I am dying to make my first cam and have penicillin and geo molds on order along with the cam hoops, but the package won't arrive until next week. It's about to storm here for a few days and I have time on my hands. Soooo......I was thinking, I could go out to the supermarket and pick up a brie or cam and use the rind to innoculate the milk with molds. I have read most of this forum from start to finish and nowhere do I see anything about what size piece of rind to use to innoculate. Any recommendations for a gallon batch?
About the hoops, what can I substitute? I have some quart plastic containers that store-bought yogurt came in. I can cut them down and pierce holes with my soldering iron. Cam hoops are bottomless, right? What diameter are the holes? I also have some cheap ricotta molds that I can cut the bottoms off of, will that work?
Cam hoops are bottomless. Mine have 1/8th inch diameter holes. I wouldn't cut the bottoms off the ricotta molds, the should still do the trick.
You are saying that you have P.C. and Geo. That means that you're missing the main acidifier (like Flora Danica).
If that's true, then you won't get it from supermarket brie or cam since it's already dead at that point. You'd have to use buttermilk (or yogurt) and culture it... and at that point and given how tricky camemberts can be as a first cheese, you might rather do something else :)
If that was a typo, and you actually have the main culture (usually Flora Danica), then the supermarket brie/camembert's rind can help inoculate the P.C. You can just do a bouquet garni with as much rind as you want to spare and retrieve it from the milk before renetting. Or food-processor it with some water and spray it on the cheese later. In fact you could arguably wait until the cheese is done and your cultures arrive before spraying the P.C. on. Again, given how tricky a good camember is to get right first try, I'd probably try an easier one just to get the cheese bug going. I'd probably do Halloumi with cultured buttermilk... it's easy and foolproof, delicious, you can fry it and taste some straight away, age the rest, and do ricotta with the whey.
Thank you for your reply Mornduk.
I won't cut the bottoms off the ricotta molds then.
I don't have any FD (it's on order and will arrive next week), but I do have NEC's buttermilk starter and their meso starter. Come to think of it, I also have their fromage blanc, fromagina and creme freiche starters. I am inclined to use either the meso or buttermilk starter and just go for it. I can always do another batch next week with the correct starter and inoculant molds when they arrive. I am envisioning this as a trial run to get the hang of cutting the curds and draining/flipping them properly and getting the environmental variables right for mold formation. If this turns out to be a disaster, it's ok, I am sure I will have learned something.
One more question, I have read that people use anywhere from 3x to 6x flocculation time to let the curd set up and I am thinking I'll probably do a 5xish time. Any thoughts?
InTheWoods, welcome to the forum!
I have had good success simply rubbing store-bought camembert on my cheeses. I know that others spray to innoculate, but I am not sure how necessary that is. I simply rub my new camemberts with a mature one (after letting the new ones dry, of course) and it seems to work really well.
Be sure to pay attention to temperatures, time and wrapping -- these were areas that I had to work on before getting a really good batch. If you need a hand with any of these, there are many people here who can offer advice.
For the initial mesophilic acidifying culture, I have used buttermilk as per the directions on this forum. But, in agreement with Mornduk, if this is your first cheese, I would just wait for the culture to arrive. Good luck, ask questions, and post photos so we can all learn ;)
Thank you Salty_Curd!
Rubbing the cheese with another cam! I would never have thought of that! What a great idea, I'll have to try that sometime.
I have made halloumi and traditional mozarella and I just have this bug about doing a bloomy rind cheese and a lot of time on my hands for the next few days, so I'm just going to go for it. >:D
Huhm...got a coagulation time of 7 min, which is a little bit fast. I added 1/4 tsp of single strength liquid rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup water. Oh well, I'll go with a rennet set total time of 35 minutes and test the top of the curd and see what happens.
Quote from: InTheWoods on January 26, 2021, 11:46:45 PM
...I don't have any FD (it's on order and will arrive next week), but I do have NEC's buttermilk starter and their meso starter...
I'd go with the meso one, it's the same as FD without the Diacetylactis and Cremoris, so flavor and gas.
Quote from: InTheWoods on January 26, 2021, 11:46:45 PM
...One more question, I have read that people use anywhere from 3x to 6x flocculation time to let the curd set up and I am thinking I'll probably do a 5xish time. Any thoughts?
Your floc time will depend on the recipe. Basically on acidity and temp. If you're subbing FD for Meso and not checking pH you're deviating anyway from whatever written recipe you had.... When in doubt I'd pick the longer floc time, since you're doing a Cam and you want it to capture water.
Quote from: InTheWoods on January 27, 2021, 03:06:12 AM
Huhm...got a coagulation time of 7 min, which is a little bit fast. I added 1/4 tsp of single strength liquid rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup water. Oh well, I'll go with a rennet set total time of 35 minutes and test the top of the curd and see what happens.
My go-to Camembert recipe flocs in 6 and I leave it for 35 min. The amount of rennet you added seems what you'd need for ~2G of milk to be done at ~90F after a 0.1 drop in pH.
Anyway, you're committed now so good luck and post pictures, may your cheese surpass your expectations :)
I went with the meso starter, and let the rennet set for 35 min. Cut the curd and laddled into molds. The cheese was firming up so I already flipped the first time. Only damaged one slightly, which is amazing since I am using improvised molds. I got a good yield of curds, but due to my inexperience I think I used too many molds so the cheeses are going to be too flat, more like brie in dimension. Live and learn. ::) Next time I will fill up the molds higher.
I'll flip then a time or two more before I turn in for the night and let them drain overnight.
I took lots of pics but I have to figure out how to upload them. Probably do that tomorrow.
Thanks for your help!
If they are too thin you can still turn them into some great experiment.
Lots of recipes start with thin bries then after a few turns sandwich something between two of them, like dried mushrooms. About halfway through draining in the molds so it will close around the middle layer. Or you could just mount them without anything in between, the PC/Geo are not growing up yet so once it's done nobody will know you didn't have a thick thing from the beginning :)
Thanks! Good to know. Off to turn 4 cheeses in ricotta molds into two cheeses!
I use x6 flocc with a goal of 70-85 minutes.
Bantams, I was shooting for something like that, but the curd had other ideas.
I'm still working on pics. I took pics on my phone and they are HUGE, I need to edit them.
Another question. The cheese is now about 20 hours old. It is still very moist but it is not dripping anymore. One of the cheeses is a little bit concave on one side and it had a tiny pool of whey on top before I flipped it. Probably not more than 1/8 teaspoon of whey. So my quandary now is should I keep flipping and draining or should I salt it now? I should add that the cheese is firm and holding its shape if that makes any difference.
I think I am inclined to salt now. Any suggestions?
Is it possible to upload pics from Google Drive to here? I am having trouble figuring it out.
I flip once the night the cheese is made, about 4-6 hours after filling molds. Then the next morning/early afternoon I will salt the wheels. Then into the cave on the 3rd day.
Room temperature is critical during the draining phase. Should be 70-72°. Salting helps draw out whey so if you're unsure I would salt on schedule and hopefully that does the trick. And maybe crank up the thermostat if needed!
It's Day 4 and all is well. I salted the cheese late Wednesday and left it at cool room temperature for another 24 hours. Yesterday I placed the cheese in a plastic box on top of a cheese mat with ceramic beads below (had to improvise). Left it in the cool garage overnight, as I don't yet have a cave.
Today I flipped the cheese, drained the box, wiped it dry, and replaced everything inside. There was about a teaspoon or two of whey which I gather is normal. Since the storms are past and the sun is out, the garage is out of the question during the day, so I put the boxes into the fridge. Yes, I know it's too cool until the mold comes in, but it's the best I can do for now. I think I'll put the boxes into the garage at night and then back to the fridge during the day until the mold blooms. Hopefully, it won't delay the mold blooming too long.
Speaking of mold, I noticed the cheese had a slimy feel to it when I flipped it, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's the Geo doing its thing!
I still can't figure out how to post pics here, so if one of you would care to take pity and help me out I would be grateful. Please PM me, thanks.
Alexandra
Ok, finally figured it out I think.
As you can see everything went more or less according to plan, except that I had trouble cutting the curd which then disintegrated into small pieces, however I did get it into the molds and drained it.
Quote from: InTheWoods on January 27, 2021, 11:58:21 PM
Is it possible to upload pics from Google Drive to here? I am having trouble figuring it out.
this might help:
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,51.msg111.html#msg111 (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,51.msg111.html#msg111)
Oh, I see you got it sorted.
Five days ago I noticed the cams were getting slip skin and they had a funky ammoniated smell. I decided that I had nothing to lose by doing an experiment, so I removed the skins and wiped off the liquid ammoniated cheese surrounding the core, dried everything off in the mini cave, placed the cheese back inside the box, and placed the box in the fridge. The refrigerator temperature averages about 47F.
I did not take any pics that day, sorry. The cheeses looked like naked shiny scabby cams after I was done cleaning up the slip skin. Some of the rind on the cheese, especially on the flat tops, was stuck firmly without any liquid cheese under it, so I left it on and did not try to remove it.
I left the top of the mini cave slightly cracked open, turned the cams once daily, and wiped the condensation out of the box every day. Today I noticed that the mold is growing back! If you look at the pic, the cheese in the lower left is definitely showing signs of mold growth, and the cheese directly behind it is looking matte instead of shiny. The two cheeses on the right are still a bit shiny, but they are less shiny than before and are heading towards a matte surface appearance. Best of all, the funky ammoniated smell is gone, and they smell good, like a cam should.
Yes, it will grow back, but if you have the same environment, the same thing will happen again.
"Skin slip" and the strong ammonia smell is caused by the mold growing too fast on the outside and producing ammonia faster than it can soak into the cheese. Bloomy rinds get soft because of the ammonia produced. It raises the pH and causes the proteins to have a higher affinity with water. However, the ammonia can only soak into the center of the cheese so fast and if the mold is growing too quickly, then it will essentially build up in the outer part of the cheese causing it to go completely runny before the center has a chance to go soft.
The cure is to lower the temperature. As soon as you have full mold coverage (or even before if it growing spottily and some areas are starting to get soft) it needs to go into the normal fridge at 4-6 C. There the mold will grow very, very slowly allowing time for the ammonia to soak in. To certain degree the shape of the cheese can have an effect on this as well -- the more surface area you have for the cheese, the more ammonia the mold will produce in an amount of time and the more important it is for you to get it into low temperature aging as quickly as possible.
Yes, I know all of that. I have read the entire 31-page forum.
This is my first cam (and 5th cheese) and when I started out nearly 4 weeks ago I did not have the right conditions to age it. It started out too warm. Since then I have acquired a dedicated refrigerator for aging cheese. In addition I did not let it dry out enough before I refrigerated it, so I think there was just too much moisture.
It is now at 8C (47F) while it grows back the rind. I'll lower the temperature a few degrees in a day or two.
OK. That's fine then :-) Just to make sure you are aware, when you get that build up of ammonia, it *will* eventually soak in if you keep the cheese cool enough to stop more ammonia production. I'm not really sure there is any advantage to taking the rind off. Indeed, because of the very high pH, it's potentially a bit dangerous.
In reading this section and other forums on this site I had got the impression that if I waited long enough, the liquid ammoniated cheese layer might be absorbed if the cheese is aged long enough, but as far as I can tell, nobody has done any systematic inquiries if this is so.
Taking the rind off was just a lark to see what the cheese would do and how it would affect the development and taste as it ages.
What do you mean about the high pH being a bit dangerous? I handled the cheese without any protection while removing the rinds and did not suffer any adverse effects. I am an applied chemist by education and I can tell you unequivocally that high pH in and of itself is not necessarily dangerous (the same applies to low pH). It is the concentration at pH extremes that causes damage and chemical burns. The concentration of ammonia in cheese, while easily detectable by the human nose, is nowhere near enough concentrated to be dangerous to the human body unless consumed to a huge excess, and even then the human body has robust mechanisms in place to maintain optimal pH and remove toxins. Also, unless said ammonia is hugely concentrated, keep in mind that ammonia is a very common naturally occurring compound and that humans and animals have evolved mechanisms that easily remove it from the body.
Higher pH cheeses (near neutral pH) are at a vastly increased risk for Listeria.
Thank you for that reminder. I had my chemist hat on, and did not stop to consider it from a microbiological standpoint.
I do have to point out that unless there is listeria present in the environment, the elevated pH in and of itself isn't going to cause a listeria outbreak. In addition, the Geo/Penicillium skin protects the cheese from contamination of all sorts.
It's not just listeria. Cheese is generally not a source of food bourne illness because the cheese is fairly low moisture, fairly low pH and fairly high salt. A cheese that has resolubilised will generally have a pH greater than 6 (i.e. basically the same as milk). It still has salt in it, but only usually around 2% salt by weight, which is not enough to prevent spoilage. Soft cheeses are also (by definition) fairly high moisture. There are *lots* of things that can grow on it and make you ill.
As you say, the rind protects the cheese. If you remove the rind, or cut the cheese, it no longer protects the cheese. Things can grow in the paste. That's why you should eat a soft, ripened cheese within a week or so of cutting it.
Hi, just though I'd pop on this thread to maybe help having made Camemberts for quite a number of years. But let me first say I throughly applaud your efforts using homemade meso culture - my first and last attempt was an unmitigated disaster. With good milk fetching a premium price all over, unless you have access to a local dairy, I felt that it was prudent to use a proper DV culture.
I have most of my "Malembert" makes documented here and it covers areas like pH, hooping, salting, maturing, signs to look out for (especially skin slip),temperature control (and you don't need a dedicate fridge).
Check out my latest Camembert here.
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,19420.0.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,19420.0.html)
There are a couple of points throughout this thread that might offer comment if I may. I won't just dump it all at once as I would like to address each as how you can spot those conditions to avoid and maybe how to avoid them in the future.
So I'd like to start with requesting the recipe you followed also, if you would like me to continue. It took me several attempts to get this cheese consistent and the secret is accuracy.
Feel free to pm me if you wish.
OzzieCheese! I'm so glad you posted! I've read this forum start to finish and several others, and I've read your posts and learned a lot from you. Welcome back!
It's really late here, so I'll just say right now that I think I've figured it out, it was too much moisture. The cheese turned out edible, if a little bit bitter. I made a second batch that was too dry :-X, but it tasted great if I ignored the dryness. I will get my notes and post the recipe tomorrow, I can't remember off the top of my head whose recipe I used that first time. Actually, I was about to make a third batch this week. Maybe the third time will be the charm.
In between I've had a lot of success with soft lactic cheeses that are mold ripened, so hopefully I can get the cam right this time too.
Quote from: InTheWoods on January 27, 2021, 11:58:21 PM
Is it possible to upload pics from Google Drive to here? I am having trouble figuring it out.
Yes it is possible, from google photo but you have to do a little manipulation
- in google photo, you open your image.
- right click and copy the address of the image.
- on the forum you paste it between the 2 tags "(img) (/ img)"
- and you must replace at the end of the link "? authuser = 0" by "-tmp.jpg"
example :
"(img)https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zTi8ubkOAhLz4mKYjIL6GNfOWFJfcT4lQXMggzMjF9XRHtCP-E1hQVzyVQEfkVuodO_PbirU2bQNDF2h2YIl2Tmm5et5d8EMFnWMbmHqBz80IKMY2zSQYan2HnOUHaQPTWEz7FDUVYokOLrEb6reUONJPmaDgGINU4WDxCGDUK0oRbnwQ8wXP1a0voINkjG_UzYhcBZTCppLy5yPFXktMTS-a9qkcPRQYaGQsn8caTQaRLRx48ygmU1uO8RETdrxz1KGnj_yNIZ6OAKBYK0apF0qAo77ux2yIU2CcZ7nnG6RnXM0c_thoKXpJXQIf22LY2g5ETOa0fMNJ77l6xsLyjkzeXc4f3PCsBqwuP_WNz_xj5awpw2gX0VmgjOfmEXzOSHmD4_vf8Qsp5klVWs9xyI5kWUSog9hCApzTFmqXXZ8Ezczl-lrvze5_b1pO9BYO6ozw3hzm0GRgS0XrAH7ch1BbHTyEe0LusGnesy_KSWcDzIbMniNrcF9LJk-muZrVmyeGgLqqTAQ3KtoslT36T6RRndjqnwMKAgeEW51rmJAjnH4UridRDIXif_9-OT83ZgIifpaLGscjXphgZPOQ-nxQXRiJM8WERPRtfvIpCDrVBEstxKXeh3rwUGZIDblxtMJHEExyWKPAqv1087Hp5hQssNtj7LPgBCXxRDTAXxXKHem4CtBo990YPo-RmE3QcGQFw_a7hgllRAQjpZcqmXN=w498-h663-no?authuser=0(/img)"
"(img)https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zTi8ubkOAhLz4mKYjIL6GNfOWFJfcT4lQXMggzMjF9XRHtCP-E1hQVzyVQEfkVuodO_PbirU2bQNDF2h2YIl2Tmm5et5d8EMFnWMbmHqBz80IKMY2zSQYan2HnOUHaQPTWEz7FDUVYokOLrEb6reUONJPmaDgGINU4WDxCGDUK0oRbnwQ8wXP1a0voINkjG_UzYhcBZTCppLy5yPFXktMTS-a9qkcPRQYaGQsn8caTQaRLRx48ygmU1uO8RETdrxz1KGnj_yNIZ6OAKBYK0apF0qAo77ux2yIU2CcZ7nnG6RnXM0c_thoKXpJXQIf22LY2g5ETOa0fMNJ77l6xsLyjkzeXc4f3PCsBqwuP_WNz_xj5awpw2gX0VmgjOfmEXzOSHmD4_vf8Qsp5klVWs9xyI5kWUSog9hCApzTFmqXXZ8Ezczl-lrvze5_b1pO9BYO6ozw3hzm0GRgS0XrAH7ch1BbHTyEe0LusGnesy_KSWcDzIbMniNrcF9LJk-muZrVmyeGgLqqTAQ3KtoslT36T6RRndjqnwMKAgeEW51rmJAjnH4UridRDIXif_9-OT83ZgIifpaLGscjXphgZPOQ-nxQXRiJM8WERPRtfvIpCDrVBEstxKXeh3rwUGZIDblxtMJHEExyWKPAqv1087Hp5hQssNtj7LPgBCXxRDTAXxXKHem4CtBo990YPo-RmE3QcGQFw_a7hgllRAQjpZcqmXN=w498-h663-no-tmp.jpg(/img)
I replaced the "[https.......]" with "(https......)" to be able to display the link.
I wanted to post the manipulation in the faq, but I don't have the rights to post in this section.
I am often lazy to take out my DSLR and I take the photos directly with my phone and this manipulation prevents me from having to upload the images before sharing them google does it automatically with the synchronization.
I've read this post several times and I'd thought I'd jump in and I'm going to make several assumptions. Please correct me if I'm wrong. The first assumption is that you used P&H store bought milk and two the meso you used, might not have been sufficient for the task. I make these assumptions based solely on you difficulty with the curd.
Firstly the milk. While it is possible to make cheese with this milk you need to make sure you get the best you can. One that is processed as little as possible and is fresh with a use by date of at least 10 days in the future.
I'm going to assume also that you didn't add Calcium Chloride. CaCl2 is necessary to help repair some of the damage that pasteurisation does to the milk. If the milk is ultra-pasteurised then I would not make any sort of cheese with it as not matter what you do to it it won't make a good curd. The next is the fat content where the milk producers will adulterate the milk with added lactate and spinning of the cream. The purpose of the rennet is the create a structure that encapsulates both the fat and moisture and over processed milk doesn't have all the necessary ingredients left to do so.
By the look of the curds and your description of how fragile they were I would assume that the culture you used was A. insufficient in quantity and B. Not effective in producing the necessary pH drop over the course of the cheese making process. In order to set up for maturing the pH needs to be low enough to protect the cheese during the initial stages. There is a lot to write about just this stage but I'll keep this post to the curds.
Before you cut the coagulated milk you should make sure that you have reached a clean break. With the fast coagulation time of 7 minutes I would think this was not sufficient to create the proper structure in milk. Or the milk had an original pH that was already too low - another sign of old milk BTW - and was way more acidic than fresh milk. And if this was the case then I'm afraid there was not.much you could do to save them.
I know I've skipped over several details but, I would suggest that you obtain a way to measure pH. Even if to only measure the pH at several key stages. Another common practice is adding extra cream and while this is fine, the overall starting conditions of the milk still need to be present otherwise the added cream - fats - are not captured in the curds.
A. The starting pH of the milk should be around 6.7 and if you stick to one milk source you can track that through the seasons.
B. The culture needs to drop the pH by at least .05 - this is subjective but knowing how well you culture works is key. Also there needs to be enough live bacteria in the culture to create a healthy population of Lactic acid bacteria. One of the reasons why home made meso cultures are so inconsistent.
C. For this style of cheese the pH at hooping - putting into the molds - needs to be about 6.4. You see by my last make I didn't quiet make the lower pH markers which is a good indication that culture stock was tired (they were over 5 years old).
D. After the resting period in the molds, usually overnight, the final pH needs to be about 4.7 to protect the cheese and setup the conditions that make the cheese go gooey. And that is a story in itself.
I would recommending investing in a good pH meter in order to get consistency in the process. In my first few Malembert attempts I was using pH strips but were not accurate enough to measure the intermediate steps but were enough to measure the start and finishing conditions.
OzzieCheese, yes, I need to get a pH meter, it's next on my list of stuff to get.
Here's the recipe:
1.75 gallon Clover Sonoma Organic Whole Milk. It's pasteurized and homogenized but it's one of the best local milks in this area.
2 oz mezo frozen mother culture (expanded from New England Cheesemaking mezo)
Rind from Marin French Brie
1/4 tsp CaCl2 diluted in 1/4 cup dechlorinated water
1/4 tsp single strength animal rennet liquid diluted in 1/4 cup dechlorinated water
Diamond Crystal Kosher salt
Heated milk to 90F
Added the CaCl2
Added 2 oz frozen mezo culture
Waited 60 minutes
Added the rennet.
Started floculation test, which yielded a floculation time of 7 min, so 28 more minutes.
Got a clean cut, so cut curds, let rest 5 minutes.
Stirred gently, let rest another 5 minutes.
The curds were very fragile, but filled molds anyway.
30 minutes later flipped the molds and went to bed.
Next morning at 6:00 am flipped the cheese, it was still actively draining.
1:00 pm The cheese still looked very wet, thought about salting it, but decided it was still draining and flipped without salting.
4:30 pm salted the cheese with 1.8% salt.
12:00 pm placed the cheese into plastic container and moved it to the cool garage.
Flipped the cheese for the next 4 days, then moved it to the refrigerator set to 47F.
The cheese developed slip skin, and I think it was because it had too much moisture. I should have drained it longer.
I was not surprised as I winged the whole thing, didn't have the proper molds ( I improvised them), used a brie rind instead of Penicillium and Geo cultures, etc.
The second time I tried it, I used Flora Danica, P. candidum ABL, GEo 13, CaCl2 and rennet, and waited longer for the curd to form and then followed Yoav's advice and drained it in cheesecloth before molding it. I think I drained it for too long because it turned out too dry, but it was delicious.
As I mentioned, I have had good success subsequently making soft lactic mold ripened cheeses since then and I have learned a lot, including not rushing draining. I'll probably try another batch of cam tomorrow. I'll wait longer to let the curd firm up, then drain it in cheesecloth, but not as long as the second batch. Hopefully it will be better than either batch 1 or batch 2.
Thanks for the directions. I would recommend something about the milk however and that is - if possible ring or write to them and ask if it is ultra Pasteurized. It might say 'Organic' but I have found that having 'Organic' on the label comes with a bit of an overhead. I have found that in order for the producers to make it work financially, as the turn around on the supermarket shelf can be long, they ultra pasteurize the milk. Might be worth a phone call or email. The people I get mine from here in Australia were more than happy to send me their pasteurization temperatures. There might me a few adjustments I would make to the recipe as well.
1. After you add the culture keep the temperature at 30-32 DegC for at least 60 minutes (I use 90 minutes) before adding the rennet.
2. Increase your Floccuation factor to 6 and double check it with a clean break test.
3. After you cut the curd, just gently stir the curds - very gently - a couple of time lifting the curds from the bottom of the pot.
4. Let sit for 15 minutes - this will allow the curds to 'heal'.
5. I wouldn't hang the curds to 'dry out but stir them gently for 15 minutes - and when you get a pH meter it should be around 6.4. if not stir for another 15 minutes.
This will set the curds up for putting in the molds.
I just want to reiterate what Mal says. "Good quality" for someone drinking the milk is different than good quality for use making cheese. We require the least processing to the milk possible. It's very common for very high quality organic milk to be second best for cheese making, just for reasons of scale as Mal says. Things like vat pasteurisation and lack of homogenisation brings with it a pretty high cost and so you may find it impossible to get milk that is organic, good for making cheese and also affordable. Homogenised milk is incredibly difficult to work with for hard cheeses, but it's not bad for cheeses where you don't have to stir the curds (and you may actually get better yield due to hanging on to more fat).
One more quick thing: skin slip is generally due to ripening at too high a temperature. The mold produces ammonia faster than the cheese can absorb it. Usually you want normal cellar temps until you get full white coverage and then immediately into the normal fridge for long, cool aging. This slows down the ammonia production and gives you better distribution. After that it's just a matter of waiting long enough.
Thank you both for your comments.
You might be right about the milk. The second time I attempted to make cam I made it with regular supermarket milk which was pasteurized and homogenized (but not ultrapasteurized) and the curd was nowhere near as fragile. It was also about a third the price!
I'll do a gallon batch today and incorporate your suggestions. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Ok, so I started another batch with this recipe:
1 gallon pasteurized milk
1/8 tsp CaCl2
1/8 tsp rennet
1/8 tsp Flora Danica
1/16 tsp PC ABL
1/64 tsp GC 13
Heated milk to 86F (30C), added CaCl2 and all the cultures. Let sit for 90 minutes. Added rennet. I finally got a flocculation time of 32 minutes. Yes, the rennet is fresh and kept in the fridge. I used dechlorinated water to dilute.
My question is, if I use a 6x flocculation time, I need to let it sit another 2.5 hours. Does this sound right?