Made a feta two weeks ago.  It’s been sitting in brine in the refrigerator for two weeks.  Does it now need to be drained and dried?  Just drain in a colander, or what?

Thanks.

- JR -

You should store it in a container of brine until you want to use it. Alternatively, you can drain it then store it in olive oil which you may flavour with herbs, garlic etc if you so wish. If you dry it it will become tough and hard.
  The brine I use is either the standard 20% salt in water, or more usually 12.5% salt in the acidified whey, which is the traditional brine. The lactic acid in the ripened whey is also mildly preservative (e.g. as in sauerkraut) allowing the salt content to be reduced somewhat & resulting in a less salty tasting cheese.
  If you can keep your feta in the brined whey for a long time, e.g. six months plus, it can develop a wonderful full rounded flavour very unlike the young cheese.

Thanks for the advice.  I have it in a saturated brine.  Will this be too salty?  Is that what you meant by traditional?

Saturated brine is waaaaay too salty. saturated brine (i.e. brine which will dissolve no more salt and therefore can have salt crystals at the bottom of it) is 36%, whether you make it hot or cold, it is 36%. If you take the sat. brine and add an equal volume of water you will have 18% brine, which is strong enough. I think you should adjust your brine a.s.a.p. before you ruin the cheese. It should wash out any excessive saltiness that may have already built up.
  What I call the traditional brine is much less salty. You save the whey from when you drain the curds and keep it at room temp. for 12-24 hours to acidify (the culture causes this to happen naturally), then keep it in the fridge until you are ready to cut up the feta and brine it. Use 2 oz. salt per U.S. pint of brine required. Allow a quart of brine for a two gallon cheese. This is only 12.5 % salt but the acidity also contributes to the preservative effect of the brine and also stops the surface of the feta ‘dissolving’ into the brine
  The remaining ripened whey (not the salty stuff!) you can bring just to the boil on the stove then allow to cool. It will form a cloud of precipitate which clumps up and when it is cool ladle it on to a straining cloth to drain. This is ricotta, again traditional style, savory as opposed to the sweet & creamy ricotta you buy in the store.
See http://www.cheesemaking.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=64&PN=1
  All credit to David Fankhauser for his brine recipe http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/CHEESE.HTML

Woops!  Well, I drained the brine and filled the jar with water to try to leach out some of the salt.  I thought after a couple of days, I’ll then drain the water and add the less-salty brine. Thanks for helping me save (I hope) my first attempt at feta.

Merry Christmas!

- JR -

Well, my feta disintegrated after a couple of days in plain water, so I’ve scrapped it.  Live and learn!

Feta Brine needs:
to be acidic or the cheese will be melted in the water.
to be salty so the preserve the cheese

cheers

Oops- I think the more diluted brine would have worked fine. I’ve kept feta over 6 months in 12.5% ripened whey brine with nothing but good results. I don’t think your cheese would have absorbed so much salt in a couple of days to warrant such drastic action!!! The great thing about the forum is we can all learn from an individuals experience. Better luck next time….

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!  It was my first failure, after making a cheddar, three colbys, two goudas, lots of 30-minute mozzarellas, cottage cheese, creme fraiche, fromage blanc, and cream cheese.  Just started this hobby in August, and I’d say all in all, it’s positive!  Thanks for the feedback.

12.5% ripened whey brine = Acid + salt   which is what i said

What’s the best way to calculate how much water-to-salt for a brine solution? I think a 10% would be 1 qt of water to 1 cup of salt? In this case instead of water we’d be using the whey. I’m terrible with numbers….

I thingk its by weight since the graduals can be so different.

Usually solutions are quoted W/V ie . weight per FINISHED volume. For 12.5% use 2 oz made up to a pint(u.s.), for 20% use 3.75 oz per pint(u.s.).