Finally getting around to documenting this. I loosely followed Boofer's lead on this cheese, using smatterings of ideas scattered throughout this site. (OK, I stole everyone's ideas. .) This was the washed curd version.
Ingredients:
5 Gal. creamline whole milk
5 cubes MM100
2 cubes TA61
1/16 tsp Micodore
1/32 tsp B. linens
1/32 tsp Geo
1 tsp CaCl
60 drops rennet
Between 1-1/2 and gal water heated to 130°F
Heated milk to 88°F and added adjuncts, CaCl and cultures. Original pH 6.59. There was a 0.02 pH drop from adding cultures, so I added rennet. There was a 0.02 pH drop after adding mother cultures, so I added rennet at that point. I might wait ½ hour or so next time I try this.
Floc time was 14 minutes. With a 3X multiplier, cut curd at 42 minutes. Rested 5 minutes and then stirred gently for 15 minutes. Drew off 1-1/2 gallons of whey. Added 130°F water in 2 stages. Added first half and stirred for 10 minutes to firm up curd a bit. Added second half of water and finished heating to 100°F. Stirred curds until somewhat firm. At the point I settled and drained, they were slightly squeaky to the tooth. (About 15 more minutes of stirring).
Consolidated curd with light hand pressure, pressing down on a mat. First 2 presses were ½ hour at 10 pounds. 3rd press was bare at 16 pounds for 1 hour. Remaining presses were 1 hour each at 20 pounds. Total press time to pH 5.32 was about 5 hours.
Cheese weighed 2503 grams just out of the press. Yield was 12.8%. Decided on 2.2% dry salt, (55 grams) which was done in several steps carrying over to the next day. Held cheese at around 60°F until first wash on 1/7/2015. After wash, moved to cave. Humidity was held at 90 to 96%.
Morge wash consisted of 4% salt, and 1/32 tsp each of KL71, Geo15 and Micodore. Cheese was flipped daily with the top and sides getting washed. Daily wash continued for 1 week. Continued with an every other day wash regimen for the second week. There was a slight Geo slime on 1/9, and the beginnings of an earthy mushroom odor on 1/10. The last wash was on 1/19, and since then the cheese has been flipped every other day.
Photos to follow.
Larry
Love to see the photos... :-)
No pics of the make, (Just the same boring curd pics) ;) but here's a mold growth sequence. I'm including a couple photos of moisture accumulation in the box at 96% humidity also.
It almost looks like a Brie... Great. :-)
The fur is a combination of Geo and Micodore. The cheese started out having a slight mushroom odor which has been tapering off. I did a light brushing today, and the underlying mushroom is amazing! There's a nice foundation of B. linens also, but nothing I can smell.
I've started slowly decreasing humidity to see what effect it has.
Larry
I have to experiment with doing exciting rinds some day... Looks like a lot of fun.
Now the pics will start getting a little more interesting. Humidity is down to 92% this morning from cracking the lid on the box. I'm not sure whether I'll keep brushing or just pat the surface down occasionally. The mushroom aroma is amazing.
Larry
Wow... gorgeous...
I REALLY pissed the molds off yesterday! ;) When I opened the box there was a strong ammonia smell. I aired it out for an hour and decided to brush the mold back again. (We'll see who wins this battle). :) After airing and brushing, it was back to a lovely mushroom aroma.
Humidity was 92% with the lid propped up about 1/2 inch. When I put it back in the cave I left the lid askew about an inch.
I'll post pics in a bit.
Larry
Very interesting cheese. Great job Larry. I'll watch this one with great interest. :o AC4U my friend!
Thanks Al.
It's a great opportunity to explore varying humidity and to try some different mold management strategies.
My current thinking is to keep high humidity during the growth phase and then taper back into the 80s to get beautiful Mahogany crusts like yours. Time will tell.
Larry
I keep my cave at 80-85% RH and I can grow any, and all, of the molds in there. I've done tallagio, epoisses, brie, stiltons. They all work at the RH. :D
Here are the photos from today. Humidity is currently running 89%.
Sweet-looking cheese, Larry. How long do you expect to age it?
-Boofer-
Hi Boofer,
I'm thinking around 4 months, but I'd really appreciate your input. Did you feel that was around the right age for your #7?
I think I'm running into the same mold scenario you had, with Geo dominance. After brushing though, it really has a heady mushroom aroma. I'm not sure whether to just do a daily brushing or maybe to do a salt scrub.
Larry
Day 37. Ammonia odor was a bit less this morning. Humidity was at 87%. Left the box open to air the cheese out for about an hour and then brushed it again. Beautiful mushroom aroma after brushing. Opened the box up even a little more. The cheese is still very moist under the mold
Larry
Nice! :-)
After several days of dealing with ammoniation, brushing the cheese daily, lowering humidity and reducing temperature, I decided to start a mold eradication program today.
Right or wrong, I did a fairly harsh salt scrub. I guess time will tell if it was the right course of action. A good learning experience at any rate. I still hope to age this out to 3 or 4 months, but if I can't get ammonia under control I'll cut it up and use it for fish bait. :)
Larry
No no no..... No fish bait - it's looking good! :-)
I'm not an expert on rinds - that's a big chapter that I haven't really explored yet.
Don't loose faith - I'm sure that it will turn out great.
:-) Danbo
Do you think airing it at room temperature would help Larry? Works on my blues to get rid of the ammonia smell. Set then out for an hour a day.
I tried that Al, for I think 3 or 4 days before I went crazy with the salt scrub. Before brushing, there was a really strong ammonia odor. After brushing, it was just a nice mushroom aroma. I'd air it out for at least an hour each time, but had the same strong ammonia smell the next day each time.
I tried reducing temperature and humidity, but still the same issue each day. Now that I've sanded it down, the ammonia smell is gone. Hard telling what the final result will be. :) It does look good now, with a nice mottled brown crust. I'll post a pic or 2 soon.
Another thing I could have tried, and it might have been a better option would have been wine washes. Maybe next time I'm in this predicament. ;)
Larry
I tend to use a wine wash on all of my harder cheeses. Another tip I picked up from H-K-J.
Well, here it is, day 46. The ammonia smell is gone, and I think the rind looks kind of cool. :) Photo is from a couple days ago, but the look hasn't changed much.
I've taken humidity back up to around 85%. Time will tell...
Larry
Looks great Larry!!
Very cool rind. :-)
Definitely looks cool. :)
It's developing a bit of fur again, so I brushed it again this morning. There's a bit of orange developing, and the aroma is very intense mushroom.
I'll get some new pics soon.
Larry
This cheese is now a little over 2 months old. My only maintenance is to air it out a bit daily, rub it with my hands, and flip it over. I'm currently thinking I'll cut it around the first of April, or at 3 months. Still has a beautiful mushroom aroma after rubbing it down. Humidity is back into high 80s to low 90s.
Larry
That really looks delectable. :) Looking forward to seeing it cut.
Über cool! ;-)
That is one amazing looking cheese!!
Well, I cut this cheese yesterday at 3 months. I'm happy with the flavor, which I'd put somewhere between a Colby and a medium Cheddar. None of the mushroom flavor from the Mycodore survived my brutal salt scrub.
If I do another, I won't age it in a box. It'll have plenty of ventilation so I can let the molds do what they want and not worry about ammoniation. The rind doesn't have any off flavors.
Larry
Oo, that looks pretty! A cheese for you.
Wish I had made that beauty! :-)
Very nice! Scratch that: prettiest cheese I've seen this year! +C4u :)!
Thanks Stinky, Danbo and John. I appreciate your cheeses and comments.
Larry
Very nice rind development. Sweet-looking cheese, Larry. Nice clear pics.
Have a cheese for your superb efforts.
-Boofer-
Thanks very much, Boofer.
Larry