So, I'm just learning how to make cheese.
Thus, I present my first cheese making thread in which I will most likely do everything wrong and leave everyone here in hillarity, but hey, you gotta do stuff to learn stuff.
As such, I will be making a "Hard Other" cheese today.
Milk: Cows milk, just regular old grocery store whole milk. Regular pasteurization, homogenized
Culture: Buttermilk
Coagulation: Animal rennet.
Basic plan:
Heat milk to like 90F (1.5 gallons of milk)
Add half cup of buttermilk.
Let it party for an hour.
Add rennet.
Let it party for an hour.
Cut curds and raise temp slowly to 105F
Cook curds until I think they are right.
Drain curds (save whey for riccotta).
Salt curds and put in form.
Press to make some sort of cheese wheel.
Put in cheese cave and wait a while.
Eat Cheese.
Profit!
MolBasser
If you are doing that, IMHO start out with my tomme recipe for the base. You will learn more of the dynamics in the process from reading the explanations and following a more precise technique.
I'm just winging it.
[really n00b comment]I'm not a cheese guy so I have no idea what tomme is so, yeah, you'll have to bear with me[/really n00b comment]
I'll learn, I just got involved. I just got excited about my new cave and figured I'd make something to put in it while read all I can.
MolBasser
Where do I find said recipe?
MolBasser
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1591.0.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1591.0.html)
It's my version of giving anyone a crash course in all the best practices of non-milled curd style hard cheese making. You can use the techniques for any hard cheese.
Quote from: linuxboy on February 25, 2012, 06:58:49 PM
https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1591.0.html (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1591.0.html)
It's my version of giving anyone a crash course in all the best practices of non-milled curd style hard cheese making. You can use the techniques for any hard cheese.
Looks good. I will follow this recipe, but use buttermilk as my culture (waiting on orders of bacteria)...
Thanks!
MolBasser
Wish there was a recipe/procedure like that when I first started making cheese! But then there was no internet, probably no Pav or Francouis back then either! ;D
Debi, I wish that, too. I could have used the current version of me to smack the younger me upside the head about.. oh... everything. And I was around then :P. Back then we called "the cloud" mainframes. And X.400 messaging was all the rage (instead of SMTP).
Ah yes I remember it well. Used to have to do the cable connections to our Wang back in the day with a soldering iron and magnifying glass! God I hated those connectors and so fragile! Back when pascal, fortran and cobal reigned supreme!
Lucky for me my younger self was just as much a data junkie as today and thirsty to learn the mystic arts of the ole ways. I just remembered what I read back then. Today I walk accross the room and forget where I was headed! ;D
{{{{Pav}}}}
Milk heating with 1/2 teaspoon of CaCl2.
Should be fun.
MolBasser
At 85F I turned the burner off and added oh, about a half cup or quarter cup of active culture butter milk.
Set the time for an hou.
Temp creaping up.
MolBasser
Bacteria are partying.
I hoist a 16 oz. Torpedo can to their celebration!
MolBasser
Heating up the milk.
Culture added. Temp at 88.
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/431706_3074247267290_1596948057_2542204_898685550_n.jpg)
MolBasser
Just added the rennet! Woot.
MolBasser
Just about to cut the curds...
Cool stuff, yo.
MolBasser
Just cut the curds and turned the temp up.
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/408005_3074562595173_1596948057_2542396_15511874_n.jpg)
MolBasser
You can tell right off, that I am not a photographer...
:)
MolBasser
Go Mol, looking good so far!
*so jealous* I wish I had my rennet already >< YOU CAN DO IT MOL! Kick that curds ass, and show it the whey!
Curds are cooked and now I need to separate the whey and such!
Nice nap, and waking to further cheese making!
MolBasser
Curds draining!
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s320x320/420759_3075533659449_1596948057_2543178_908605827_n.jpg)
MolBasser
Salting the curds....
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/396514_3075650382367_1596948057_2543187_2024119236_n.jpg)
First press...
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/407493_3075678383067_1596948057_2543288_2093603166_n.jpg)
Making ricotta right now with the whey. (slight vinegar acidification)
MolBasser
Wait, am confused... Why did you not settle under whey to fuse the curds at a high pH, and why did you salt curds and not brine the finished wheel after you hit 5.3-5.4? Are you going for a pyranees variation? Or did you abandon the tomme idea?
I guess I just did what I did.
I'm still waiting on pH strips so I don't have pH control.
Like I said dude. I'm just a newbie who is winging it it for this cheese.
I've got a TON of studying to do to get the process down.
MolBasser
awesome. It's so much fun :)
With the tomme, pH is really forgiving due to high drain pH, that's why I suggested it as a first cheese. Hard to mess up following the basic steps in the thread. Will still be good even when you do mess up :)
Yeah! rock on like a KISS concert circa 1976.
This is what I listen to when I make cheese....
(and other stuff)
MolBasser
Honestly, I have no effing idea what the hell I'm doing.
I just read some stuff from some crappy websites and I went on my way.
I'll learn. I have the tendency to obsess about new hobbies....
MolBasser
OK. Under 50# of press for the night.
See you tomorrow!
MolBasser
Whatever you do, it will be cheese at the end. Wing on.
Margaret
Will it be crap, will it be good, will it even come out of the mold....
Soon to find out! :)
Making the morning coffee to amp up to check it out!
MolBasser
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/431653_3077753314939_1596948057_2544505_365721536_n.jpg)
Looks like cheese.....
MolBasser
Just salted the exterior and tossed it into the cave.
And now the hardest part. The wait.
MolBasser
OK, now that I have done everything wrong, how should I continue the disaster? :)
I took the cheese out of the mold and salted the exterior and put it into my cheese cave at 55F.
Any hints on how to treat the beast?
MolBasser
Was that a dry salting or a brine? It looks very nice the only thing you have to do now is let it age some and it should be good.
Now that you have done the process once and seen what takes place it will be easier to understand for the next batch. Your a brewer you know some of the science already. Now you just have to master your technique! It's all about mastering temperature, humidity and patience!
Yeah. When I started cheese making just a couple of months ago, I told myself: Self, you're gonna have to learn patience....
Sadly, that is not a character trait. I will have to learn.
It was a dry salting, with kosher salt crystals.
The cheese is now at 55F in the cave. Daily flipping, carressing, and whispering is in the future.
MolBasser
This whole thing came out of a mid west supplier sending us cheese curds for a holiday gift.
I had never eaten a cheese curd and it was strangley squeeky and tastey.
I googled it, and then got to a page that taught you how to make cheese curds. I figured, Hey! I can do that. And I did it.
Then, the geeky science guy in me said "hey, this is some cool fermentation XXXX right here" and I just got focused on it. I still have barely scratched the wrapping on the outside of the surface.
Looks like (and is) a really cool hobby. I pretty much stopped homebrewing after I got my job at the brewery...No sense in making beer on the weekend if you make beer all week.
MolBasser
I haven't brewed anything in a few years. Beer is not a big thing in my family circle and I can only drink so much. Dropped from 6 gallon batches to 5 gallon to 3 gallon to none. Even my local birds were getting tired of the spent grains! I enjoy cheese and sausage more than brewing anyway. May try my hand at wine next year it gets better with age I hear unlike beer that can go funky! Beside my grandmother raised 7 kids on brewing beer and wine it's in the blood!
The waiting will be easier once you get a pile-O-cheese wheels in there. The first few are the hardest. I have been doing this for so long I forget I have them once they are in the lower cave. I have a small cube on my microwave for the first few months, then a slghtly bigger wine fridge for the next few months, then the tome for ever more. Some are 6 to 7 years old now. Cheedars, parms, romanos and the like are incredable after 5 years. Make a few quick cheese in between and it will save you cheeses that require aging.
Yeah, I plan on making a wheel every weekend for the forseeable future.
I do have a hankering to make some Sake, but beer is just to close to the daily grind right now.
I love beer, don't get me wrong now! :), but I make it every day at work.
MolBasser
Yes I can understand that. I love a good beer but I only want one or two. I don't have much capacity for beer for some reason. I love a nice malty Scottish Ale and a nice Black and Tan. When it is really hot I do enjoy a light Cervasa with lime.
Check my Pruno thread in the lounge in the coming week. I will be fermenting some prison hootch.
But, back to the cheese. It is in a wine fridge at 55F. With peltier coolers they don't have the dehumidifing effect of a normal fridge.
What do I need to do about humidity control in a wine fridge and what should be the treatment of this cheese?
Thanks.
MolBasser
I have a wine fridge like that. A small dual compartment thing I got on eBay. It is always craping out. Has one cricuit board that is always frying capcaitors. I may just turn it into a curing chamber for sausage and skip the cheese. Anyway - just watch it. Do you have a meter for checking humidity? That is probably not to much of a problem in that fridge or any of the electronic ones. Watch for mold and brush it off as it developes with a light brush. If it gets to crazy use a brine solution with a bit of white vinegar. If you can block the fan so it doesn't blow straight on your cheese that will help keep it from drying out. I am big on vacuum sealng the wheels. I an allergic to mold so it help me from dealing with rashes to seal them after a month or too as I don't have any mold to deal with!
Two in the cave!
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/419166_3078815181485_1596948057_2545062_2133997896_n.jpg)
First one is from my disaster last weekend. Don't ask. At least I got a wheel out of it.
Yesterday's is on the right.
MolBasser
Interesting picture! I think they will be fine. The only thing questionable is what kind of cheese will they resemble?
Food goes in my belly style of cheese!
MolBasser
Anything that is eddible is a success story in my book!
Cheese seems to be doing OK.
It looks really chunky, like the curds weren't small enough or they didn't meld well even under 50# of pressure overnight.
Yellowing a tad, but I hear that this is normal. No mold or anything else. I've been flipping and turning it every day.
56F is the temp it is at.
Imma let it ride for a while before I figure out how to seal the moisture. Most likely vac seal.
MolBasser
Quote from: MolBasser on February 26, 2012, 06:22:55 AM
This is what I listen to when I make cheese....
(and other stuff)
MolBasser
great stuff! definitely the right one making cheese :)
So my failure cheese, the one before the one on this thread, started molding pretty bad and I took it out of the cave.
Cut off the mold and tasted it. It was alright. Certainly edible. Quite crumbly, but it was a last ditch attempt to save the cheese, and so it wasn't a total loss.
Kind of crappy texture, but the flavor was decent.
The cheese from this thread has made a nice rind (I think) and no mold whatsoever. It is kind of dry on the exterior and I'm thinking of vacuum sealing it for the rest of the aging process. I don't have wax, so that is out.
MolBasser
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/429966_3145300123567_1596948057_2574153_620038267_n.jpg)
Here is a terrible pic of my cheese.
the black marks are from the grate that it is sitting on in the cave that was used to roast meat in the oven....
Lame. I know. I'm trying.
Imma vac seal the cheese this weekend, I think.
MolBasser
I REALLY have to do some practice with my phone cam....
MolBasser
Looks good Molbasser. And now I can confess to picking dust specks off my cheese... ;)
Margaret
I don't have wax, so that is out.
MolBasser - yes you do! it is called paraffin - just add a Crayola (color of your choice)!
Best of luck!
I've got a vacuum sealer and bags here.
Wax would require effort to purchase and impliment.
I know how to vacuum seal stuff.
MolBasser
I just truely hate waxing! I always make a mess and it's always embedded in my cheese. All those tiny cracks and creavses I can see the wax and it turns me off. Even commercials cheese I cut a good chunk of the rind off to make sure I am not eatting wax. Back in the 70's I got a "bag Sealer" called Daisy Seal-A-Meal and used that. No vacuum just sucked out the air with a coffee straw and sealed it.
Quote from: MolBasser on February 26, 2012, 07:59:32 PM
Two in the cave!
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s320x320/419166_3078815181485_1596948057_2545062_2133997896_n.jpg)
First one is from my disaster last weekend. Don't ask. At least I got a wheel out of it.
Yesterday's is on the right.
MolBasser
I predict your disaster cheese will be better than your proud cheese, and you'll never quite duplicate it :D
That has happened a few times. Ever make a cheese and during the make the phone rings and you get off balance and don't write everything down and it becomes a wonderful cheese and you don't know why it was different from the rest?
Cheese was OK. Nothing to write home about, but it was extremely well recieved at the party that I brought it to.
Everyone was all "You made this?!?!!"
I think the novelty that someone could actually make cheese made it taste better for the people.
I'm proud to say that my wheel was eaten much faster than the commercial wheels that were there.
Myself, I was disappointed.
Well, try again!
MolBasser
I have been told my new people I meet that you can't make cheese at home. Some people don't get it and some appreciate your efforts.
Well, if you had a one-month-old cheese and people thought it was good, just think how great it will be when you are able to age it longer. In my experience many cheeses at one month are TOTALLY BORING, but give it time and good things will happen!