Recently did my first cheddered cheese, and while it pressed ok at the light pressures I was using, it didn't close up as much as I would have liked. My feeling is that I probably cheddered it too long before pressing, and it had perhaps expelled too much whey.
Perhaps someone with more experience could elaborate on some of the factors/parameters to getting it cheddered but still knit well in the press.
Thanks in advance.
John
A lot of times it just doesn't knit well, especially under light pressure. One thing you might consider is getting pH strips. They're cheaper, if not useful most of the time, but can be used to track the cheddaring process acidity much better.
Actually I have 2 pH meters, strangely I don't even remember how I ended up with the pH600 so it must have been given to me, and I have a Hanna checker which seems to give much more consistent readings and has calibration for 7 as well as for 4/10. Electrode may be toast on the 600. I have started to use them in my cheese making I just am not really doing anything based on what they say. More just getting a feel for what is going on during a process that most times I am already fairly comfortable with.
John
I just find my pH tends to drop more slowly than the recipe would indicate, and this way I know how long to wait and when to pull the proverbial plug.
The main thing that affects the amount of pressure to get the curds to knit for a cheddar is the salt. As they tend to have a good amount of salt internally - used to halt the pH drop - each curd particle gets a coating of salt. This changes the permeability of the curd membrane and so a lot more pressure is required to get them to matt together. I try and keep the curds as warm as possible for the first two pressings.
1. 10 Kg 30 minutes
2. 25 kg 6 hours
3. 85 kg 12 hours (or overnight)
But yep !! needs a lot of pressure ( this is on a 6inch Dia. mould)
-- Mal