Nabil - 03 December 2008 12:03 PM

As i said above , Swiss cheese is really hard to be made at home

I’d add Parmesan to that list I’ve had better luck with Swiss than Parmesan!

I’m with you there, Rick…
My only attempt at parmesan failed miserably. I used true skim milk (1%) and after brining I had this extremely hard 4” wheel of “stuff” that resembled hard grains of rice. I ended up throwing it out since it could not be eaten.
Since that time I’ve read that when a parmesan recipe calls for “skim” milk they are talking about what I call 2% milk. Now that I have this information I plan on trying it again sometime this winter.
Even though this is supposed to be an unwaxed cheese I will wax it at some point. Even if I make a 5 gallon wheel, it is so much smaller than a traditonal parmesan that it needs the extra wax protection (in my opinion).
I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one that has struggled with this cheese. Until you posted I was going to keep this dismal failure to myself.
I also think that a Romano might be an easier cheese to make since it starts with whole milk. I might give this one a try first, and then proceed onto a parmesan. Regardless, I will not age either of these cheeses the entire 5 months. I will give them a try at the three month aging period and then adjust future attempts from there.
Next up (this weekend) is a Brie (my first attempt)....another swiss….another gouda and another Stilton.
I have a racquetball tournament in the middle of Februrary and I’ve promised everyone a cheese platter they will not forget.
Dave

Mine turned out but went rock hard and crumbly. Dont know when or if il try that, still want to get the swiss so at least its got some kind of bubbles.

Green Cheese Maker - 14 August 2008 10:39 PM

9mmruger - 14 August 2008 10:05 PM

And what did you name it TS?

My guess would be “Robinson.”

That’s why I call my cheeses “gouda-like”, and “cheddar-like”, and “swiss-inspired”, “camembert-ish”...

Neil - 04 December 2008 03:04 AM

Mine turned out but went rock hard and crumbly. Dont know when or if il try that, still want to get the swiss so at least its got some kind of bubbles.

Neil buy pH meter and ur life will become easier

u could not get over ur problem “acidity” yet

the way u prepare starter is 100% wrong for swiss and cheddar and Gouda.
ur method is fine only with Feta, blue and Camembert

trust me, and u will be fine

I have bought a PH meter and used it yesterday for the first time. I just need to find PH data now for the dif cheeses. This morning the Brie PH is 4.73, The notes I have for Brie has it for PH 4.8 when going into a brine bath. So at least im close with this one but then I dont normally have probs with bloomed cheeses.