You just can't have enough cheddar in your cave, so here we go! Forgot to measure pH in the beginning, but the make went very well. I made all the targets for temp and pH. The weight looks good, so I think this is going to be a good one! :P
Traditional Cheddar Cheese #55 2/24/12
Floc x3
Yeild: 4 ½ pounds
4 gallons raw Brown Swiss Cow milk, pH ?
½ teaspoon MA11
¼ teaspoon x3 rennet (diluted with ¼ cup water)
1/8 tsp annatto (diluted with ¼ cup water)
2-½ tablespoons salt
Warmed milk to 88 degrees, added culture and let ripen 40 minutes.
Added annatto and stirred in. Temp 88 degrees
Added rennet and waited for floc. Floc in 8 minutes x 3 = 24 minutes
Checked for clean break in 24 minutes and cut curd in to ½ cubes. Let set 5 minutes then began heating milk to 102 degrees, taking 45 minutes to get there. pH 6.3 & Temp 102 degrees—on target.
Let sit for 30 - 40 minutes at 102 degrees, after 40 minutes, when pH reached 6.2, I drained the curd and put back in warm pot for cheddaring. I let the mass fuse together 10 minutes and then turned it. Continued turning it, on to different sides, every 10 minutes until pH was 5.5. This took a total of 55 minutes.
Milled curd into ½ by 2 inch pieces and salted. Hooped and began pressing at 70 lbs. pH 5.1 after hooping.
Redressed after 30 minutes and pressed at 70 lbs for another hour. Redressed then applied 204 pounds overnight
Air dry a few days then into the cave for 6 – 12 months.
Looks good! I've got a cave full of various cheddar type cheeses. Yum!
- Jeff
Looks great!
How do you take a pH read on a pressed cheese?
Looking good Anut!
What type of press are you using? Picture?
Thanks guys! :) I'm using a dutch press. I'll try to remember to snap a picture next cheese. Cheeses expel whey for a while into the press, so you can normally get a small sample quite a ways in. I use a shot glass and a syringe to obtain and read such tiny amounts whey.