When I finally read more detail in making this cheese I thought "now, this will be an interesting cheese to make" and I wasn't disappointed. I looked over several recipes and this one most closely matched Jeff Ham's #2 Butterkase except for a lighter initial press and a longer "in mold" time. I opted to wash with just 1 gal. of water hoping to keep a bit of tang. Used 3 gal. milk due to size of the basket mold I had. Adjusted cultures according to what I had on hand:
- 3 gal. whole creamline cows milk (low-temp pasteurized)
- 3/8 tsp. Flora Danica (LL, LC, LD. LM); 3/16 tsp. Thermo B (LB, ST); 3/16 tsp. Thermo C (LH, ST); 1/32 tsp. Geotritium
- 1/4 tsp. CaCl2 (dry powder); full 1/2 tsp. single strength rennet
1. Heated milk to 86F (overshot a bit to 88F); added cultures; ripened for 60 min.
2. Increased milk temperature to 104F; added CaCl2, then rennet
3. Floc in 7 min.; after total of 25 min. cut curd into 3/4" cubes; rest 5 min.
4. Stirred gently 20 min.
5. Decanted 1/2 gal whey and added same amount of 104F purified water
6. Stirred for 20 min. until curds were ready
7. Decanted whey to 1" above curds; ladled curd into cloth lined 7" basket mold
8. Drained remaining whey; placed curd filled mold into pan over draining rack and maintained 90F during pressing / molding
9. Pressed with 5 lb. for 30 min.; flipped and pressed again with 5 lb. for 30 min. (curd was to soft to redress so kept cloth on)
10. Unwrapped cheese and replaced into mold, flipping every 30 min. for 4 hours maintaining 90F
11. Remove mold from heat and let drain overnight at room temperature.
12. Brined with med. heavy brine for 6 hr. @ room temperature
13. Placed into mini-cave: target humidity 90% @ 55F.
Yield was 3.3 lb.
Looks really nice! Butterkase has been some of the easiest and most bang for my effort cheese I have made. Plus, I learned about adding thermo and meso cultures together. Good stuff. Here is a cheese for you and your new cheese adventure.
John, it is so nice to see you making cheese again!
Did you use 1 gallon or 1/2 gallon to wash? (You mention 1 gallon in the text, but 1/2 gallon in the recipe.)
Also ... just because I'm such a nice friend, I have to ask: Will this cheese glow in the dark, since you used geotritium? :):):)
Quote from: awakephd on May 30, 2017, 02:44:14 PM
Did you use 1 gallon or 1/2 gallon to wash? (You mention 1 gallon in the text, but 1/2 gallon in the recipe.)
Also ... just because I'm such a nice friend, I have to ask: Will this cheese glow in the dark, since you used geotritium? :):):)
As for the first question in my notes I wrote 1/2 gal. Original recipe called for removing half of whey which would have been about 1 gal. so I cut that in half. As for the second question I'll use the "Trump spell checker" defence (darn it, happened again ::)).
Oh my, I love the shape, the cheese looks so pretty. Which basket mold is this please?
Quote from: John@PC on June 01, 2017, 10:45:49 PM
Quote from: awakephd on May 30, 2017, 02:44:14 PM
Did you use 1 gallon or 1/2 gallon to wash? (You mention 1 gallon in the text, but 1/2 gallon in the recipe.)
Also ... just because I'm such a nice friend, I have to ask: Will this cheese glow in the dark, since you used geotritium? :):):)
As for the first question in my notes I wrote 1/2 gal. Original recipe called for removing half of whey which would have been about 1 gal. so I cut that in half. As for the second question I'll use the "Trump spell checker" defence (darn it, happened again ::)).
:) If it glowed, it could have been a whole new market for cheese ... ! :)
Quote from: AnnDee on June 02, 2017, 01:42:30 PM
Oh my, I love the shape, the cheese looks so pretty. Which basket mold is this please?
Hi Ann. This was a mold that I got from a cheesemaker who went by the name "Arnaud" here on the forum. Sadly he had to stop making cheese and I bought some of the things he had which included this basket mold. This one (http://www.glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/moulds/italian-cheese-moulds/italian-hard-cheese-mould.html) looks like the same size I have but not sure about the pattern.
Thank you John, that's too bad Arnaud (Forrestier I suspect) is no longer making cheese :(
Butterkase has turn into one of my favorite cheeses. I like that I can easily control the sharpness by increasing or decreasing the amount of whey I exchange. It is also a great cheese for adding herbs. AC4U John on a great looking cheese.
I cut this after 1 mo. and considering the age I wasn't disappointed. I did a smoked paprika rub with olive oil and was reminded why I don't care for EVOO as a rub as I had a heck of a time with white mold (and a little bit of blue) on the surface. A good salt scrub and cold water rinse a day before cutting fixed that and it turned out just fine :).
That cheese looks great! Congrats. Have a cheese on me.