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We made our first Emmental, using predominately the recipe in Ricki's book, scaled back to our 8.5 litre make, and it's in the cave for the first cool aging period....



The make went really well, we feel our technique is improving a lot.... We had a very consisent "plump grain of rice" curd size on moulding in our Gouda mould.... We chose that for the lack of square corners, where eyes don't develop well.... We only brined for 8 hrs. instead of the 12 in the recipe.... The "rule of thumb" of thickness times weight for brining time would have been just 4 hours (2.1" x 1.9 lbs.), so we split the difference, as I have read that too much salt inhibits eye formation.... We also doubled up on the P. Shermanii to 1/4 tsp. because one of the other recipes I consulted used a full tsp. in only 2 gals. and had great eye development.... We plan to use 72*F for that stage after the initial week in the cave at 55*F.... I'll let you know if it swells.... 

Bob

Very nice cheese!

Very exciting!
Y'all are making me hungry!
Rachel

It's been in the warm phase (I bumped the temp to 75*F / 24*C) for just over 2 weeks, and is starting to swell, growing a bit each day since about day 12....



We'll see what it looks like at 3 weeks, and may leave it for 4 to see if it gets any bigger.... At least it looks like it won't be blind.... 

Bob