I'm working on my first stilton from Karlin's "Artisan Cheesemaking at Home"; in there she talks about flipping and draining for 4 days. But I had no drainage after only 1.5 days. Should I move straight to the cave as Karlin suggests, OR let it dry for a few days so more of a rind develops as other recipes (and forum members) do?
Thanks!
Hi... Part of the process is to settle the curds and well as drain. You will find the curds settle in the mold further over the 4 days with little or no whey being expelled. This also helps consolidate the cheese into a more manageable shape and density.
-- Mal
Al is the one to ask about that but I thought you should leave it at room temperature for 4 to 5 days not only for the whey to drain but also for the PR to develop.
John
I keep mine at room temp for up to 10 tens to develop the rind.
Ok, I think I'll pull it out of the cave and let it dry up a bit. I just have to find a way to keep our new kitten from eating it while it's drying, lol :)
LOL new kitten, put it on cheese mat in a plastic container and leave at room temperature turning twice a day this will prevent it from drying out to fast as well. What size is your blue?
Here are a couple of pics of mine on day 5.
It was made in a 4.25" mould and it stands about 4" high. I haven't weighed it, but it was made from 1 gallon milk + 1cup cream and if I had to guess weighs about 1.25#
(http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm307/Gobae/hostedimages/stilton.jpg)
Sounds pretty close weight wise. Hope you are happy with the out come keep us posted.
John
Good luck with that one. The smallest blue recommended is a 4 gallon make. Be interested to see where this ends up.
Quote from: Al Lewis on February 03, 2016, 05:44:14 PM
Good luck with that one. The smallest blue recommended is a 4 gallon make. Be interested to see where this ends up.
Interesting. None of the recipes I have even come close to working that large. My (1 gal) roquefort came out well, so I'm hopeful. :)
Gobae here are a couple of links to the blues I have made. Sounds like you have been bitten by the cheese bug.
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11445.30.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11445.30.html)
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10944.15.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10944.15.html)
John
Hey John H, I dislike zeros so I gave you a cheese (thumbs up) for your enthusiastic participation on the Forum. :)
Kern
Thanks for the cheese Kern.
If you were wondering
I have been a member (shotski) for a while you may notice they have a different ID that is me. What happened was I used keep me logged in and then my cable company (email) changed. I some how got logged off and forgot my password now reset goes to a closed email account so I signed up again.
Dang! And to think that I thought you were a cheese virgin! ;)
Quote from: john H on February 03, 2016, 09:22:12 PM
Thanks for the cheese Kern.
If you were wondering
I have been a member (shotski) for a while you may notice they have a different ID that is me. What happened was I used keep me logged in and then my cable company (email) changed. I some how got logged off and forgot my password now reset goes to a closed email account so I signed up again.
I knew that. Why didn't you know that? That's old news!! LOL BTW Gobae http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/26-Making-Cheese.html (http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/26-Making-Cheese.html) "I will present a recipe for a 4 gallon batch since this is about the smallest size I recommend. It is difficult to measure less culture."
Quote from: Al Lewis on February 04, 2016, 01:27:35 AMLOL BTW Gobae http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/26-Making-Cheese.html (http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/26-Making-Cheese.html) "I will present a recipe for a 4 gallon batch since this is about the smallest size I recommend. It is difficult to measure less culture."
Interesting. Her culture/mold amounts for 4 gallons are almost identical to the ones I used for 1 gallon. Which explains why I didn't experience any "difficulty measuring less culture". In fact, the Karlin recipe I was following actually calls for even more culture/mold/rennet for a 1 gallon stilton than Carroll's. I, however, actually used less because "thecheesemaker.com" (where I get my stuff from) says to follow his packaging info not recipe amounts when there's a discrepancy. Typically this is 1/2 of what Karlin calls for in her book.
But yeah, nearly all of my makes are 1 gallon. I can work with 2 gallons but that's my max.
Quote from: john H on February 03, 2016, 06:23:48 PMSounds like you have been bitten by the cheese bug.
Oh yes, most definitely! Much to my wife's chagrin, this has been going on for 2-3 years now. But now that I've been having more successes I've really picked up the pace. I don't have a press yet, but it's actually been a good thing because I've made cheeses (brie and camebert particularly) that I wouldn't have tried otherwise.
I have made 1/2/3/4/5/5-1/2 gallon makes all quite successfully, as I made each larger batch it came to me that it takes the same amount of time and work (to me anyway) to do any one of them.
I came to the conclusion, why make the smaller ones?
After making 4 or 5, 5 / 5-1/2 gallon makes the novelty wears off and (I Hate to say this) you sort-of get tired of the cheese (did I say that :o)
that said, our next make will more than likely be a 3 gallon one ^-^
I'm doing this as we are about to throw away about a pound and half of a 22 month old blue.
I don't mind a blue that bites back a little bit, I just don't like them chasing me around the kitchen :o
anything smaller than 3 to 4 gallons would be a waste of time.
Sorry to each his own as they say ;)
Welcome back!
Here we are at 10 days.
(http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm307/Gobae/hostedimages/stilton-1.jpg)
(http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm307/Gobae/hostedimages/stilton-2.jpg)
Well it's certainly blue! Did you "rub it up?"
I did a bit. But stopped when it seemed like I was on the verge of dislodging the curd chunks. I think I'm going to rip up the curd by hand (after the draining) next time instead of cutting it in to even squares. With a wider variety of random shapes it'll probably pack better in the mould.
I agree. I always just break mine up into walnut size chunks but you always get the little pieces that fill in the cracks.
Quote from: Al Lewis on February 12, 2016, 05:34:51 PM
I agree. I always just break mine up into walnut size chunks but you always get the little pieces that fill in the cracks.
Me to, ^-^
(https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12574.0;attach=29831;image)
HKJ, that is 1 pretty looking hoop!
He makes his. Pretty cool and probably the best stilton maker out. He's the one that showed me how so if you have any questions on stilton, he's your man.
I definitely have a lot to learn and stilton is one of the cheese on my cheese agenda.
Hope everyone won't get sick of me asking too many questions. Lol.