I’m thinking about making a swiss soon. Some thermophillic cultures contain just S. thermophilus and some have S. thermophilus, d.s.lactis and helveticus included?  Can either be used for swiss?

SAL

9mmruger - 06 May 2008 05:08 PM

Mine has not started the swelling yet, so you could tell anyway, but I don’t know why you would have a smaller cheese than is normal for two gallons.  How much do you think that your cheese weights?

I used two and a half gallons of milk and a quart of heavy cream for my batch.  I did forget to put in the Calcium Chloride and so it took about 10 hours to curd.  But I got a good wheel, close to 3 lbs.  I did not use a whole tsp of priopronic shermani as Rickie’s recipe called for but follow the Leener’s recommendation of 1/8th tsp, so it may take longer to swell.  I guess that time will tell.

I remembered the CaCl2 for the derby that I made this past weekend and had curd in 50 minutes or so.  Makes all the difference in the world.  I won’t forget it again.

Emental needs three weeks in room temp to swell, be patient.
CaCl2 has to do nothing with hardness, it only aids the curding with its calcium has been destroyed by heating, and extra Cacl2 will do nothing. the hardest curd u can get is same hardness of raw milk or a very little bit more (same as raw sheep milk)

My CaCl bottle says, “For hard cheese use 12-15ml, For soft cheese use 5-6ml”

Neil - 07 May 2008 02:08 PM

My CaCl bottle says, “For hard cheese use 12-15ml, For soft cheese use 5-6ml”

We all agree that raw milk does not need CaCl2 ? right?

when u heat treat the milk, its calcium properties change, so u need to add free Ca.

so as on bottle written, if u use without it, the result very weak,
add more you get soft curds, add more u get hard curds, add more you get more hard, until u get as firm as raw sheep milk curd

Finally got a pix of the swiss and derby.  Swiss is on the left and the derby cheddar is on the right.

The smell of the swiss is incredible.  Yummo!

Look very nice indeed

Bad News:

Wife decided that the cheese was not getting the proper temps so she put it in the oven with a pan of hot water.  No problem there, but had to bake something.  You can picture it.

Now I gotta make another swiss.

LOL, sounds like a cartoon joke.

Neil - 06 May 2008 05:58 PM

By the way, the concentration of CaCl also adds to the hardness to the cheese, the more CaCl, the harder it becomes, from what I have read.

Is this true of any type of cheese?  And what would be a maximum, beyond which we dare not go?

I personally am using it in every cheese, with the exception of cream type cheeses.  I use about 1/2 to 3/4 tsp per gallon.  That seems to work for me.

Depends on the conc that u have, follow the instructions on the bottle.

Made another swiss this past weekend, and it is in the cheese fridge until next Tuesday, then on to the counter to spend 3 weeks at room temp.  This time it will not get put into the oven.  My wife promised.

I did cut a wedge out of the baked swiss, and it had begun to form the eyes, but the baking really dried it out so that it was a bit crumbly.  Tasted good however.  Had it on hamburgers.  Yummo.  It did not melt very well though, so the PH may have been of due to the baking.  350 degrees is hard on any cheese that is maturing.

Live and learn.