I am basically following the method in the following link.
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,13016.0.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,13016.0.html)
But as things do .. Life intervenes so a couple of thing were different.
the ripening time was 1.5 hours
The pitching stage was 30 minutes - So I'm hoping for a bit more acid development. Finally got the first press underwhey under whey - hahahaha I kill me !!
Sorry :-[
I'll add the images when I get to the full press stage. This is fun cheese to make as you really can change a lot of parameters.
I'm not sure what to call this one . . .
Pictures and make sheet to follow.
-- Mal
One thing I'll add here is that you really need to motor redressing the cheese at the 1st and 2nd pressing as they are still nice and warm but also nice and spludgy (if that's a word) so get the cloth changed as fast as you can.
-- Mal
Spludgy must be a word. I understood it. Could be handy to know if you play Scrabble.
Here are the promised images. I'll try and get them into a logical order but, the Merlot...
Ill try and depict the whole process - including the pH images using the ph Strips - You will then see how subjective using then is..
1. My Kitchen
2. the Milk
3. Starting pH
4. my Spoon Measures.
5. Clean Break. I use this as a confirmation that the cut window is optimal. I like a nice smooth side and clear whey in the bottom of the cut
I thought I'd try and show my interpretation of what 'Pitching' is. Please correct me if I'm wrong.. :)
Getting the mass of curds to form a manageable mass.
Scooped the curds into the cheese cloth
and first press - this is really light - under 38DegC whey . the bottle only has about 1 kg (1 litre) of water in it and it really is only meant to consolidate the curds.
moved the whole thing to the press and just let the weigh of the arm and the same 1 Kg weight continue the pressing of the cheese.
The last are the pH strips from first press to just before brining - at the 4 hour mark. How good are you at reading these. I'm still taking 'Best guess' at these..
and the final one somewhere between 5.0 and 5.3. My guess is 5.2 ish and a bit...
I really enjoy making these style of cheese as it is a bit more hands-on compared to the other styles. The cheese is brining in a 16% solution overnight.
Very nice photos. Thank you. And the cheese looks beautiful. :D
The color of the milk and cheese is amazing! Nice documentation Mal.
I wonder if this is more readable. I think I'll rewrite it in Black :-[
I was after yellow cheese so I added 1 ml of Annato when I added the CaCL2 .
here is the Word Doc - Adjustments and comments in red
After a days drying out of the brine - 1339 gms. It's getting a little belly on it - Cute
Mal, it looks good! AC4U.
Is the corner a darker color -- perhaps more dried out -- or is that an artifact of the picture?
Also, what is the flavor of this sort of cheese like? I've not had St. Paulin. Something like a Gouda?
-- Andy
Great looking cheese, Mal! Well done!
@awakephd; St-Paulin is a mild and soft cheese. Treat yourself and try one, it's the type of cheese that most people end up liking very much. It's always a success on a cheese platter.
I'm thinking the there isn't a Trappist Monk to be seen where this is made
http://www.cheese.com/saint-paulin/ (http://www.cheese.com/saint-paulin/)
I know it's a washed curd - but rind as well ?
So went to the Wiki University -
QuoteSaint Paulin is a creamy, mild, semi-soft French cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk, originally made by Trappist monks. It is a buttery cheese, but firm enough for slicing. Saint Paulin is similar to Havarti and Esrom, and is suited to serving as a table or dessert cheese; it is often served with fruit and light wine. Genuine Saint Paulin has an edible yellow-orange rind. It is ripened in a round loaf with slightly protruding sides, and matures in about four weeks
and from Britannica
Quote...cheese first made by Trappist monks on the west coast of France in the mid-1800s. The name later became the registered trademark of the Société Anonyme des Fermiers Réunis for Saint-Paulin, a generic cheese type similar to the original Port Salut, with a mild, savoury flavour and a smooth, semisoft texture.
Not getting any closer here
Ok... DairyGoodness
Quote
Saint-Paulin
From the family of cheeses created by trappist monks, here is a cheese with irresistible charm that is similar to Noyan. Milder than Oka, it literally melts in your mouth.
Yep - well have no Idea what the other two are either :)
and then I find this - Thanks Google for chasing out the romantic notion of how this was made - don't read it's depressing >:( reduced to it's industrial components sort of tarnishes the image. - Sorry just me raging at the world in general.
-- Mal
I think the edges were darker they were noticably firmer after removing from the brine. The first shot is without a flash. Going by the descriptions, maybe the little belly it is developing is really how it should be - wahoo !!
Thanks for the Cheese :)
-- Mal
You might be interested in what Jim Wallace has to say @ Cheesesemaking.com go to the recipe section.
Here's the bit about washed rind, most other St. Paulin recipes I've got add b.linens to the milk, then brine wash with b.linens
"The 'Trappist' style cheese is one with a semi-soft body and is usually ripened with a washed or smeared rind resulting in a yellow to orange rind. Unfortunately, the commercial versions today are made with an orange dye sprayed onto the surface at the end of the ripening process.
The traditional ripening is due to a series of light brine washes which selects for a specific bacteria (coriniforms including B.linens) that naturally produces a rather colorful surface and is actually responsible for producing enzymes that cause the cheese to ripen to the center producing a very soft and aromatic cheese.
This cheese process is somewhat similar to the more "aromatic" cheeses, such as Limburger, but is much milder due to a more restrained ripening.
The most notable factors in making this cheese are:
the series of light salt brine washes,which are very important in setting the stage for the special enzyme production which slowly moves towards the center of the cheese.
the high moisture of the cheese body, which will allow these enzymes to move quickly.
a high humidity in the aging space to keep the cheese surface from drying out.
As the process of ripening progresses, the enzymes begin to break the proteins into smaller and smaller components, thus reducing the acidity and developing flavor in the cheese. As ripening continues, this moves deeper and deeper into the cheese until the entire interior of the cheese has been ripened."
http://www.cheesemaking.com/PortSalut.html (http://www.cheesemaking.com/PortSalut.html)
Did this get ate?
it is being consumed at the moment - I'm not really enamoured with it. It's tasty enough but has an almost vinegar after taste. I think I didn't press it enough and it soured a bit too much. If I had to toss up between this or a Caephilly then the Caerphilly would win hands down. I dont think I'll remake this one just yet. I will have to do a bit more reading and hopefully find a solution.
-- Mal
Quote from: OzzieCheese on March 30, 2015, 03:01:53 AM
it is being consumed at the moment - I'm not really enamoured with it. It's tasty enough but has an almost vinegar after taste. I think I didn't press it enough and it soured a bit too much. If I had to toss up between this or a Caephilly then the Caerphilly would win hands down. I dont think I'll remake this one just yet. I will have to do a bit more reading and hopefully find a solution.
I'm glad I caught up with this thread as I was preparing to make this same recipe tomorrow! Caldwell mentions that this is the recipe for Pholia Farm's Takelma (a St. Paulin-style cheese). She has a nice picture of it on page 248 in her book. It does not look like a rind-softened cheese as the paste is quite uniform from the rind to the center. In the recipe on page 261 she mentions aging it for 2-3 months or more. Looks like you went out for six months, which may be over the hill for a cheese of this type. :-\
I think as well that vac packing this style of cheese tends to make it a bit sour. I feel that there is too much whey still left in the cheese. Subjecting it to such a low pressure during pack drawers out the whey and it pools in the bag and goes sour. Air dried natural rind would suit these better than Vac Pack , waxing or even cloth bandaging.
--Mal
Quote from: OzzieCheese on April 03, 2015, 06:34:40 AM
I think as well that vac packing this style of cheese tends to make it a bit sour. I feel that there is too much whey still left in the cheese. Subjecting it to such a low pressure during pack drawers out the whey and it pools in the bag and goes sour. Air dried natural rind would suit these better than Vac Pack , waxing or even cloth bandaging.
I think that yours is an excellent point. It goes to the aging under aerobic versus anaerobic argument. That is, is oxygen available to the cheese during the aging process? In a complete oxidation process acetic acid breaks down to carbon dioxide and water. It can't do this without oxygen and vacuum packing excludes oxygen. So, any acetic acid that is generated by the breakdown of proteins accumulates and you get a vinegar taste from the acetic acid present. It doesn't take much acetic acid to taste like vinegar. A)
Master Kern... Thank you for the wonderful explanation and a Cheese for you. The VacPac work well on cut aged cheeses to extend out their life - not so with this type and now I know why :) Many Thanks
-- Mal
Quote from: OzzieCheese on April 04, 2015, 04:05:08 AM
Master Kern... Thank you for the wonderful explanation and a Cheese for you. The VacPac work well on cut aged cheeses to extend out their life - not so with this type and now I know why :) Many Thanks
Thank you for the cheese. I had another idea that might help you out. Essentially it is this: Vacuum pack your cheeses if you like but every week or two remove the cheese and let it sit in the cave for a couple of days and then re-vacuum it. This gives the cheese a chance to "re-oxygenate" without exposing it to excessive drying out or mold. Prior to repacking it I'd do a quick wipe down with a weak salt/vinegar solution, pat the water off and let it air dry in the cave for an hour. This should remove any mold spores.
Having said all this let me add that it is just an idea I had. I've never tried it but have a 1 kg cheese currently vacuum packed that I'll try this on starting in a week.
One of the reasons I quickly jumped to minimum 4 gallon batches is to try and tip the surface area to volume ratio more in my favor. Rather than a round pot I use a steam tray vat (rectangular) and an electric griddle to heat this along with a device from Perfect Cheese to keep things under control. I just got an 8 gallon vat that will fit the griddle so I'll be upping the batch size to seven gallons as soon as I do some "dry" runs with water to make sure I've got a large enough griddle. This vat will be too big to move around once filled so whey will be removed by siphoning. I found that in a water rinsed recipe made yesterday that using a regular large kitchen sieve was a great way to push the curds out of the way (whey?) to remove clear whey. (Taking awhey the way, so to speak. :o)
Quote from: Kern on April 04, 2015, 05:37:29 PM
Vacuum pack your cheeses if you like but every week or two remove the cheese and let it sit in the cave for a couple of days and then re-vacuum it. This gives the cheese a chance to "re-oxygenate" without exposing it to excessive drying out or mold. Prior to repacking it I'd do a quick wipe down with a weak salt/vinegar solution, pat the water off and let it air dry in the cave for an hour. This should remove any mold spores.
Kern I think your on to something. I have a Vacmaster but if you use your method of periodically removing the cheese from the bag I would recommend this (http://www.ziploc.com/en/products/bags/specialty/vacuum-pump). A few cents more per bag but in the long run will save money and WAY cheaper than a Vacmaster. Also you can reuse the bags and control the amount of vacuum so you don't "wrinkle" your young pliable cheeses. Note that gallon bags are needed for 2lbs up to 5+ lbs cheeses. Also good for sous vide and freezing.
Just a note on this particular recipe in Caldwells book. I have made it a few times now. Aging from 2 months to 4 months. Great each time. But I did a natural rind and did not wash the rind. The cheese does seem rather moist and soft initially, and it takes a awhile to form a nice rind. I have 3 similar ones in the pipeline now, with 3 different rennets as an experiment. The make is slightly different based on make sheet that Gianaclis brought to the class I recently took.
Kern ---where did you find a eight gallon vat?
Qdog
Technically it is an 8-inch full size steam table pan. I got it on the Katom website (https://www.katom.com/cat/polar-ware-steam-table-pans-covers.html (https://www.katom.com/cat/polar-ware-steam-table-pans-covers.html)). The brand name of the vat is Polarware (www.polarware.com (http://www.polarware.com)). It actually holds seven gallons to the rim. I use it for six gallons of milk leaving about 1.5 inches to the rim. Its base is slightly smaller than a 6-inch steam table pan so it fits on a Presto griddle. You'll get far better heating with a 1/4-inch aluminum plate on top of the griddle and folder aluminum foil shims between the slightly curved griddle and the aluminum plate.