Well here we go; I started a Stilton type (have to call it a type) blue, always wanted to make my own, I did a lot of home work over the last few months and have made a few blue type failures, they were edible and not to bad, they were not quite what I wanted of course and I had to remind myself they were only a test, I used Doc Fankhouser's blue cheese recipe and they ended up more like that blue cheese salad crumble stuff, like I said edible, but-well, JUST-NOT-RIGHT, anyway I told the wife I was goin to the next level and I was going to buy the right Ingredients.
I got on line and did a lot of research, came up with The cheese maker and placed an ordered.
Mesophilic Starter (DVI), Penicillium Roqueforti PV Mold, Dry calf rennet among a few other items.
I decided on the Stilton recipe from 101 recipes for cheese making. Beginning on the 26th of January from start to finish not to hard and everything really went well, one thing I didn't have was a round mold to put the curd in so I improvised and punched holes in a food container and packed that after lining it with cheese cloth so instead of round it's kinda square;
Everything seemed to be going alright until 2 days ago a lot of moisture and the slight smell of ammonia, but then again I had some damp paper towels in the ageing container to keep the humidity up so I pulled all but one out (I had 4 in there) I also placed a humidity monitor inside. Today I checked it and the humidity was of the chart 100+% and a stronger smell off ammonia not overly powerful just stronger than before, so I pulled the last damp towel out and aired the container for awhile, on the 17th it will be one month into ageing, it was very blue and has started to get some wight and green mold. If I understand what I have been reading as long as the smell doesn't get over powering and no super ugly mold this is semi normal?
Is there better ways to bring down the humidity? It's supposed to be 75-80%,
guess I will have to see what happens tomorrow, the change in the mold isn't so much a bother as I know this type likes a brown or tan rind just hope I don't ruin it, it's lookin purty decent for a first timer. :)
Hi HKJ,
Yes your humidity is too high and you need to heavily salt the rind as well.
I advice to crack open the lid of your humidity chamber to release a bit of humidity.
It does look like OK. As long as you are OK with the smell and taste, it is OK to consume.
Gürkan When you say heavily salt do you mean from like a salt shaker or roll it around on a salted surface or??
like a rub (as in BBQ without the spices) kosher type salt, (large grain)? non anodized (small grain) hope these ain't stupid questions
and thank you for your help :)
H-K-J
You need to let the cheese breath at least a few hours a week to let it "exchange gas" as they say.
As said above your RH is way too high, leaving the lid closed with a slight opening is enough. no need for any moist cloth\towel in there.
I dont think salting the rind with stilton style is a good idea, this cheese is meant to grow wild rind.
Non-iodized, fine grain salt. Roll it on a salted surface if the rind is hard or sprinkle with a shaker. I usually use rock salt and prestle and mortar to make it finer. If you find a burr coffee grinder, you can get real fine powder like salt out of it.
Blue needs oxygen to grow, you need to renew holes every second day.
Tomer, from everything I have read it does say no salt on the rind, that is were I would like to go. as of today I am still fighting the humidity thing, got it down to 75% yesterday then looked today and it is back up to 100+%. I took it out of the container, flipped it and let it air out. it's back in my ageing area and I will see what happens tomorrow I have a few ideas that I will try.
Gürkan, I think if the mold starts to get out of hand I will do the salting, just trying to stay away from it for now, my holes have been cleared twice and don't seem to be closing up yet but will redo tomorrow just in case.
I'm sure this ain't the end of my problems and will need more advice as I go along, I sure appreciate your input guys.
Thanks H-K-J
Oh my that is a scarey looking thing I hope it can not walk or anything ... :o
DeejayDebi Naw, it cant run to far, mostly it just bangs against the top and sides of the container, hasn't MMMade us lose to much sleep, yet, ;)
i have some creepy crawly cheese rinds whose exterior growth is approaching sentience.
ALIVE!!!
me in real life:
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_C_8M2WVWfgM/TTKeVpqyRmI/AAAAAAAAIWo/KmmXwHZaVSQ/s1600/2007_7young-frankenstein.jpg)
(http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/youngfrank.jpg)
^-^ Well it's leg's are getin shorter, the wight mold is drying up, Humidity is comein down(but still to high,workin on it) and the ammonia smell seems to be a lot weaker, So maybe we saved the patient, we will keep the monitor on it and see ( you guess are funny) ;D
They tricky part of these cheeses is they need high humidity and lots of fresh air. Take it out for a walk once in a awhile. ;D
I found mine liked the covers off the boxes and the door open in the mini cave for an hour of so a day and they were very happy. Cheese is a funny thing - haard to believe something that can stink so bad can taste so good.
I have been airing it out daily, as I said the molds are not as slimy and the smell is much more agreeable, my Hydrometer is still telling me 98% and the room usually stays at about 40%-50%, so this is definitely moisture being built up inside the container from the cheese.
I am a little afraid to leave the lid off as there is a chance that I might have some of those little no-see-um's and I really don't want to see-um :P.
I am wondering if I should lay a muslin towel over the top and tie it on tight to keep those pesky little critters out.
In this way I can get the RH down and regulate it by alternating back and forth (plastic lid to towel), Maybe this will also help dissipate the ammonia aroma as well.
today it is looking soooo much better, I have also re-poked the holes for the interior PR mold, it was much more pleasant to handle and I am feeling a lot happier with the way it is turning out.
As of yesterday it is one month old, keeping fingers crossed and hoping for 10 to 12 weeks ageing time.
Oh, by the way (you GUYS are funny not you guess are funny) ;D
Checked it again today, my Hydrometer/temperature thingy told me 80 deg. and 98% humidity. well there ain't no way in hell it is 80* in that room or in the container, so now I have got to figure that out, I think it is looking excellent the ammonia aroma has basically dissipated, and have turned it again and re-poked the holes on the other side of it.
So, now I will place some frozen water bottles around the container, I do think the temp is a little high, going to get that down to 50* to 55*, still have High hopes for this thing here is a pic ^-^ Photography kinda sucks but yuh should get the jist.
The temp is staying around 50 to 52 deg. the humidity has slowly decreased to 81%, funny what a new set of batteries in the monitor will do for it, :o and a frozen bottle or two of water, all of it has helped considerably.
The ammonia aroma has gone away and it just smells like socks. all-in-all I'm satisfied with the turn round with this one, I will still keep my fingers crossed and an eye on it.
Thanks to all who have commented/contributed, it has all been appreciated.
I will keep posting updates and photo's if for no other reason than to keep a record for myself.
OK, the brick Stilton is alive and well, have been taking it out for a walk daily, It smells better and better every time, keeping his cage clean and RH has stayed between 85% to 90%, Temps are staying 50 t0 55 Deg. re-pierced once again and I can tell a difference as the needle goes through, the wife ain't afraid of it any more either ;)
Oh ya, it had it's 5-Th week birthday yesterday ;D
here are 2 pic's I took today.
Oh yes that is no so scarey now. They do like a bit of fresh air from time to time. All those gases and such in there the air needs to be freshened up. I have often though about cutting a hole in the top and bottom of my mini cave to bring in fresh air but I am afraid I would cut into something and ruin the cave or introduce bad bacteria. So I drape a hunk of cheese cloth over the door every few days and let the fresh air in. I am going to get a roll of that magnet tape somewhere and make a little frame. I use refridgerator magnets right now. My sausages need to breathe too.
Happy 6Th week Birthday to the brick Stilton :) Having great success with the ice jugs in my improvised cheese cave, the temp's stay around 50 to 53 deg. consistently but the humidity has been getting a little too low, have been trying to get it back up to 85%-90%, that seems to be happening. the wife and I are getting antsy but we are trying to age it to 10 weeks.
I am trying to figure out how to check into the center and see how the P-roque is developing, I don't have a taster so I will have to improvise, everything else seems O.K. even the smell is mellowing :o
gawd this cheese is smelling so good I can't believe it am getting so excited!!!!
I have been trying ti figure out how to pull a small taster size piece from the center of my cheese, I would like to see the PV growth on the inside,
I really cant afford a $65.00 Taster right now, anyone have an inexpensive way to do this so as not to totally screw up the cheese????
I've heard a vegetable peeler works. Never tried it myself, but it's mostly the right shape.
yea, you could just take the old school style peelers, like the photo, and just bend the curve a little more so its more of a trier shape
:D the wife and I came up with the same Idea, LOL when I saw the replies just needed it confirmed, thanks :)
Took the brick out for it's nightly walk for some fresh air, cleaned the container and changed the linen ;)
we also tried the peeler as a taster, that worked to an extent, I think we need one that has smoother sides.
Yes we did taste a small bit of it, the wife is no longer afraid of it she is in love with it. :D
to me the first thing to hit you is just a very lite taste of salt then the cream comes across, and for a finish there is a sweetness
that stuck around but not over powering I couldn't place were that could have come from until I had a glass of milk with dinner, DUUUHHH!!
There isn't much marbling of the blue PR yet but there is some, I think for a 6 week old cheese it is doing quite well and has made the wife and I
determined to sit it out for two to three weeks longer :P
I do believe I will be starting another one (Stilton) or a Gorgonzola, this is turning out very well although I have a few tweaks I will be trying.
Lots of ideas from the forum and all the helpful people in it
Thanks to everyone who has commented. :)
The wife and I tried the Stilton again last night we are in agreement that the blue is comin through
amazing flavor compared to last week, Amazing what just one week makes ;D
Had to figure out how to get the RH back up it has been low the past few days and the temps have been getting warmer in the cool room (springs uh comin) so I have been placing more ice packs around the ageing container to hold the temp down, placed 4 wet paper towels in the container and removed the dry paper towel tent that was over the cheese to keep the condensation from the lid from dripping on it and replaced it with a plastic bag, My thought is the dry towels were absorbing moisture from the container we will see tomorrow. I have also bought a larger ageing container so I can put both of the Stilton's in it and won't have a need for two separate mini environments and will only have to keep track of one.
Our first one is looking very nice and have I mentioned that it tasted awesome!!! ;D
The paste looks nice. I use an apple corer or a jalapeno corer for tasting. Pull a plug eat the end and stick it back in.
DeejayDebi
that is what we did and it seemed to seal just fine it is getting hard to find the patients, to hold back from eating it would at least want to try 11 weeks ageing but it tastes so GOOD!!!
I'm thinkin cut it open tonight :-\ or maybe just another taste hhhhhmmmmmmmm.
Be sure and take a pic for us cheese voyeurs. You wouldn't want to let it get over ripe now. >:D
O.K. We cut it up :-\ shoulduh-woulduh-coulduh any way deelish, wife loves it, I thought sharper, oh well got another one going this one will keep us happy and leave the new brick alone (we both just had a craving) Crumbly, creamy, blue tasting,sharp but not too, all was said as we tasted the crumbs I tweaked the new one and have a lot of ideas about piercing and how to control RH and temp, what an adventure it has been trying to make an acceptable cheese WOW JUST WOW!!! ;D Thanks for the input every one.
Very cool! Nice when it all comes together like that. Glad that it meets with your approval, and it's good that there is room for improvement. One wouldn't want to peak too early! A cheese to you success.
- Jeff
Looks very nice! Well done!
looks delicious.
Thank you for the support it is a stand alone cheese (I am tasting allot) just love taking a bit here and there just to savor the flavor had it on salad last night and enjoyed :D
It was so nice yesterday the wife and I had to BB-Q, NY steak with saut'ed mushrooms and melted Stilton on top, salad with crumbled Stilton and a glass of white zin,
the longer this cheese sits the sharper it gets and boy does it taste GREAT ;D I wonder what the rich people had to eat ;)
I am new to this, and tried making blue twice. egads, the cats wouldn't even touch it. I am 'blue' with envy at yours!! ;D congrats!