About 2 weeks ago I made my first beer infused cheddar, using a porter from Founders Brewing. I basically followed Caldwell's traditional English cheddar recipe, and added beer after salting and mellowing.
3 gallons raw cow milk
Starting milk ph=6.64
Warmed milk to 80 degrees, added a bit under 1/2tsp meso 4001 culture, let set for 4 min then whisked for 5 min
Brought temp up to 90 over 30 min, then held at 90 for 30 min (temp peaked at 91)
Added just under 1/2tsp rennet diluted in 1/4 distilled water and whisked 1 min
Ph at rennetting=6.47
Flocculation at 11 minutes, used floc factor of 3.5, cut curds at 38.5 min (goal was 45 min)
Cut curds into 1/2 in cubes (I cut them a little too big ultimately)
Increased to 102 degrees over 35 min
Held at 102 and stirred for 30 min
Ph=6.27
After additional 25 min of stirring, ph=6.11
Let curds settle 5 min, then drained whey
Pushed curds to the side of the pot and flipped after 15 min, then cut curds into two slabs, stacked them, placed a ziplock of 90 degree water on top, and flipped/rotated the stack every 15 min for 1.5 hours
Ph at end of flipping=5.26 (goal was 5.3)
Milled into 1 in/1 in strips
Added 2 tsp salt, waited 10 min, then added 2 more tsp salt, waited 10 min
Added 3/4 bottle of room temperature porter, let soak for 40 min
Put curds in cloth lined mold
Pressed 15 min @20 lbs
Pressed 30 min @25 lbs
Pressed 1 hr @50 lbs
Pressed approx 24 hrs @ 70lbs
After 8 days drying off in the cave, waxed with 210 degree wax (dipping method)
Possible concerns:
-I tried steaming my equipment to sanitize it instead of using bleach for the first time. After steaming there was a white powdery residue on a lot of my equipment, which was difficult to clean off. I am not sure what it was, but it is probable that small amounts of it ended up in my cheese...hopefully it isn't some sort of harmful chemical!
-after the final pressing when I removed the follower, which was tightly sealed, a curd popped out with it. I replace the curd, dipped the cheese in hot water, and returned to the press for about 2 hours. The curd was solidly in place but there were some small cracks all the way around it.
-during the 8 days in the cave, some wild mold appeared. I was able to get most of it off before waxing but there were some spots where it was in tiny cracks or pits in the rind and I was unable to fully eradicate it. I am hoping the hot wax killed any tiny specs that remain.
Overall, i think it has potential! I finally made a cheese with a pretty normal acidification curve, so that is exciting. Also was my first time waxing a cheese. It isn't perfectly smooth but it will work!
I am thinking about aging this one maybe 9 months? Not sure what the ideal aging time for a beer cheddar is...
Cheesehead, did you use tap water to do the steam/sanitizing? If so, the white powder may be minerals in the water - ? I use filtered water whenever I do the sanitizing; distilled would work as well.
That crossed my mind, but I used distilled water
Well, rats. What other residue could be in that water??
I'm hoping it isn't something from any of the plastic or metal utensils? Whatever it was, it didn't really affect the make so hopefully it's a non-factor!
Well the cheese looks great! And I am a big fan of Founders, especially the barrel aged KBS! Nice job and the wax looks great. AC4U!
Thanks for the details about the make, the cheese looks wonderful!