I made my first Colby cheese yesterday, using recipes from Gavin Webber, Rikki Carol, and also guided by directions from OzzieCheese's template – Thanks Ozzie!
3 Gallons of 3.25% Homogenized Milk
¼ tsp Danisco Kazu culture
3/8 tsp (1.8ml) CaCl, diluted in 1/4c water
¾ tsp (3.75ml) Danisco calf rennet 300IMCU, diluted in 1/4c water
3/8 tsp (1.8ml) Annatto, diluted in 1/4c water
Heated milk to 86 F
1:35 Add Annatto, stir well
1:37 Add CaCl, stir well
1:40 Add culture, allow to rehydrate on surface 2 min, then stir in. Kept at 86-87 for 30 (37) minutes.
2:17 Add rennet. Watch for flocculation at 17-18 min. Multiply x 3 for total time after adding rennet
3:12 Cut curds to ½" slowly over 10 min. Rest
3:35 Start to heat curd slowly to 102F. Supposed to be over 45 minutes, but took over an hour as it was supposed to be one degree only every 5 minutes. 87-102= rise of 15 degrees, so 15 x 5= 90mins.
4:50 Maintain 102F, stir for 40 min. Supposed to be 30min, but curds were staying very soft inside
5:29 Drain whey to level of curds + stir for 15 min.
5:43 Slowly add ~60F water to cool curds to 80 F over 15 min
5:50 Stir, holding 78-80F temp for 15 min. Had to do a cool water bath to help drop temp as added water didn't quite cool enough.
6:15 Strain curd into muslin lined colander
6:35 Break up curd into chunks and add 3TBSP fine cheese salt. Rest curd for 10 minutes, then fill mould
7:05 Press @ 10lbs for 10 minutes, flip and remould
7:20 Press @ 20lbs for 20 minutes, flip and remould
7:45 Press @ 33lbs for 60 minutes, flip and remould
8:45 Press @ 60lbs for 12 hours (no cloth)
Upon unmolding, cheese weighs 1596g. A small amount of whey is sitting around top edge of cheese in mould.
This was the first time that I used liquid rennet, and also determined coagulation time by watching for flocculation, so I was a little uncertain if it was 17 or18 minutes. Does this seem a little long? When I was initially cutting and stirring them very gently, I did seem to get a fair bit of shattered curd, and thus quite a lot of tiny curd early. I am used to using the Marschalls tablet rennet at ¼ tab/gal milk, which makes a pretty firm curd.
Also, I didn't see how I could raise the temp by 15 degrees over 45 minutes at only 1 degree every 5 minutes, so I took longer as the math didn't seem to add up. My curds, as they have in most of my cheeses, remain quite soft in the centre, despite being careful to raise the temp slowly so as not to toughen the "skin" and prevent whey expulsion. Except for the tiny ones, they don't seem of a squeezable consistency, and I worry that I leave them too wet. This is why I added a little extra time in stirring. Perhaps if my curds were too wet, it would be a reason that the cheese seems a little heavy at 3.5lbs for a 3 gallon batch, or is this normal for a washed curd cheese?
Sorry, I am still new and have so many questions! I am pretty sure that if I want consistency that I should invest in a pH meter and a good book with solid recipes with pH targets. I do not have access to raw milk, and am still inexperienced enough to not be quite ready to invest in the pricey unhomogenized milk available in the local health food store. I am therefore using regular (not UHT) grocery store milk, and will probably for a while as it is much more budget friendly.
I shall attach some photos of my curd at cutting, and at whey removal, and perhaps even my lever press at work.
Ok, this morning, on the second flip of the drying cheese (@24hrs out of press), I noticed that there was ~1-2 tsp of whey puddled on the cutting board under the cheese on the rack. I have had moist surfaces on flipping a pressed cheese before, but not actual moisture dripped off. As this is my first washed curd one, I am not sure if this is abnormal or not.
I will admit that I didn't have enough cooled, boiled water to wash the curd, so I did add some cold tap water. Yes, chlorinated...did I kill my cheese? Agh.
Your cheese is fine. It's not unusual for whey to drain from any cheese during the drying period. ;D
Whew, thanks Al! That is very reassuring.
;D