Beaufort Trials - Experimental Design. Input, Please

[ArnaudForestier]

Hello All. 

Well, now that my poor, toady-skinned little reblochons are now cooling their jets, literally, in my regular refrigerator, I have decided to return to my first love, Beaufort, in an effort to really plumb the depths of this cheese. 

The design below is just my gleanings from my conversations with Linuxboy, Francois, Iratherfly, and SailorConQueso; with a heartfelt thanks to them all.  I have combined those thoughts with my reading of the French AOC materials for Beaufort, to come up with the following design.  Any and all input is much appreciated. 

My overarching goal here, absent living in the Savoie (for now, and now only), practicing as they practice there and using des flores comme ils existent en nature, là, is to use manufactured cultures to learn something about processes and dynamics, in a fairly methodical way.

So, Design.  For each Beaufort make,

•   All will be 5 gallons milk (presume a constant, in intrinsic meso cultures);
•   All will get a 1.0% thermo primer culture of ideal pH 4.0, composed of 50% ST, 50% LH100;
•   All will get 1/24 tsp. propionic/5 gallons milk;
•   All will be renneted at ideal 6.65; 
o   Ideal milk incoming pH of 6.7, thus, an 0.05 pH drop for renneting.  Higher or lower milk pH will adjust pH drop to hit at 6.65 (if milk comes in below 6.7, will still do at least 0.05 pH drop).  If higher than 6.7, will increase delta pH to hit 6.65 and decrease renneting dosage, all to make sure of at least delta (-) 0.05 pH
o   All to achieve a very slow floc of 25 min. floc;
•   All will get 2.5 multiplier;
•   All will be shooting for hoop pH of ideally 6.45;
•   All will get target end-of-press and cooling period pH of 5.3-5.4

Trials:
1.   PLA
2.   Above, + MVA
3.   Above, + MVA + R2R
4.   (1-3), + FR22
5.   (1-3), + FR13
6.   (1-3), + FR13 (50%)+FR22 (50%)


Each wheel will receive a dry salting regimen at the end of pressing and cooling of 2x24hr application of flaked salt, sides and edge salted once daily and turned at 12 hour intervals.

Each wheel maintained at identical temp and RH of 52-55F, 95-98% RH.

Each wheel tried monthly with an apple corer trier beginning at 4 months and ending at 12 months.

[Tomer1]

Thats an impressive feat!

[ArnaudForestier]

Well, thanks, Tomer.  But not yet - lots of work ahead! 

(BTW - edit made to the above trials was to simplify the approach somewhat - using PLA as a base blend, and going from there, so only 6 wheels).

[Helen]

Paul,

May I ask what you are trying to achieve by a long flocculation time?

Thanks
- Helen

[ArnaudForestier]

Helen, this understanding was given by Pav - and any errors in that recollection are mine, so hopefully Pav will chime in, if so. 

Basically, for a quality curd, you can't beat slow and steady.  You're looking for a good distribution of enzymatic cleaving (rennin cleaves the k-casein micelle at the F105-M106 bond, releasing the glycopeptide sequence into the whey; leaving a para-casein fraction that aids in coagulum bonding), and non-enzymatic bonding (when the micelles begin to adhere and fix, into a curd).  Basically, all other things being equal, doing this slowly promotes an even formation of the gel matrix - it's not "clunky" as the biochemical processes of rennet-induced coagulation proceed in an orderly, even, and relatively complete way.

Hope that's about right, for a short answer.  (Pav, apologies if wrong - if reading, would love your correction). 

For me, I'm looking for a fairly dry, but elastic curd, so seek the preservation of colloidal calcium during the make - don't want to lose it all (I'm exaggerating, as it's not ever "all" lost to the whey), in order to set up the proper textural qualities I'm looking for in my Beauforts. 

Now - please forgive the following segue.  I hope it's helpful, in the way of providing a bit of a philosophy towards all this, speaking only personally. 

Firstly, I'm by nature a traditionalist, tending to orthodoxy when it comes to food (French technique and culinary philosophy, wine, etc. - I've been a part of all them).  I tend to seek a mastery of fundamental technique, and tend to eschew emphasizing my own creativity, to whatever extent I possess it (or not).  So, in a word, both from having lived with a Japanese martial and zen master, as well as having been trained and experienced in traditional French cooking since childhood, that's the prism by which I tend to operate.

I only give this brief bio, so you know my bent.  In terms of these makes, firstly, it's what I see when reading the French materials, so it starts there. I think the good of this approach is that I tend to be extremely rigorous in my desire to achieve simplicity, and a kind of purity of expression; again, from my former life as a chef, an autumn game dish that while simple, lacking "wizardry," captures the very heart - the literal emotional seat - of the season, and of the animal that sits at the center of the presentation.

Then I get curious as to why.  Much like a step-mash in making a traditional, decocted (partially boiled, much like the purpose of using a hot wash water to raise the  temp of washed-curd cheese), German dark lager; I'll see a temp step described somewhere, and want to understand the reasoning.  Say, a temp-rest at around 45C - why?  (a "beta-glucans" rest - when using grains or malts high in beta-glucans, a kind of "ficelles tout embrouillés" situation, which requires a longish-rest at this temp to disentangle the "fringed micelles" and ensures you don't end up with a gummy mess).

So, by virture of Pav's generosity, as I say above, I'm seeking to capture in my Beauforts what I can of their traditional makes and sensory qualities; and that involves encouraging a good retention of colloidal calcium, and down the stream. a quality, good, firm but elastic paste.   

[iratherfly]

Hmmmm... How do you know the flocculation time you will achieve? It has a lot to do with the condition of milk and environment. 25 minutes is quite long. you can delay it with less starter and lower temperatures but it will decrease the effectiveness of your starter cultures. 

•   All will get a 1.0% thermo primer culture of ideal pH 4.0, composed of 50% ST, 50% LH100;

Why did you choose that? what's the temp you will be working with?
For 5 gal. batch I would do 3/4 tsp starter. Use a farmstead culture like the MA4001. It already contains the same Lactis that is in LH100 (and other goodies such ad Cremoris and Diacetyls) but it also contains the same thermophilics that are in TA50.  You can enhance the thermophilic aspect by adding an extra pinch of TA50.  Alternatively, you can use Kazu starter. It's like the MA4001 but instead of TA50 as thermophilic it has helveticus which may fit the alpine flavor profile better. (Francois? Linuxboy? What do you think?)

•   All will get 1/24 tsp. propionic/5 gallons milk;

I would use at least 1/2 teaspoon is not 3/4. You do need relatively more in small batches.

[linuxboy]

Use a farmstead culture like the MA4001

This will not make a Beaufort.

It already contains the same Lactis that is in LH100

No it doesn't. It has lactococcus not delbruecki.

thermophilic aspect by adding an extra pinch of TA50

This does little for flavor or paste formation in the final cheese.

helveticus which may fit the alpine flavor profile better.

Kazu is intended for specialty dutch type cheese. Helveticus here on Kazu is for paste formation and some added flavor because the milk is pasteurized for that cheese type.

a 50/50 TA/LH is a decent starting point for Beaufort. In terms of flavor formation, it'll be alright. Not superb because the strains are wrong, but very good in terms of understanding and learning the make.

[ArnaudForestier]

Thanks, Pav.  Yoav, I was typing a reply, but Pav's is pretty much the long and short of it.  Which would make sense, as everything I've learned has come from discussions with him, as well as Francois, with a big thanks to Sailor as well for his work. 

I've worked pretty hard to understand the dynamics, species and expectations of this breed. Not at all "arguing by reference to authority," most obviously because I make no claim to even getting it right, that which they've been so generous in sharing their time with me about; but I think if you'll comb the Beaufort threads, to include my two chronicles as well, it might help better see the many points guiding my aims, in working on this cheese. 

As Pav concludes - well, basically, my family and I need to move to the Savoie, most likely, as what I'm after is pretty intensely tied to the flora, geography and traditions indigenous to that part of the world. 

Until then, or in lieu of that, I have to work to understand the underlying principles behind this style - its traditions, ingredients and methods - and do my best to parse it with what's available to me here, in the States.  I'm pretty confident that by sticking to that approach I will - as my late Sensei (his name was Tenzan Fumio Toyoda) once said to me, "master this, and you can master anything."   

[iratherfly]

Sorry you guys, I did not mean to disrespect anyone's time or good advice. I was merely trying to bring out these points because that would have been my approach but this was more of a "worth looking into this" inquiry rather than any sort of concrete opinion., hence the

(Francois? Linuxboy? What do you think?)

I am glad my other opinions about dose size weren't trashed   My question about coagulation time and temperature of make still stand.

Paul - I am not an expert on making Beaufort; I have never made any but I did my share of tasting this great cheese.

Pav - I suggested the MA4001 simply because It contains Streptococcus thermophilus which are the main component of the TA50 culture, as well as Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis which is the mesophilic component of the LH100 (and it has 2 other mesos; Cremoris, Diacetylactis).  I suggested Kazu because it contains both the mesophilic and the thermophilic of LH100.  HOWEVER...

No it doesn't. It has lactococcus not delbruecki.

Grrr... sorry, my bad! I must have looked at the wrong box in my too-long chart. Don't have it in front of me now but thanks for correcting me.

I asked for the recipe's temperatures because I don't actually know the recipe - is this a thermo recipe? If so than these are indeed useless.

This does little for flavor or paste formation in the final cheese.

Adding the pinch of TA50 to MA4001 meant to double up on the Streptococcus thermophilus that is already in the MA4001, so together they would give enough thermophilic activity.  Why wouldn't this work?  I noticed Peter Dixon does that a lot.

Has anyone here actually made Beaufort before? Anything close to it?

[ArnaudForestier]

Oh, Yoav, my skin's certainly not ruffled.  In terms of approaches, I'll need to emphasize again that I'm a traditionalist; I seek to capture the intrinsic character of the cheese, and the best way I know to do that is to stick to a few things, isolate out the variables, and then work at them until I feel I've exhausted them. 

I asked for temperatures because I don't actually know the recipe - is this a thermo recipe?

Yes.  As with all of these - Gruyère, Comté, Beaufort - they're all cooked, pressed cheeses, using thermophilic SLABs, as well as other autochthonous cultures. 

I guess that's like using thermo C with some thermo (Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis)

As I mentioned, a lot of this was covered in some other threads.  Here, for instance:

It seems the MA001 is discontinued; the only difference, as I can see it, between the MM100 and MA19 is the diacetylis in the former (however, not sure of the ratio differences).  Thermo C contains both S. thermophilus, and L. helveticus.  It lacks LH100's L. lactis.

Can someone discuss substitutions, here?  Would one expect more "buttery" notes than desired in a Beaufort, if using MM100, and what the lack of L. lactis would mean, if using Thermo C instead of LH?  Basically, among 4001, Thermo C, and MM100, curious on what using some combination of these would mean. 

-it continues from there.  Worth reading.

Has anyone here actually made Beaufort before?

I've made 3 so far.

Anything close to it?

We'll see.

Edit:  Just saw these, sorry:

I am glad my other opinions about dose size weren't trashed  

I don't see anyone trashing anything, Yoav.  As a general statement, I know our approaches are very different, but that's great - that's what makes this world so interesting.

I can only speak personally, but I just know I've spent a heck of a lot of time over the last sveral months (most of the entirety of my time in cheese making, period actually), investigating this style; that would include voluminous exchanges with Pav, and with Francois; reading up on the scientific texts; journals; videos and cultural discussions of Savoie making. 

Not bloviating, just trying to say that I don't see it as trashing, but perhaps just a disagreement as to approaches, etc. 

I will say I feel your propionic notion:

       

All will get 1/24 tsp. propionic/5 gallons milk;

I would use at least 1/2 teaspoon is not 3/4. You do need relatively more in small batches.

Is likely considerably off, particularly for Beaufort.  Remember, of the alpine breeds, Beaufort is the lowest in prop. acid, strikingly so (I posted before, from the French); again, there has been some ground covered here already:

General comments, from my reading of the Beaufort documentation.

Compositional comparison, comparing Beaufort to (French) Emmental Grand Cru and Comté:

    * Salt, g/kg: EGC: 3-6; Comté: 4-10; Beaufort: 8-13.  Among these 3, Beaufort is most heavily salted.  Makes sense to me, both in terms of its relative propionic inhibition (see below), and flavor, among other things.

    * Propionic Acid, g/kg: EGC: 2.5-5; Comté: 1-4; Beaufort: 0.05-0.2.  I find this striking, and helpful in terms of trying to achieve the profile.

    * Calcium level, g/kg: EGC: 9-10; Comté: 9-11; Beaufort: 8-10.  Lowest of the three, though not dramatically so.  Gives me a "hmm" in terms of thinking on whey drain pH, etc.

It has anywhere from no to very little eye formation, as well.  My feeling is that your increasing my current prop. shermanii dosage by from 12X to 18X would throw this cheese pretty wildly out of balance.  What's your reasoning?

My question about coagulation time and temperature of make still stand.

Why?  I don't see how you can do a mesophilic make and still call it Beaufort, or indeed any alpine breed in the Gruyere family.

[iratherfly]

Sorry, I re-edited my answer to make it more lucid. Yours is more clear to me now too.

The MM100 and MA4001 are close to each other. They both contains 3 mesophilics: Lactococcus lactis subspecies lactis, Lactococcus lactis subspecies cremoris and Lactococcus lactis subspecies biovar diacetylactis.  The MA4001 however also contains a thermophilic; Streptococcus thermophilus which is what's in TA50 if I am not mistaken.

[ArnaudForestier]

Sorry, I re-edited my answer to make it more lucid. Yours is more clear to me now too.

Not sure what you're referring to that was unclear to you, Yoav, but glad whatever it was has helped make things more clear, now.

The MM100 and MA4001 are close to each other. They both contains 3 mesophilics: Lactococcus lactis subspecies lactis, Lactococcus lactis subspecies cremoris and Lactococcus lactis subspecies biovar diacetylactis.  The MA4001 however also contains a thermophilic; Streptococcus thermophilus which is what's in TA50 if I am not mistaken.

I personally don't think it's enough to say two manufactured cultures contain the same species and ssp; says nothing about ratios, for instance, so you don't know how much of a certain culture you're adding, relative to others, at least without knowing and/or saying more.  It also doesn't really speak to strains, which can differ. 

Guess I'm not sure where you're going with this?  Basically, trying to say MA4001 is fine, after all, in making Beaufort?

[ArnaudForestier]

Sorry, also just saw this (I missed it, when seeing "MA4001" the first time - saw species, and not your amounts).

5 gal. batch I would do 3/4 tsp starter.

I no longer use DVI as my main acidifying culture; for many reasons, I've adopted Sailor's/Pav's/Francois's approach to primer culture (thanks, guys). 

That said, I think this is illustrative, as to approaches:  you mention 3/4 tsp of your SLAB, when Sailor's original recipe had a combined SLAB (ignoring ratios of species, or of meso/thermo in your two different approaches) of (1/8 + 1/16 + 1/12 = 13/48), slightly under 1/3 tsp. starter, so you're coming in with a starter dosing of 2.25X that of the original recipe. That seems huge, to me, so I'm curious on you're reasoning.

I know that for my purposes, as I mention, "slow and steady wins the race," so I've even pulled it back from parsing the original recipe dosing; so far, from 1% primer bulk equivalent to 0.78%.  I do this, for reasons stated above.  Not "right," just different, and I hope my explanation of why I'm doing this is at least helpful as to my approach.


***

I need to clarify the purpose of the thread, actually - since its original posting, I've amended my intended trials to include seasonality:

Seasonality:
Effect of seasonal changes in milk composition on sensory quality of Beaufort; relationship of milk composition to flora changes in milk.
1.   (1-6 above, from Series 1) made in the early Spring
2.   (1-6 above, from Series 1) made in the mid Spring
3.   (1-6 above, from Series 1) made in the early Summer
4.   (1-6 above, from Series 1) made in mid Summer
5.   (1-6 above, from Series 1) made in late Summer
6.   (1-6 above, from Series 1) made in the early Autumn

I also need to say, it's probably obvious that there are a billion variables one could isolate to try, in perfecting this cheese; as Beaufort is a long-aged cheese, and I'm approaching 50 (OK, I'm 50 - suck it up, man, it's in a month), well, you know.  So, I'm feeling pretty comfortable at this point, with the techniques of this style - though I know I'm a million years away from nailing any of them (the guy who founded Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba Sensei, would call them closer to "20 year" techniques, the seemingly simple class called "kokyu," "breath" or "timing" throws....simple, but takes 20 years to know how to do them, really).  Hence, my desire for now is to play with some species, and of those species, with seasonality in the milk itself, keeping make techniques constant.  One possible thing will be to tap other species, commonly available in Europe, not so common here; in process.

***

One flaw in the design that occurs to me, is that it's actually impossible to isolate out any one "variable" in cheesemaking, at least not without a pretty extraordinary effort - it is a complex, dynamic variable "system," and any change - say, in linens ssp - will necessarily lead to a change in other variables, including supposed "fixed" independent variables; confounding variables.  So in terms of design, one may easily get lost. 

***

After rambling through this, I might just toss this all completely out, keep species constant, and manipulate technique variables, and see what I get.  Something on the order of keeping a 50/50 ST/LH100 mix, and p. shermanii in the vat; PLA, with some xylosus (MVA) in the morge.  Playing with things:

-in the make; e.g., to try different moisture and curd elasticity targets;

-in the affinage, different washing regimens, or different environmental considerations, different RH and temp ranges.


Hmm...been up since 2 am, my time, it's now 5 (edit:  it's now 6), so not sure any of this is making sense, at this point - I wrote the above couple of paragraphs, and I think I'm a confounding variable, at this point.  Will return later. 

In the event something of the above does have some cogency, any and all thoughts, as always, appreciated.

[mtncheesemaker]

Just curious about the practical effects of such a long floc time. I understood that the usual target is somewhere in the 12-16min range, which, when achieved, reflects the "correct" amount of rennet for the milk's characteristics, and then the curd cutting target time is calculated from there, based on the cheese type.
Paul, you say it's to achieve "a quality curd", so what does that imply for cheeses with shorter floc times? And why the difference for this particular cheese?
I'm just wondering how this info can be applied to my own cheese making to impart particular characteristics.
Pam

[ArnaudForestier]

Hey Pam - let me start by saying I'm still working to solidify my understanding from my many exchanges with Pav, and Francois; and from all the texts and journals I've pored through over the relatively short time I've been at this.  This is a puny attempt to ask for forgiveness if I'm just plain screwed up in my understanding things.

First: In even the French materials, this 25 min. figure represents a maximum; the AOC says 15-25 minutes "Temps de flocculation."   (See below, for other "Caractéristiques des principales étapes de fabrication du fromage de Beaufort."  It's in French, but even if you don't read French, it should be pretty easy to figure out - will translate later). 

I want to push out as far as I can, this notion of "slow and steady."  I am almost certain it's a frivolous overkill, with no practical benefit - feel pretty sure that there would be little, if no, organoleptic differences noted, ceteris paribus, comparing a 15 to a 25 minute flocculation.  I do it just to play, and see if I can sense a difference.  As I mention above, this may mean little more than "play," until I find a way to strictly isolate the effect on the cheese downstream - the "complex system" I was trying to discuss.

The bottom line is that I'm seeking a cheese with the right moisture and curd elasticity, for the Beauforts I've tried and loved.  I'm also seeking to do it in a fairly traditional way, at least until I can say I've fairly well mastered it.  (The Japanese martial-zen master/French chef thing talked of above, and I've lived both - the notion that a body of work not built on fundamentals first will always struggle for solidity.  I grant you here my bias, which tends to a kind of "fundamentals come from the ancient ones" mind).

Coupled with this "slow and steady" basis, I'm doing everything I can to ensure a higher pH pre-rennetting, and a relatively slow "curing," if possible, on the way down in terms of pH during pre-press and drain.  Hence, my relatively low culture dosing (0.78%, about midway in the AOC profile, but lower than I've seen generally here), my choice of the higher pH end of target windows at key production points.  Mind you, this itself will likely be a set of trials down the road - the "moisture and elasticity" trials I mention above. 

Sorry if this is all so convoluted; not on my best game as I'm pretty tuckered and am just slashing and burning through my thoughts.  Hope it's at least somewhat useful.  Will come back later to clean things up.

From the AOC materials (again, will translate later):

Tableau 5 : Caractéristiques de la coagulation du Beaufort
• Type Coagulation par voie enzymatique prédominante
• Auxiliaires de coagulation:
chlorure de calcium - Néant

levains lactiques Apport de mésophiles et de thermophiles (0,5 - 1
kg/100 kg lait) sous forme de lactosérum acidifié

enzyme coagulante Présure naturelle ou commerciale (f: 10/10.000):
15 – 22 ml/100 kg lait

• Acidité 16 – 18 ° D

• Température 28 – 32° C

• Temps de floculation 15 – 25 min

• Temps de coagulation totale 45 – 65 min

Tableau 6 : Caractéristiques de l'égouttage du Beaufort
• Type Egouttage accéléré par tranchage, brassage, chauffage et
pressage
• Chronologie des traitements

Tranchage Tranchage en grains réguliers (? : 0,3 – 0,5 cm)

Brassage Agitation modérée en 3 phases:

lère phase : Décantation des grains après tranchage
(t: 10 – 15 mn)
2ème phase : Montée en température à 53 – 55° C en 30 mn
3ème phase : Brassage final (t: 15 – 40 mn)

Moulage Décantation des grains, puis extraction et moulage

Pressage Pressage mécanique pendant 24 h

Refroidissement Refroidissement avant salage (T: 10 – 15° C, t: 24 h)
Salage
• Mode Salage par la surface à sec (t: 10 jours) et en saumure
(C: 25 – 26 % - T: 10 – 15° C - t: 24 h)
• Taux de sel 1,6 – 1,8 %

Tableau 7 : Caractéristiques de l'affinage du Beaufort
• Type Fromage avec affinage à l'air
• Température 10 – 15° C
• Humidité relative 85 – 90 %
• Durée 90 – 200 jours
• Rendement fromager 9 – 9,5 kg/100 kg lait