I can’t believe we are almost at the halfway mark for cheesepalooza! Even though the cheeses have been interesting and some challenging, we now bring another element – time, which impacts any desire of instant gratification (instant is relative in cheese making and so far 5 days is the longest we had to wait) and also less controllable. As well these recipes a lot more milk!
December has us making aged semi-firm cheese, with a choice of Welsh Caerphilly or Farmhouse Cheddar. We chose the Caerphilly.
As always we dutifully read the recipe and headed off to get the milk. We were going to use a recipe provided by Ian at Much To Do About Cheese that called for 16 liters of milk! That is a lot of milk, plus with some additional goat milk I purchased for some chèvre and cream for butter I had some inquisitive looks. We also used Vital Greens whole non-homogenized milk.
In assembling and sterilizing all my tools I discovered that my largest pot was only 12 quarts! What was I to do? Well, I improvised (a useful skill in cheese making I have found) so we ended up making the Caerphilly using the amounts in Mary Karlin’s Artisan Cheese Making at Home but Ian’s method.
As usual the milk was heated, cultures added left to ripen for a bit, followed by some calcium chloride and the rennet, then allowed to set. Since at this point I had not picked up an electric turkey roaster (I have one now though) to use as my cheese vat, I thought I would use the sink since it held more water than the other pan I used previously, and hopefully keep the temperature more consistent.
We had a nice clean break and then cut the curds. These were brought up to 95 degrees F, and stirred gently for about 30 minutes, and then left to rest.
The curds were drained for for a short while in a colander that was suppose to be lined with cheesecloth but someone forgot…..
This did leave an interesting pattern on the curd when it was turned out to be sliced into slabs for cheddaring.
The slabs were relatively firm but very creamy on the inside.
These were stacked, flipped, stacked some more, flipped some more, over the course of an hour. This resulted in more whey being released.
I cut the curds instead of tearing them by hand, I think next time I may do it by hand and see how that impacts the texture. They were then placed in an 8″ tomme mold lined with cheesecloth.
It was then pressed for about 30 minutes with about 10 pounds of weight. As we have done so far, this involved filling containers with water. However, I will be making a press sometime, I have seem some drawings and photos, and it does seem fairly straightforward, plus it will bring together woodworking and cheese making into one project!
After the first press the cheese was removed and flipped. I need to get better at wrapping the cheese with the cheesecloth though….
There were a few voids, which at the time I hoped would fill in with the pressing. The cheese also seemed rather thin at around 3 cm.
It was pressed overnight then unwrapped and brined for a bit longer than overnight, flipping halfway.
It was then air dried for about 3 days, flipping it twice a day.
After the drying there were some white marks, which I believe is salt as it was not mold, which could have formed.
So in cooking it is always important to have everything ready and in its pace – mise-en-place – well my timing was off, and I did not have my cheese cave set up (not even purchased!), plus I was off on a short trip to Vancouver. So the cheese was stored in a cake safe in the refrigerator, which is a bit colder than the 10-12 C it should be aged at.
So on my return I picked up a nice 37 bottle wine fridge to use as the cave. It seemed a good deal, it had a digital temperature gauge plus a cool blue light that J just loved, as it is his favourite colour.
We had no problems with humidity using a container of water at the bottom, but some temperature challenges. We had a good 7-8 degree C temperature difference top to bottom, with the top being coldest. Plus the temperature gauge was also significantly off the actual temperature, and I was having trouble getting the temperature down to the correct range. I noticed that with the humidity some water droplets formed on the cooling element, and these only formed on the top 25% of the element. So I was certain something was not right with the element, and with the top part forming ice, this would also explain the temperature gradient top to bottom. So it was back to the cake safe in the refrigerator for the aging.
With Christmas the wine fridge was not able to be returned until after all the festivities, and has been replaced be a smaller one that works!
After two weeks we should save seen mold growing, but none appeared, which I suspect ay be due to the colder temperature the cheese was being aged at.
With the end of the month approaching and the need to get some notes and a photo off to Valerie we cut the cheese open thinking it had been three weeks, while writing this it dawned on me it has only been two! Regardless, I was quite pleased with what we had, considering all the missteps along the way. There is a definite rind starting to form and the pate is creamy and crumbly. The voids I was concerned about during the pressing did not seem to cause an issue.
The cheese is very mild but quite delicious. I can’t wait to try it in a few weeks and to make it again.
Caerphilly Tasting Notes
Appearance: Exterior rind a slight straw tinge with the interior an off white colour
Nose: No strong aroma, but nice milky nose
Overall taste: Mild taste, with a bit of a pleasant tang
Sweet to salty: slightly salty
Mild to robust: mild
Mouth feel: Good mouth feel, slightly creamy with a bit of grainy ness
There are a few lessons from this challenge. First, make sure you have everything you need, this should go without saying. Second, I think a smaller diameter mold may produce better results with a thicker cheese. Third, in addition to making sure you have everything, make sure it works! Fourth, write things down, I have been relying on memory and I need to keep better track of the process for each cheese so I know how long the cheese has been aging! – among other things like ingredients, weight, brine, etc….
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
ihtreuer
Looks like you got a great cheese you could have use the 12 quarts and filled the mould up more, but a nice looking cheese! If you need a record sheet there is one on my website that might help.
http://muchtodoaboutcheese.com/2012/10/29/updated-home-cheese-making-record/
konadaddy
Thanks Ian, it is more about being lazy in filling out form, but I have yours now so will use it going forward! I thought about using more milk, but was sure on the bet way to tinker with the culture and rennet amounts.
ihtreuer
No problem, the culture amounts for 12 litres would be the same for 16, maybe an 1/8th less. And rennet would be about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. If you have any suggestions for the form it is a work in progress, let me know. I think you will like the coming challenges.
christine @ wannafoodie
Great work! I love your lessons along the way and I think I very well may have the same Christmas-time purchased wine fridge as my new cheese cave (thanks to my mom). So thanks for the comments on the temperature variations/etc – I will watch for those… just in case, right? Looking forward to hearing your comments as your cheese ages a bit more and how your exchanged cave works out.