any hope for a very poor cheesemaker ?

[Dano]

Alright, every time I think I have run out of silly mistakes...
Sunday was back to the quest for colby, I have tried to stick to this so that I only make one kind of unedible cheese for my dog and chickens.
Until I can make something I can at least chike down colby it is.  I have had a tough time setting a strong curd.  This time I used el-cheapo p+h milk.
(no more 12$ a gallon till I can improve)  A two gallon batch, used CaCL2, NEcheesemaker rennent and danisco starter (ma 4000) I was following Margaret Morris' book, temp held quiet well.  pH started at only 5.8,  set up well and cut nicely.  I tried to be very gentle with the curd as I have made more than a few very flakey poor consistancy cheeses.  The little curdies stayed togther well and we cooked down,  got up to 102 and held there.
I washed with water of the same temp (my other book says much cooler water, what to more succesful folks do?)  The curds balled up good in my hand and rolled back out ok.  When is squish them they still feel too soft and gooey to me,  I pressed in my 2 small molds overnight.  This morning I dunked them in to a brine with bottled water and a light amount of salt ( i also have made a bunch of way too salty cheese)  When I came back in after about four hours of cleaning up all the trees that Irene left all over the camp road up here, the brine had turned in to a cloudy white mess,  the cheese were very slimey and sticky!!!!  Thru the day they seemed to dry  a bit and are not as sticky now.  Any obvious dumbness on my part or should I just stop messing up my wifes kitchen?

[smilingcalico]

Sounds like in this case your gut was telling you to let the curds firm up a but more, but you didn't listen to your instinct.  Also, your brine would be better made from the whey from the cheese make.  Curds and whey like to be balanced in terms of calcium and pH.  You could easily add calcium chloride to the water brine, but it's already in whey, so generally not necessary.  Vinegar can help you match the pH of the cheese, but brine from the same make will closely match the pH of the cheese.  I always go with whey brine,  SOOO much easier and more consistent.  Keep working at it!

[Cheese Head]

Hi Dano, welcome!

Echo smilingcalico, when I bail off whey in order to add hot water for washing the curds, I put the whey into a small plastic picnic cooler and then add salt to it to make the brine. If you look in the Brine Preserved cheese board there are several threads from people who don't have the correct ph and calcium balance and their feta falls apart with time. Also, cheeses need salt, chemically and also to help dehydrate the surface and help form a more protective rind.

FYI there are some Wiki Articles on brine that should be of use.

Lastly, all I ever use is cheap store bought P&H cow milk and always get a good curd set.

Don't give up!

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

I've not made colby before so I'm not sure if the curd washing should be done at the same temperature, or by adding colder water.  I have this vauge feeling that colby does normally have cooler water added back in.  Anyway, typically for the brine one uses quite a high salt concentration.  And it's often best to add some CaCl to the brine as well.  Maybe that is what's causing your brine to go cloudy and for the cheese to go a bit slimy?

- Jeff

[DeejayDebi]

When you added the water you should not drop below 80F degrees and need to hold it for at least 15 minutes.  This is a crucial step in determining how moist the cheese will be. The hotter the water the drier the cheese.

If you wheel doesn't seem firm enough don't add it to the brine. I always save the whey for brining. Plain water is sooo ify and it sounds like you had a calcium leach. Try to use the recommend amounts of salt in your brine. This will help protect the cheese from invading molds and bad bacteria while it ages. It's not just for flavor it's for your protection as well.