I made my last Gouda in June 2008, when I was quite new to cheese making. This is my first try using a more involved recipe including pre-pressing in whey.
MILK CULTURING
- Aug 15, 2009, 7:00AM: Placed four 1 US gallon jugs of store bought pasteurized homogenized whole cow's milk from fridge into sink and filled sink with warm water to warm milk.
- Aug 15, 2009, 7:45AM: Poured milk into stockpot on gas burner ring on stove. Measurements 21C/70F, 5.60 pH (on my uncalibrated cheap gauge).
- Aug 15, 2009, 7:55AM: Measured 1.08 grams Danisco's Choozit Brand DVI Mesophilic Starter Culture MM100 onto mini digital scale, (roughly 2.25 times manufacturers up to recommendation). Tapped off onto top of milk and whisked in. As milk pasteurized, to standardize - help coagulation, trickled and whisked in 1 teaspoon diluted CaCl2. Started warming slowly (stirring occasionally to reduce hot spot on bottom).
- Aug 15, 2009, 8:25AM: Milk warmed to target 31C/88F, measured ph at 5.72, (went up, great temp corrected pH meter!). Turned off heat, covered and set aside 30 minutes for culture to ripen.
CURD MAKING
- Aug 15, 2009, 8:55AM: Measurements 31C/88F, 5.68 pH. Measured 0.3 gram CHR Hansen Brand powdered rennet onto mini digital scale, diluted in 2/3 cup cool water, trickled into milk and stirred in thoroughly for 1 minute and then stopping swirl with ladle. Covered and set aside for curd to set.
- Aug 15, 2009, 9:45AM: OK curd set, cut curd into small ~0.3"/8 mm square rods with bread knife (took 5 minutes, didn't do normal diagonal cuts as small soft curds too fragile), let rest 5 minutes, stirred gently intermittently for 15 minutes, curds still soft and not released a lot of whey, repeated for a second 15 minutes. Let rest at end for curds to sink.
CURD WASHING
- Aug 15, 2009, 10:30AM: With jug, removed whey equal to one third of original milk volume.
- Aug 15, 2009, 10:35AM: Filled a used 1 US gallon plastic milk jug with hot water from tap, measured at 110F, put on cap, laid jug on side in microwave, and zapped for three 1 minute intervals to bring up to 130F/54.4C. Then while stirring curds, added enough hot water to raise the temp to 95F (35.0C), then stirred gently intermittently for another 5 min.
- Aug 15, 2009, 10:50AM: Added additional 130F (54.4C) water to fully replace the removed whey, temp at 102F, overshot target final target of 100F (37.8C) at little.
- Aug 15, 2009, 10:55AM: Stirred gently for 30 min, then let curds settle to the bottom of vat for 5 min.
- Aug 15, 2009, 11:30AM: Measurements 99.5F/37.5C, 5.35 pH. Removed whey-water until the curds covered by 1" whey.
PRESSING
- Aug 15, 2009, 11:35AM: For pre-pressing in whey-water, had no recommended "perforated weighted plate", so placed next size down stockpot's lid on curds then placed 1 US gallon milk jug filled ~55% with water (weighed at 2 kg/4.4 pound, added a little for buoyancy as slightly submerged in whey) on top of stockpot lid to pre-press curds. After 10 min plate and jug had submerged 2 in/5 cm due to curds knitting & whey expulsion such that jug weight becoming more buoyant, added 2 cups/0.5 liter water to compensate.
- Aug 15, 2009, 11:55AM: After 20 min pre-pressing, removed water jug and stockpot lid, and ladled off the remaining whey-water. Curds firmly knitted in porous structure.
- Aug 15, 2009, 12:00PM: Broke chunks of pre-pressed knit curds into cheesecloth lined mold, packing down by fist, trying to minimize breaking of knit curds.
- Aug 15, 2009, 12:05AM: Pressed with 20 pounds/9 kg weight for 10 min.
- Aug 15, 2009, 12:15AM: Removed cheese, turned and pressed with 20 pounds/9 kg weight for 10 min.
- Aug 15, 2009, 12:35PM: Removed cheese, turned and pressed with ~40 pounds/18 kg weight overnight. For extra weight used foldable ladder :o as weight as don't have a good cheese press (don't laugh)!
- Aug 15, 2009, 1:45PM: Balanced almost full 5 US gallon, 40 pound/18 kg paint bucket on top of foldable ladder for extra weight, now at ~ 80 pounds/36 kg. If it falls we could have paint everywhere, maybe I should have done this in garage ::).
SALTING
- Aug 15, 2009, 7:00PM: To make saturated brine (https://cheeseforum.org/Making/Best_Practice_Making_Brine.htm#Making_Saturated_Brines), poured 1 liter/0.26 US gallons (used metric measuring cup) of salt into small stockpot, poured 4 liters/1.05 US gallon of boiling water into stockpot and mixed to dissolve salt.
- Aug 15, 2009, 7:30PM: Removed cheese from press after 7.5 hours, little early but using high weight and ambient temp in house is 78F/25.6C.
- Aug 15, 2009, 10:00PM: Saturated brine cooled, placed cheese in it for overnight bath.
- Aug 16, 2009, 12:00PM: Removed from saturated brine bath after 14 hours (3.5 hours per pound of cheese), placed on draining mat in kitchen to dry.
AGING
- Aug 16, 2009, Placed on mat in plastic tupperware box with lid on but cracked and placed box in fridge to age.
- Aug 19, 2009: Turned cheese, checked that mold free, replaced mat, placed back in plastic box with lid on but cracked back in fridge.
- Aug 23, 2009: Checked, slight black mold spots, bathed in saturated brine for 4 minutes, placed on clean mat in clean plastic box in fridge with lid on but cracked.
- Aug 29, 2009: Checked, slight black mold spots, bathed in saturated brine for 4 minutes, placed on clean mat in clean plastic box in fridge with lid on but cracked.
- Sep 1, 2009: Checked, slight whiting on outside and bigger black spots, rubbed off with salt water & bathed in saturated brine for 4 minutes, placed on clean mat in clean plastic box in fridge with lid on but cracked.
NOTES
- Need taller whisk for large stockpot.
- Next time preheat wash water, lost 5 min while microwaving to warm up.
- Need a better "perforated weighted plate" to pre-press cut curds in whey as smaller stockpot's lid is not perforated to allow whey release, and milk jug sank as curds knitted & compacted resulting in less weight due to buoyancy effect on jug.
- Need to build a proper cheese press.
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I love the press John! Good thinking! Nice to let the newbies know we don't need to buy fancy equipment to make cheese! ;)