have used 2 smidgen of annatto for a store bought six gallon Gouda cheese, I was please with the results.

On this particular experiment, I shot for a bit darker color thus the extra smidgen of annatto and the bit extra from fresh milk.

I'm going to try to convince my new friend farmer to separate his Jersey's milk for my cheese making...that would be super nice, even if it'll cost me an extra bag of feed    

[Boofer]

Boofer, My raw milk produces a nice, yellow cheese but something about the orange color "makes" it cheddar for my family, so we use the annatto too.

I understand the use of annatto for cheddar and other cheese styles, but the style Joe referenced was Gouda/Monterey Jack, which in my mind typically tends towards white or off-white. Not being critical...just wondering.

I just bought my first raw milk to make my first Monterey Jack. To my surprise I ended up with a very yellow cheese of some kind without using any annatto. Not really what I expected. I can't fault the milk because the yellow means beta-carotene from grass-fed cows, which is healthier than industrial milk from feedlot cows.

Why can't we all have raw milk from grass-fed cows? <<== Purely rhetorical question.

-Boofer-

[DeejayDebi]

Boofer

My raw milk cheese are somewhat tan but not cheddar yellow. Seems like the harder the cheese the darker the color as it ages. Young cheeses are pale tan. I rarely use anatto. The color is almost good enough for my fussy son who won't eat white cheddar cheese for some reason as long as it is 8 months or older.

[FarmerJd]

Boofer, you are right about the jack and gouda being white and I usually leave them white/yellow; but I have made jack with the color and everyone thinks its cheddar. That was my point but I didn't say it right. I am the only connoisseur in my home who distinguishes the taste and not just the color.   (Except for blue )

[Boofer]

I'll document my first (mysterious) raw milk cheese in another thread.

Seems like a lot of what we see on this forum are successes. Well, I'm here to show you the way to the dark side....    

-Boofer-