I made my first Pepper Jack, also my first Jack cheese, and I had a number of problems. The cheese fell apart when I redressed it after the initial pressing. It ended up with cracks on the sides that got bigger when I brined. I hope you all can help me understand what I did wrong and what I can do to improve on my next try.
I reviewed the recipes from several sources, including this forum, and then followed the process description in The Cheesemakers Manual (Margaret Morris).
4 gallons low-temperature pasteurized non-homogenized Jersey milk
3/4 tsp CaCL
3/4 tsp Rennet (but I know now that I measured it short, and probably used 1/2 tsp)
3/8 tsp MA 011
1/8 tsp TA 061
5 fresh habanero peppers
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1.5 tsp dried mixed jalepeno and serrano peppers
saturated brine
I removed the seeds from the habaneros and boiled them in a cup of water for 15 minutes. Then I strained out the seeds added the habaneros (cut in halves) and the dried peppers. I added a little more water and simmered those for 15 minutes. I poured the cold milk into my vat. My first mistake was that I forgot to take a pH reading of my milk at that point. I added the water from my peppers to the milk, stirred it, started heating the milk slowly. Then remembered that I hadn't gotten a pH reading. So I took a reading, and it measured 6.54 at 74.5°F. My meter has ATC.
All of my temperatures were taken with a Thermopen. I overshot my temperature target of 88°F degrees by .5°F, cut the fire, and added the culture, let sit 5 minutes, then stirred and took another pH reading. It had already dropped to 6.39. I also took the temperature again, and it had risen to 89.4°F. Either I hadn't stirred enough before and the milk was actually hotter than I read initially, or my vat, which has a thick aluminum cored stainless steel bottom, had continued to contribute heat to the milk after I shut off the fire. I may need to compensate for the temperature rise in the future.
I allowed the milk to ripen for 35 minutes. The recipe says 45 minutes, but I noticed a number of makes described on this forum only ripen for 30 minutes. pH measured 6.36. That was lower than my target of 6.5. I added the rennet, 3/4 teaspoon. I used a new measuring spoon set that has a spoon labeled 3/4 tsp, 3.75ml. But when I later compared it to some of my other spoons I found it was closer to 1/2 teaspoon than to 3/4. If I had filled it to overbrimming full, it would have been closer to 3/4 tsp. I believe I need to get a syringe so I can be more accurate with this in the future.
Flocculation time, as measured by the spinning bowl test, was 22 minutes. That was longer than I expected, and that is what prompted me to check my new measuring spoon capacity against my old ones. I used a multiplier of 3.5, so my total time before cutting came to 77 minutes. I waited the additional 55 minutes, tested for a clean break to confirm, and then cut the curd into 1/2 inch size. I let rest for 10 minutes after cutting. Temperature was now 88°F exactly, and pH was 6.16, much lower than my target of 6.45.
I raised the temperature slowly to 100°F over 42 minutes. I stirred very slowly and gently, almost continually for the first 15 minutes, and cut all the large curds I found to 1/2 inch size. I continued heating and stirring gently every three minutes until I hit the target temp. However, again, I overshot it slightly. After cutting the heat and stirring some more, I measured 101.4°F. I took a pH reading, but I forgot to write it down.
I let the curds settle for 25 minutes, then did a texture test. The curds seemed pretty squishy, but I thought they might be ready anyway. They held together pretty good and then separated easily. But they looked a little bigger than the pictures I'd seen of a Monterey Jack squeeze test, so I let them go another 10 minutes. Then I stirred and measured pH of 5.6. I believe that is low at draining.
I drained the curds in a butter muslin-lined collander and mixed in the peppers by hand. I don't have any more pH readings from this point because my meter is the glass bulb type, not the flat electrode style, so I didn't figure I'd be able to get a good reading from the drained curds.
I hooped in a 6 inch diameter form and pressed at 8 pounds for 15 minutes. When I went to flip and redress, the entire cheese simply fell apart. The curds had not stuck together. So I refilled the form and pressed at 25 lb for 45 minutes. Then I flipped it over, redressed, and it was pretty crumbly. A couple of chunks fell off the edges, but it didn't completely fall apart again. I pressed at 50 pound for 6 hours, then I just increased the weight to 90 pounds and pressed another six hours.
When I removed the cheese from the form, it was clear that it had not knit well. There were small cracks everywhere, but the cheese didn't seem like it was going to fall apart again. It weighed 4 lb 2 oz, 1.86kg, so I brined it for 11 hours and 15 minutes, then turned it over and brined it another 11 hours 15 minutes. Total brining time was 22.5 hours. This was based on the guidelines in the recipe that said to brine for 12 hours per kilogram of cheese.
Based on how it looks right now, I don't have high hopes for this cheese, but I'm going to go ahead and age it anyway.
Here are some pics.
pH was way too low at drain, and rennet amount was too low. if that happened to me, I would oversalt (2.2% target), dry out the curds more (cut back on multiplier), and hit it with a high PSI to force those curds to fuse together.
A bit concerned at why your milk had such a low pH reading right away. If your meter was correct, 6.4ish is way too low for fresh milk. It should be 6.6 or so.
Thank you linuxboy.
How do I calculate the salt amount? You said 2.2% target, but how is that figured? Also, is salting the curd preferred over brining for this type of cheese, or does it depend on the pH at some point (hooping time)?
If I use a lower multiplier, like 3 instead of 3.5, won't that make a harder cheese? Does a harder cheese knit better than a softer one?
The pH of the milk surprised me too, but I measured it after adding the 1/2 cup of water that the peppers had been simmered in. I'm not sure how that might have affected it. Next time I will remember to take pH measure as soon as I pour the milk in the vat. The milk was delivered to me last Tuesday, and I made cheese on Saturday. Use by date on the milk was 4/24, so I think it must have been pretty fresh.
QuoteYou said 2.2% target, but how is that figured?
Milk weight x projected yield % (or actual yield) x target salt amount % + projected salt loss.
QuoteAlso, is salting the curd preferred over brining for this type of cheese, or does it depend on the pH at some point (hooping time)?
Up to you. But if you get the pH that low, should salt and fuse ASAP. Usually, I would salt the curd for jack.
Quote
If I use a lower multiplier, like 3 instead of 3.5, won't that make a harder cheese? Does a harder cheese knit better than a softer one?
Yes, it will. Knit varies more due to acidity and temp than moisture.
Thanks again. Are there guidelines for projected salt loss?
5-10%. It's not much, almost a margin of error kind of thing.
Did you keep your curds warm while pressing? If they cooled down, that will affect the knit.
-Boofer-
I tried to, Boofer. My technique may need some improvement.
I drained the curds into a hot-water pre-warmed muslin-lined stainless steel colander. I let it drain for about two minutes just to get the bulk of the whey out, then I dumped it into a large bowl so I could more easily mix in the peppers. I mixed in the peppers by hand. Then I put the form in an empty 6 quart pot, lined it with cheesecloth, and filled it, packing it in by hand, then started pressing using a Dutch style press. I pressed light at 8 pounds initially since all the recipes I've seen for Monterrey Jack start with a pretty light amount of weight for initial pressing.
Things that I could have done to keep the curds warmer:
- Preheat the bowl that I dumped the drained curds in.
- Preheat the stainless steel form and pot.
Are there other useful techniques for keeping the curds warm? How warm do they need to be?
Drain in the pot, press in the pot keeps the breezes away.