I have a few days off over Easter. Time to de-stress and make cheese. Nothing fancy just a traditional cheddar. This one will be a cloth bound and it will join the other Banded Amigos in the 'Cave' The controls sheet I'll post closer to the end. Doing something just a little different and adding a little 1/4 dose of the MO 92 Thermo just to add a little push on the acidification curve. And add a little more Proteinase activity during aging. I also managed to find the Maleny Milk pure cream and added 300 mls to the ten litres of Guernsey milk I normally use.
I'll post images along the way as well..
Catcha later :)
-- Mal
Same for me, Mal! I have yearly tradition on Good Friday. I call it ''Gouda Friday'' ;) That's right, I'm going there ;)
Oh I just cant beat that one....
One thing I found this time is that believe it or not I can believe my pH metre or the pH of 6.2-6.1 in the recipe from G.C's book is wrong. Even with the extra thermo and a little extra Meso I could only reach mid 6.5. The curd looks nice and it is draining and texturing well. Oh well. I made this before hand with a pH meter looks like I'll just have to go back to old way. Time and trust.
-- Mal
Sounds great guys. Looking forward to seeing the results. Good Friday seems like a great time for cheesemaking. I'm not religious, so for me it is a rather boring day with nothing open. I'll have to plan a make for next year.
Spoons - you'd better trademark "Gouda Friday". :) I like it.
Shane
I'll look forward to the make. Lots of pictures of course!!! :o
Have fun! :-)
Does that make this Moldy Thursday? :)
got a bit busy today.. Sorry for the delay on the Cpawn..
Here's the promised Cheese porn !
1. The control Sheet.
2. Getting ready
3. ditto
4. Same milk new cream.
5. clean break
6. Just finished cooking
On the control sheet there is a point where I questioned the pH meter but I do feel that the expected pH at the end of cooking is a little off. I think it only got down to 6.55 after 60 minutes stirring at 38 DegC. The confirmation came in the next step..
The texturing stage confirmed that there was sufficient culture and that I could read a pH meter (I was starting to doubt myself there). The Cheddaring went very well with the curd mass temperature maintained at 38 DegC throughout and the pH steadily dropped to 5.3 (5.29). It all went to plan - nearly !! It all got milled and salted and sent to the mold for pressing and, that's where it go a bit wonky.
Note the angle of the control box on the press and compare the distance from the top of the two uprights to the bottom. I didn't notice until too late - like the next morning :o
So we shall call it Wedgy ! It pressed a little tilted but I don't think that matters. At 1.3Kg I think it's a good lookin cheese. BTW the cheese is yellow due to a merest hint of annatto added but it didn't really need it - but it looks cute. :P
This will be air dried now for 3-4 days and then Cloth Bandaged - that should be a task in itself due to the shape. My planned aging is 12 months but you never know....
-- Mal
Ozzie,
On the nutrition label------I see "energy" listed----can you explain this? I have never seen this on a U.S. product, must be a down under thing---by the way, that's a very nice wedgie ;)
Qdog
Hi Q, yeah that's for the general public that like to count calories (Kilojoules Kj). Seeing as no one know how to convert kilojoules (Metric) into calories (Imperial) they just call it energy.
-- Mal
How to convert from kilojoules to calories
kJ to thermochemical calories
1 calth = 0.004184 kJ
1 kJ = 239.0057 calth
The energy in thermochemical calories E(calth) is equal to the energy in kilojoules E(kJ) times 239.0057: E(cal) = E(kJ) × 239.0057
Beautiful wedgy!!!!
Thanks Al, sometimes I think that the labelling laws in Australia are so confusing as to basically useless. I like the fat and protein content on my bottle but I'm sure we cheese heads and maybe the odd scientist read that. And for a laugh there is an allergy section on the label and guess what . . . . it states "Contains Milk" well duh ! it's milk !!. Yes I know Soy and other emulsions call themselves milk as well but last time I looks there were no teats on beans !
sorry rant over - calm now - drinking my coffee and dreaming of cheese tomorrow - calm.......
-- Mal
Looks great Mal. Have another cheese. Agreed that labeling is somewhat pointless at times. I just love the nut based products which have a warning 'Contains nuts'. ::)
Shane
Thanks everyone for the cheeses it really is very encouraging :) Make me want to get better.. Doing my first washed rind today :o
Nice work work and details Mal! Here's another cheese :)
Out of interest Mal, do you find the annatto lightens with age? I made a small cheddar a while back which was overdosed with annatto, but 3 months later it didn't look so bad.
Shane
I've found that the colour deepens - on the rind anyway - as it dries but as I cloth bandage my Cheddars I sort of loose where the colour way. If you're too worried about 'over dosing' the colour check this out - mimolette.
Colour is cool.
-- Mal
I think I got pretty close to that. :) I've attached a before and after. The after is a little hard to tell as it is shrink wrapped, but it seems much less Oompa Loompa like.
Shane
I see what you mean. I didn't realise you had Vacbagged it. The colour will lessen the more moisture is drawn out of the cheese but will deepen when it dries out like 1.
Nice looking cheese. I see why your bagged it as leaving it natural will dry out before maturing is complete. A cheese though for a fine looking cheddar.
-- Mal
Thanks Mal. It was more bagged due to laziness. It was waxed originally, and there was a thread about it's effects on my dishwasher. ;) At 3 months I cut it in half and started eating it. It was far too mild, so it went back into the cave. I noticed that there was a hole in the wax and a small deposit of mould. I removed all the wax and cleaned it up. I then went away for surgery and when I managed to get back to take a look it was a mould paradise. I scrubbed it again with brine and bagged it at that point. It's presently 5 months old. I'll wait another month and try it again.
I'm thinking of making another larger cheddar based on your recipe as they always look great. I might even try bandaging, but I'll have to mature in a ripening container as I just can't get high enough humidity within my cave to prevent it from drying out too much. I'll make another thread about it at a later date as I'm unsure on starter cultures. I'm not sure I have what you've used.
Shane
A cheese as well Shane. Just curious but has anyone tried using stretch-wrap or saran for cheese? You would think that it whould give a nice (moderate but not occlusive) oxygen barrier, maybe ???. I also wonder if it would create less wrinkles in softer cheeses and provide enough O2 exchange to prevent the accumulation of water on the cheese surfaces that you often get with vacuum bagging. I've learned to love vac bagging but the drawbacks make me want to find some middle-of-the-road solution that gives good results without the drawbacks.
Putting my money cheese where my mouth is I had a 2 mo. Gruyere in the cave and thought I would wrap it with the stretch poly. Will see what transpires.
Thanks John. It wasn't really a thread about my cheddar though. :)
Danbo posted once about a semi permeable plastic wrap for cheese. It looked like it was only for commercial use. I'm not sure he got any answers on it. Maybe ask him.
Shane
Edit: Here is a link to the product
https://www.dsm.com/content/dam/dsm/foodandbeverages/en_US/documents/Pack-Age_Leaflet_A4_UK_low.pdf (https://www.dsm.com/content/dam/dsm/foodandbeverages/en_US/documents/Pack-Age_Leaflet_A4_UK_low.pdf)
Quote from: Shane on April 08, 2015, 09:36:54 AM
Thanks John. It wasn't really a thread about my cheddar though. :)
Oops :-[. Apologies to you and Mal. Had a couple of posting boo-boos lately. Think it's something in my cheese ::).
Ahhh ! It's all here to share :)
All tucked away - Brother count of 4 (three Musketeers) - Wedgie on the right :)
I'm going to have to do another of these. Timing is right for running out of the last one i did when it's ripe. Does that make sense? :o
Sure ;D. to any one else but those here - it wouldn't make sense - make perfect sense BTW.
-- Mal