Gouda and brine.

[Fix]

Hey hey! 

I was made my first Gouda yesterday. I've got two Baby Gouda of 300 gr. each.
But then made a mistake, I've put them in brine for 12 hours, 6 from one side
and 6 from an other, like in recipe of 200 Easy Cheeses. But I missed that this
time was for 2kg. Gouda. Just saw this in Wiki:

"Place in saturated brine solution for 3-4 hours per pound or 0.5 kg of pressed curds..."

And understand that normally my two 300 gr. Baby Gouda must be only for 2 hours
maximum from each side in brine. Do you think I over salted them and it will be
horrible? 

Thanks.

[linuxboy]

Yes. When mature, grate finely and use as a salt substitute/seasoning (like adding to a cream sauce and not salting the sauce). It will take longer to mature with that much salt.

You can also try to adjust pH and calcium of water and put them to soak in water to draw out the salt, but that's not a sure remedy... I've done it, and sometimes it messes with the cheese structure.

[Fix]

Ok, this is sad ... I was made it till 02:00 of the night.
Well, then 4 hours in brine, 2H for each side is ok for Baby Gouda of 300-350 gr. right?

[linuxboy]

What is your brine %, and what final salt target are you trying to achieve? Also, what was the milk fat?  2 hrs sounds like a good starting point.

[Fix]

18% - Milk 3.2
I don't know yet about salt targets sorry.

[linuxboy]

Yikes, mate, that is going to be one salty cheese. Save it, let it age for a year, use it like seasoning, will be great.

2 hrs/side sounds just about right for those baby goudas at 18% brine. If still too salty, you might want to cut it back even more.

[Fix]

Thanks for the info, where I can read about salt targets and how to achieve them please? 

[linuxboy]

How good are you at quantitative modeling and multi-variable analysis? That's what you need to master to be decent at salt target analytics. The variables are milk PF, cheese density, MFFB, cheese pH, brine pH, temperature, and surface-volume ratio, and likely a few other ones I'm forgetting. So there is a way to do it with math. I don't think you want to see those papers, though. If you do, I can share them with you. It's ultra geeky. Beyond that, most people honestly guess and do trial and error for a single type of cheese until they get it to a point where they like it. That's where the 3-4 hrs/lb guideline comes from. Most people who make commercially have predictable milk supplies and cheeses, so the make recipe is tuned to work for them.

[Fix]

I see thanks a lot for your time.