Have looked, but not found anything on this. Close to my first tomme, and wanting to find a means to keep the cheese warmed to 90 or so during the first hours under press. I usually bulk ferment everything in an oven with door slightly ajar, which gets me at about 85-90, but not so sanguine about doing this with cheese, given how nasty an oven can be. Anyone have a favorite method?
Small plug in heater pointed right at it always worked for me.
Cover the whole thing in a blanket.
For a single tomme mold, put in a food warmer and put a gallon of water on top as the weight. It's enough to acidify the tomme. Honestly, though, I often will just let the ambient room temp of ~75 take care of it. But, I only make tomme in the summer, so it's not too hard then.
[edit] Or, I'll use a seed mat, the kind you buy for germinating seeds and keeping them warm.
Thanks, guys. Itching to begin.
Here is what I have tried doing - may give some ideas. linuxboy is right this is a great basic beginner cheese, easy to make.
I just used stuff in the kitchen ---a SS colander, pie tin, and a old coffee can filled with 15 pounds of lead wheel weights from the garage.
I hooped & pressed the curd in the vat for the first two turns ( 10min & 20min)
Took out and flipped on the wooden cutting board and back in the vat. Simple
After this first hour the most of the curd has pressed into the mold.
BTW: Arnaud - this is the Tomme made using previous makes whey as a starter. with linuxboy's 'World Famous' - AKA: PITA starter method. :)
Quote from: linuxboy on January 04, 2011, 06:32:51 AM
Guys, on the whey starter, don't overthink it. Take some from the last batch (1-2%), put it in the milk, and go. A tomme is VERY forgiving, so long as you use very fresh milk and let the cheese acidify in the mold by draining at a high pH.
Worked great.
As you can see in the first pic. I drained to much whey I did add more back in the vat to cover the whole cheese after taking this photo.
Hey Buck, how'd you get the 1 pressed in the cheese? Was that from an old birthday candle you also had in the kitchen? :)
Quote from: smilingcalico on January 06, 2011, 05:51:27 AM
Hey Buck, how'd you get the 1 pressed in the cheese? Was that from an old birthday candle you also had in the kitchen? :)
Your right, that is what it looks like :-[
I'm having a problem keeping all the records of each cheese separate so I've been experimenting with different ways of marking. This was done with a number cut out from a piece of wax left over from a previous cheese. It pressed deeper than I would like.
Need to find another material. Any suggestions?
Quote from: ArnaudForestier on January 05, 2011, 08:30:03 PM
I usually bulk ferment everything in an oven with door slightly ajar, which gets me at about 85-90, but not so sanguine about doing this with cheese, given how nasty an oven can be.
I know just what you mean. My oven hasn't been cleaned in so long ---- It's gotten to the point, I can only bake one cupcake at a time.
Hey Buck - looks fantastic! And the use of common materials is, well - a guy after my own heart. Kudos, friend.
On the oven - yep, well...it shames this chef. But warms his family's heart, since it has bread tiles that kicks out a ton of sourdough weekly. ;D
I was keeping the cheese warmed in the double boiler which holds the heat for a pretty long time. I finally decided to follow a recommendation that Sailor gave a while back and linuxboy repeated here: a germinating seed mat. It should be here next week. We'll see how that goes. I think it will prove to be the solution to maintaining warmth throughout the night in a cool/cold kitchen during the winter months.
-Boofer-
Hi Boofer,
Where did you find the germination seed mat? On Amazon it costs $31.00, that seemed a little too high...
thanks!
Hey Buck, that doesn't look too deep to me, but another materials suggestion could be one of those thin cutting boards, the type you can cut your veggies on, then flex to easily dump them into your pot or pan. Know what I'm referring to?
Quote from: GoChick on January 06, 2011, 03:32:14 PM
Hi Boofer,
Where did you find the germination seed mat? On Amazon it costs $31.00, that seemed a little too high...
thanks!
Mine arrived today. $22.38...click here. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001WV010/ref=oss_product)
-Boofer-
Quote from: Boofer on January 07, 2011, 06:46:55 AM
Quote from: GoChick on January 06, 2011, 03:32:14 PM
Hi Boofer,
Where did you find the germination seed mat? On Amazon it costs $31.00, that seemed a little too high...
thanks!
Mine arrived today. $22.38...click here. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001WV010/ref=oss_product)
-Boofer-
About the same on ebay. $25.32, shipped. (http://cgi.ebay.com/Hydrofarm-Seedling-Heat-Mat-10x20-Hydroponic-NEW-STYLE-/330515600719?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf443d54f)