I've been making raw sheep's milk cheeses using modified versions of the Osso-Iraty recipe in "200 Basic..."
Until a month or so ago, I pressed overnight, which typically was 10-12 hours. Recently my schedule has changed so that I'm finishing cheeses in the mid-afternoon, and continuing my habit of pressing "overnight" which has now become 18 hours or so.
Before I start trying to quantify what effect, if any, this is having on the cheese, I'd be interested in any advice/experience/further description of what's going on for that cheese in the waning hours of the pressing?
Best wishes, Paul
what ambient room temp?
66 F +/- 1-2 degrees.
The issue I foresee is over acidification of the curd. Texturally the cheese may become drier than you might normally like, or may develop a brittle curd (kind of like a crumbly feta). Others, am I wrong in thinking this cheese should brine at pH 5.2 to 5.4? This is not a cheese I have direct experience with, so please don't take my word for it. Besides, I would also think the usual 90 days ageing (for this cheese) would help ameliorate the acidity problem should it develop.
You can go to 5.1. It's usually pretty forgiving. IIRC, that ossau iraty recipe mills the curds and then re-fuses them, right? Like Tim Smith's pyranees?
But, feta-like issue is balance between knit pH and brine pH. Meaning, it's not a foregone conclusion that if you go to 4.9 that cheese will crumble.