Hello all!
I'd just like to start my first post saying what an awesome help this forum is for people getting into cheesemaking! I've used a dozen tidbits taken from previous posts in my first 2 batches, but I've hit a bit of a weird snag. Also, I apologize for the following wall of text.
My first batch I made a couple very (now) obvious errors. I kneaded the salt quite roughly into the milled curd, mashing it all up. I stirred too much and didn't cut the curd very evenly at all in the first place. So I figured I would modify the recipe a slight bit and give it another go. That's when the trouble started.
Here's the recipe I used. It's a slightly modified "Brew Curds Cheddar" from Artisan Cheese Making at Home by Karlin/Anderson.
Makes: 2 pounds
Milk: Pasteurized whole cow's milk
Start to Finish: 4 to 6 weeks: about 5 hours to make the cheese; 13 hours to press; 1 to 2 days to dry; 4 to 6 weeks to age
Ingredients
2 gallons pasteurized whole cow's milk
1/2 teaspoon Meso II powdered mesophilic starter culture
1/4 teaspoon liquid annatto diluted in 1/4 cup cool nonchlorinated water (optional)
1/2 teaspoon calcium chloride diluted in 1/4 cup cool nonchlorinated water
1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet diluted in 1/4 cup cool nonchlorinated water
One 12-ounce (PASTEURIZED) bottle dark ale or stout at room temperature
1 tablespoon kosher salt (preferably Diamond Crystal brand) or cheese salt
Instructions
1. Heat the milk in a nonreactive 10-quart stockpot set in a 98°F water bath over low heat. Bring the milk to 88°F over 10 minutes. Turn off the heat.
2. Sprinkle the starter over the milk and let it rehydrate for 5 minutes. Mix well using a whisk in an up-and-down motion. Cover and maintain 88°F, letting the milk ripen for 45 minutes. Add the annatto, if using, and gently whisk in for 1 minute. Add the calcium chloride and gently whisk in for 1 minute, and then incorporate the rennet in the same way. Cover and let sit, maintaining 88°F for 45 minutes, or until the curds give a clean break.
3. Still maintaining 88°F, cut the curds into 1/2-inch pieces and let sit for 5 minutes. Over low heat, slowly bring the curds to 102°F over 40 minutes. Stir continuously to keep the curds from matting together; they will release whey, firm up slightly, and shrink to the size of peanuts.
4. Once the curds are at 102°F, turn off the heat, maintain the temperature, and let the curds rest undisturbed for 30 minutes; they will sink to the bottom.
5. Place a strainer over a bowl or bucket large enough to capture the whey. Line it with damp butter muslin and ladle the curds into it. Let drain for 10 minutes, or until the whey stops dripping. Reserve one-third of the whey and return it to the pot.
6. Return the whey in the pot to 102°F. Place the curds in a colander, set the colander over the pot, and cover. Carefully maintaining the 102°F temperature of the whey, stack half the curds over the other half and wait 10 minutes for the curds to melt into a slab. Halve, then flip the slab of curds, and repeat every 15 minutes for 1 hour. The curds should maintain a 95°F to 100°F temperature from the heated whey below and continue to expel whey into the pot. After 1 hour, the curds will look shiny and white, like poached chicken.
7. Cut the curds into ½" x 2" strips and soak in the beer for 45 minutes. Try to keep at ~85 degrees Drain beer and toss the curds in salt.
8. Line the mold with boiled, cooled damp cheesecloth. Place a cheese mat in the large aluminum pot, then place the pot in a sink full of hot water. Try to get the interior of the pot to 84F. Pack the drained curds into the mold, cover with the cloth tails, set the follower on top, place in the aluminum pot and place a 4kg (8.8lb) weight (0.55PSI) weight on top of the follower and press for 20 minutes. Remove the cheese from the mold, unwrap, flip, and redress, then press with 6kg (12lb) (0.83psi) in the pot for 20 minutes. Maintain 84F for the entire time.
9. Remove mold from pot, remove cheese, unwrap and flip again. Place in mold and put under the Dutch press overnight at 10 PSI (6kg at 12:1 arm ratio).
11. Remove the cheese from the mold and cloth and pat dry. Air-dry on a cheese mat at room temperature for 1 to 2 days, or until the surface is dry to the touch.
11. Use butter muslin and dip it in cider vinegar. Wipe the entire exterior of the cheese. Let dry. To wax, either double-boil the wax for painting or heat the wax to 224-236F for dipping. Double coat. DO NOT EXCEED 250F; WAX FLASHPOINT IS 300F. Wax the cheese (see http://www.cheesemaking.com/WaxingCheese.html (http://www.cheesemaking.com/WaxingCheese.html)) and ripen at 50°F to 55°F and 85 percent humidity for 4 to 6 weeks, flipping the cheese daily for even ripening.
My first cheese (this recipe WITHOUT the ale) is ripening in wax and is quite nice; it's about a kilo (2 lb) and doesn't appear to have any mold or anything untoward. I'm worried about the mistakes I made, but this one is just off the reservation.
My second attempt at this recipe, using the ale this time, turned out very, very odd. The curds were MUCH firmer and actually squeaked (I added an extra 1/4 tsp of CaCl and a pinch extra rennet, with a few more minutes ripening before cutting) and they really did resemble poached chicken when I milled the curds before soaking. However, after pressing in the pot (thanks for that tip, Sailor), followed by overnight at 15 PSI, I have a cheese that weighs in at just under 1.5lb and is starting to crack noticeably. I cut out a few of the deeper cracks before they could progress even further (and the ale taste is both noticeable and wonderful), but I'm thinking I messed up somewhere along the way.
What might I be doing wrong here? Any tips from the pros? I apologize again for the wall of text, but I'd like some experienced input from someone who isn't on their second hard cheese ever.
Thanks so much,
- Budista
P.S.: I'd like to either dip or wash the rind in beer well before waxing. Any tips for this? Salt/CaCl to the beer? Let it dry for a few days beforehand? Leave off entirely?
Its possible that while cheddaring you may have gone too far in terms of acidity and at that point the curds didnt "want" to fuse anymore, regardless of the very high (15 psi) pressure.
You might want to try and seal the rind in warm water next time.
"When ready, these go into a curd mill which reduces them to smaller cubes. Then salt is added, then stirred on the cooler for 20 minutes. Then the curd is put into moulds which are lined with cloths. Then they are pressed in a hydraulic press overnight.
Next day each cheese is put into dip tank of hot water to seal any holes and then put back in the press. The following day they are taken out and larded and cloths are put on, which forms the rind. lf not enough lard is put on they will dry out and crack in the store. Then you get mould inside the cheese."
Budista, first off never add rennet or CalCl2 beyond the formula for your quantity. It doesn't take much of it to give you strange textures, change the acidity curve or age into something impossibly bitter. Rennet in particular doesn't just gel the milk into curd; it also has long term aging effects on your cheese.
Was your milk homogenized? Ultra pasteurized? These could be issues.
The most common issue with cheddar is over acidifying it. It's a very sensitive to acidity. When the curds are dipped in beer, they take on the acidity of the beer. The extra added time and high temperature also means that the lactic bacteria is multiplying at high rate, thus acidifying your cheese. Acidity is usually the cause for rapid moisture loss, hence these typical cracks you are seeing. I would correct this by shortening the rennet time if you have this curd beer-washing stage.
The other thing is; you need to be sensitive to the temperature of the room because warm room or a hot summer day can ripen the milk too fast (also during the pressing period). If it's a hot day - adjust the milk temperature a couple of degrees lower. Do the opposite in a cold winter day.
One more important tip you will find everywhere on this forum is to switch all your recipes from prescribed times to flocculation multipliers. It's a lot easier and rather than looking at a recipe, it enables the recipe to fit itself to the condition of YOUR milk right then and there. Are you familiar with the spinning bowl method?
Last thing; Cheddar is a bit tricky and takes some time to master (especially when each one takes months to find out if you are doing it right). I would first master the classic, pure and wonderful Cheddar that speaks for the milk quality and your technique, before introducing more curve-balls into an already complicated situation, such as flavorants, exotic washes, etc. These mask the natural flavors and to give you accidents with acidity, rancidity, yeast issues, overpowering flavors and aromas, etc. Know what I mean? If you are totally confident about your basic cheddar process, than it will be a piece of cake for you to add or change flavors, washes or changes in the process to fit your need.
Personally by the way, I think that washing the milled curd AND the rind with beer would overpower the cheese. I would make a classic cheddar and then brine it in a beer-based brine instead. I would let it dry for 2-3 days, then deep it in that brine again for short period just to give it another layer, dry again and repeat once more. By the 3rd time you will get a robust aroma and color on that rind and once it dried off, you can was or vacuum the cheese. When you open it 3 months later, believe me, you will feel the beer (but it won't overpower the cheese at all). It's also a safer way of doing it without risking that extra acid I talked about earlier. I hope this helps! Keep me posted!
Thanks for your replies, guys! I really appreciate the time!
Tomer: I've read up a bit on sealing the rind. I'll try that on the cheddar I plan to make this sunday. Thanks. I'll also reduce my cheddaring time a bit to help combat over-acidification
Iratherfly:
Thank you so much for all the considered tips. I'm really new to this and, as with a lot of things, I do tend to jump right into the deep end. I'm sticking with the basics on Sunday and working on perfecting the more basic techniques.
I've just cracked my first cheddar (a month and a half old) and it was... disappointing. Like I mentioned in my OP, I made a few mistakes I acknowledge that could affect the taste, but the weirdest thing for me is how crumbly and moist the cheese was. The paste was actually damp to the touch (no rot or mold, thankfully) after 3 days drying and about 42 days in wax @ 75-85% humidity and 55F. It was so crumbly it's impossible to cut into slices. I've left a half to mature longer in wax and a quarter in vacuum bags just to see what it will do, but I'm confused why it would turn out this way.
The milk I used is both homogenized and pasteurized. I don't think it's UHT or UP, but I can't get a definitive answer from the dairy (D Dutchmen from British Columbia). I'm not having issues getting a clean break or solid curd with either of my first batches. Cutting is another story, and I can't wait until I suss out how to make a reasonable facimile of a curd knife for the horizontal cuts.
I have never heard of flocculation multipliers! As a former homebrewer, flocculation only means dropping yeast out of suspension to me; what does this imply for cheesemaking? Anything that gets me away from these generalizations is good in my books!
The other question I'm having is pressure for pressing. I was thinking, for this next cheddar, about just pressing immediately after salting the curds at 3psi (15 minutes with the mold kept warm), then 5psi (30 minutes), 10psi (1 hour), 15psi (12 hours) and then 20psi (24 hours). Is this excessive? I have a great little dutch press that gives me a 12:1 leverage ratio, so I can hit weights of up to ~350lb on my 4.5" mold quite easily. None of this is hydraulic psi, mind; just weight/area.
I figure I'll try bandaging this one, as I like the idea of a drier, flakier cheddar with stronger flavours. I have lots of linen and vegetable shortening that I can use for this. Should I let it dry for a week or two to get a solid natural rind before bandaging?
I'm full of questions, but the internet is full of a lot of contradicting information. Any more help is much appreciated, thank you!
- Budista