CheeseForum.org » Forum

Batch 1 of 3 of the Parm Marathon. 
There are many tweaks here.

Adjustments
1>All 2% milk.   I wanted the fat content to be no more than 2%. (I had been going for 2.5%)
2>Going with Kid Lipase.  Much less than before.  10.9g instead of 18g.
3> gonna try and measure floc time.

Indredients:
24gal 2% past/homogenized milk
(1.6g) TA61
(2.8g) LH100
10.9g Kid Lipase
12 tsp CaCl2 (1/4cup)
18.5ml rennet dilluted in 3.1 cups of distilled water

Data:

Time	Task	Water Temp	Milk Temp	pH
8:12	Start	97	50	6.82
8:15	Started Lipase re-hydration	87	74	no data
8:41	Added CaCL	89	81	no data
8:50	Added Lipase	89	88	6.58
9:15	Overheated the milk (waited for it to cool)	97	94	6.58
9:37	Added Culture	109	91	6.59
10:09	Took Data	112	90	6.54*
11:28	Added Rennet	112	90	6.50*
12:02	cut Curd, Start 5 min heal	112	90	no data
1:20	Finished cooking/scald	129	124	6.34
1:30	loaded into form	129	124	6.34

Comments
*waiting for pH to hit 6.50 before adding Rennet. Damn. That took 120 minutes.  Hmm.

Not sure why it took so long to acidify...  too little culture? (TA 61)



Prepared Brine.
I made enough for 3 wheels.  Using my Stainless Steel Sink.
Specific Gravity: 1.154
pH 5.03  Adjusted with a touch of Citric Acid.


Final pH:
5.25.  This was taken at the time I took it out of the press this morning.  I wanted pH5.1.  The lack of acid may be symptomatic of the ongoing acidity issues with this wheel, or it may be due to the short press time.  I dropped the press time from 24 hours to 18.

Final Thoughts.
I will increase my TA61 25%.  Instead of 1.6g.  I will use 2.0g
I will also decrease my kid lipase from 120g/1000l to 100/1000l.  (That works out to 9.08g instead of 10.9g)

Why a 24 gallon batch? Why didn't you use a mother culture?

Why 24 gallons?  Because it fits my 25 gallon stock pot nicely.

Why no mother culture?  Well, at some point I will up my game and understand what is required for the creation and maintenance of a mother culture.  But for right now, that is beyond my skills, and introduces more change in my recipe than I am comfortable with.

I just wanted to do three batches cuz I have nothing else to do with the wife out of town and I figured I would vary a couple of things across each batch....  Lipase/rennet  mainly...

Go Wayne.  Just don't drink too much of your wine, and completely loose the plot.

Did you check the flocculation? Just curious how far off this was with the 120 minute wait.

It did not measure the floc point this time through.  I simply added rennet and checked back in 25 min.
The curd set seemed perfect, so i just cut it.  This seemed perfectly within norms to me.

I will do a better job in the morning of checking floc time.

Still not sure about the slow acidification.   Lazy cultures?  ;)

LOL LAzy cultures!   Are they old? I seriously doubt that but who knows?

The older I get, the lazier I become...

So how did this one turn out?

I pulled this out after 18 hours of pressing and its trimmed up and soaking in brine right now.  The final pH is 5.2

We shall see how this goes...

a couple of pictures...

Looks great Wayne. What weight/psi did you press at?

And that's one ....  ;)

number 2 is in the press, I start number 3 in the morning...
  I'm bushed.

Is 5.2 the final pH you were aiming for?  Also what weight is that?
BTY it looks wonderful.  Well done.  One down, two to go.

I could use that for a step stool in my kitchen!

That's some setup you've got there Wayne! I just splashed out and bought a 16 litre (4.5 gal?) s/s stockpot, and thought THAT was big, lol. One day, one day...
Cheers.
ps hope the taste is equally big

Quote from: Tea on December 29, 2009, 08:50:56 PM
Is 5.2 the final pH you were aiming for?  Also what weight is that?
BTY it looks wonderful.  Well done.  One down, two to go.

I was aiming for 5.1
Wieght is abut 18lbs.