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Opened my first Gouda today- notes, general gushing, and a question about rinds

Started by Xnukwa, December 05, 2010, 07:26:15 PM

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Xnukwa

So I opened my first gouda today, and I am so excited.  After spending days reading the forums, scouring the internets, guessing and worrying, I got to taste proof that making cheese is totally worth the effort. 

My gouda was made using the recipe on the forum (recipes section), with homo milk from the store, MM100 culture, and tablet rennet from Danlac.  I pressed it in a bucket with another bucket as a follower (I now have a real mould, which is far nicer) using water as weight, and aged it in my sewing room (11-14C) in a large plastic bin.  I wiped it with brine and turned it every morning, replacing the mat daily, but it still had quite the little garden growing on it when I took it out today- mold sure grows fast!  The recipe said to age at least 2 weeks, and I figure that it's really hard to improve my cheesemaking skills if all I do is look at the cheese, so I cut it on day 17, and we swooned when we tasted.  If aging is going to make this better, then I am so very excited, because at just over 2 weeks this is already tastier than the gouda from the deli in town.  Right now we've got 3 quarters in the barbeque cold smoking (I want to get an idea of how long, so we're leaving each quarter in for a different time) and the 4th in the fridge as is.  Bring on the crackers!

I'm so thankful for these forums, as they've really been so helpful- I've totally abandoned my book, as it is far to vague to be helpful, and downright misleading sometimes.  But reading here I've mastered using flocculation, pressing under whey, and may even understand psi sometime this month:)  Thanks to everyone who shares so generously. 

And, finally, would anyone who oils their rinds mind giving me an idea of what the surface feels like- greasy, supple..., and what, if anything, grows on it.  Also, how often are you oiling and when do you begin- once the surface is dry, or a few weeks in?  I really want to avoid waxing and vacuum sealing for aging, at least until I understand more about the natural aging processes, although I do plan to get a vac sealer for storing, making wine bathed cheeses, and gifting (I'm too clumsy to wax).  I've been reading http://heinennellie.blogspot.com/ and it seems that I could just follow his lead but I'm not sure I'm brave enough to let all my cheeses get really hairy like he seems to do, even on his goudas. 

Boofer

Hi, Roberta. Welcome to the forum. Nice avatar...what's she doing? Congrats on your Gouda.

Yeah, I'm not so sure all cheeses need to be hairy.

I started out waxing, had some problems with mold and moisture under the wax and all of the tedium involved with the whole process, and made some early efforts at vacuum-sealing with a hand-operated sealer. Not great.

I moved on to vacuum-sealing with a FoodSaver and it does work very well for a lot of cheeses. Still, I wanted to harden up some of my rinds and go the natural rind route for a number of cheese styles. Within the past month I have done a Tomme with merlot-soaked rind, a Beaufort and two Goutalers. Those last three are currently having their rinds developed. One of the Goutaler wheels had its rind dried out of the whey-brine and has been in a minicave (Rubbermaid box) drying nicely. It showed a little cracking at the edge, so I lightly wiped it with EVOO. Much to my surprise, when I checked on it later, the EVOO had been absorbed and the rind once again appeared somewhat dry. I am currently monitoring it to ensure that the humidity stays up and the rind doesn't crack open. I have a wireless temp/humidity sensor in the box and can check on that remotely. The Beaufort is in its minicave in the cave undergoing a similar rind development. It too is being monitored remotely.

The important point to remember is to keep the humidity high enough that the cheese doesn't dry out and crack, and also to keep the bad guys away. I keep the baddies at bay by lightly wiping with vinegar and salt and then drying it off. Sometimes it's rather like the guy at the circus who has a bunch of plates spinning on spindles. Gotta keep 'em up in the air.

Right now, as I check, both cheeses are at 82% RH. The Goutaler is hopefully growing eyes @ 67.6F (week #2) while the Beaufort is quietly aging @ 52.7F.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Xnukwa

Thanks for the reply- the avatar is from Kate Greenaway's ABC, and she's chasing a ball. 

I appreciate the notes on the rind.  I'm not having any problem with them cracking- we live in coastal rainforest, and I actually took the dish of water out of my rubbermaid bin cave because it seemed too moist (I don't have a way to measure humidity, but everything in there is leaning towards damp, not dry). 

I hadn't thought of wiping with vinegar- the salt and brine doesn't seem to deter the mold, but I guess the vinegar would.  If I'm not trying to grow a specific type of mold, then that makes sense actually.  I wonder if cider vinegar would be okay? Do you wipe the same cheeses with olive oil that you use the vinegar on?

Boofer

Cider vinegar would most likely be fine.

The Goutaler I'm dealing with now has been wiped with EVOO twice and it looks like oil never touched it. I guess that's fine as long as the rind stays flexible so that I can grow eyes. I've also touched it up between EVOO treatments with the vinegar & salt wipe (just where I see white fluffs or little spots of blue). Occasionally I need to wet a new toothpick with vinegar and lightly dig out the bad places. I dry the spots with a clean paper towel after they're treated.

As I said, it's a constant vigilance thing. Stay on it and go away for the weekend or you'll come home to a big fluffy surprise. Early on I ignored a Swiss for a couple days and when I checked it I had some scrubbing/brushing to do with vinegar & salt. What a mess! I learned from that point not to take my cheeses for granted. They WILL NOT take care of themselves.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

DeejayDebi

Hello Roberta and congrats on your gouda.

I find that if I let the cheese wheels air dry for 2,3 or 4 days so the rind feels dry then add some EVOO to a piece of cheese cloth and apply it in a circular pattern it creates a nice smooth protective rind in short order. What I like best about this method is it keeps the rind very thin and you don't waste a lot of cheese. The first time the rind isn't formed so go lightly. As the rind begins to form you can increase pressure and after about 4 or 5 applications it will polish like a bowling ball impervious to molds. That is a good time to seal and age.

Xnukwa

Debi, thanks for the explanation.  Do you re-oil each day, or every couple, or...?

I'm wondering if you live in a damp or dry climate- I am having trouble with mold, and the gouda I tried oiling showed mold the morning after I oiled it (I hadn't had any before), so I was wondering if that somehow encouraged the stuff.  It's all a bit hard to pin down, as the one I didn't oil (just wiped with brine) also molded about 6-8 days into aging. 

DeejayDebi

Roberta I live in Connecticut cold winters fairly humid summers (lately). I have very dry heat though and can dehydrate a cheese in the winter over night if I don't put a cover on it. When you wash with brine dry it as good as you can with paper towels don't leave it sit wet. I just look at it if it looks shiney not dry I leave it if it looks dry I oil it. After about 5 or 6 Polishings it's has a nice thin rind and it's smooth as a baby's butt!  First week I may do it 2 or 3 times then maybe once a week or so.

BethGi

I had a few months' hiatus from cheesemaking, but returned to it last week. So I decided to go back and do another cheddar, which were many of my earliest cheese projects. It may not be as fancy as some, but remains one of my favorites. 

My initial cheddars came out a bit creamier and with a slight tang to them...not unpleasant, but not the smooth sharpness I had hoped for. So this time I am doing two things differently -- I did not add any lipase to the recipe, and I also am trying the 'oil rubbed rind' for a few weeks prior to vacuum bagging. My other attempts went into bags or wax immediately upon drying, and after much reading on this forum I am guessing that contributed to the problems I observed.

On a positive note, my pressing came out rather well -- though I still need to work on smoothing the wrinkles!


mikeradio

How did the smoking of your cheese go?  I have smoked store bought cheese in my smoker and it turns out great, the key
to it is to smoke it, then vacuum seal it and let it sit in the fridge for as long as you can wait, I try 3 to 4 weeks.
If you don't let the smoke mellow your cheese taste like and ash tray.

DeejayDebi

Definately let a smoked cheese sit at least over night in the fridge!