Its been quite a day. It started out with an hour’s wait for milk at the dairy, because the farmer was off doing chores. Then, I decided to work on a problem. My cheeses seem to have a very slight bitter taste - especially around the rind area. So first I pasteurized my milk. Then, I decided to use less rennet. I had tried 75% before with no change in taste. So this time I went to 50%. Well, it took 2 1/2 hrs to get to a clean break - so I think I went past the optimum. Next, I wanted to press without cheesecloth but quickly found that I had to modify that as well. With the initial press of 33 lbs (adjusted for my 6” mold) the curd squished out the bottom of the press, which was pushed up by the excessive weight. So, back to the drawing board - I had to do the initial press with cheesecloth and then remove it for subsequent presses. I think I’m past all the surprises, and hopefully I can finish this one out with a semblance of decorum.
Rich, first of all sorry to hear about the problems. There are just some days that are best left as a distant memories.
As for the cheese cloth, I’ve gone back to using it.
After doing quite a bit of reading on the subject it seems that cheese cloth is needed both for wicking moisture away from the cheese and also to aid in the knitting of the curd.
What I’ve been doing (with good results) is pressing with cheese cloth for every press but the final one.
The cloth does leave marks on the cheese for the first two or three presses, but they always come out on the final press, leaving a nice smooth wheel (except for the bumps, caused by the draining holes in the mold). I then follow the advice you gave me and simply trim those bumps off with a sharp knife.
So far I have had no problem with the curd knitting together and am happy with the results.
This reminds me of some of my early Camembert attempts. Before I developed my “flipping” technique, the first flip would often result in a large fraction of the curds making it to the mesh before the mold, and running out the sides. Part of the learning experience. I had a similar experience to yours when I made my first hard cheese.
I thought about doing the last press of my manchego last week without cheesecloth, but I was so fed up with balancing dumbbells on my first 5 lb wheel I decided not to complicate matters.
Regarding the bitterness, are you using animal rennet or one of the veg or microbial rennets. I have been told that as hard cheeses age those made with non-animal rennets will develop a bitterness from the rennet. Less rennet of course would minimize it, but I switcheed to calf rennet last time I needed som so that I wouldn’t face that issue.
Tom, no the rennet suggestion is not it - I’ve been using liquid animal rennet on all my cheeses for several months. Actually, the reason I pasteurized this one is that I am becoming suspect of the cleanliness in milk handling at the dairy. When this cheese comes off, I’m thinking that it will be better. Then, I’ll just have to come up with a less tedious way of pasteurizing. I think it took me close to 3 hours to get it done. Oh, another question: when I pasteurized the milk, I only cooled it to the point I needed to introduce my starters. Should I have gone ahead and cooled it all the way to 40 deg?
OK, its out of the brine, dried, dry rubbed with salt, and put away in the cave to age. It looks really good - firm, but not hard, surface is knit together well, a few cloth marks but nothing I can’t live with. So, I think I managed to muddle through this one. Its supposed to be a minimum of 5 to 7 days; but I’ll give it 2 weeks and then crack it open.
Tom, no the rennet suggestion is not it - I’ve been using liquid animal rennet on all my cheeses for several months. Actually, the reason I pasteurized this one is that I am becoming suspect of the cleanliness in milk handling at the dairy. When this cheese comes off, I’m thinking that it will be better. Then, I’ll just have to come up with a less tedious way of pasteurizing. I think it took me close to 3 hours to get it done. Oh, another question: when I pasteurized the milk, I only cooled it to the point I needed to introduce my starters. Should I have gone ahead and cooled it all the way to 40 deg?
Rich,
My understanding is that if you pasteurize, you can just cool the milk to the processing temperature and go. I can’t think of any reason why it would need to be chilled. There may be others on the board with some other information, though.
Rich, there is no need to chill the milk further as Tom said. Most cheese making farms go straight from the cow to the vat, except for those that parteurize, and they go from the pasteurized to a chiller to bring it down the starter temp.
Good to hear. Incidentally, my normal procedure is to go from the cow to my pot, with as little transportation time in between as possible. Sometimes, I have the precise temp I need when I first get home and merely need to add starter.
Tom, no the rennet suggestion is not it - I’ve been using liquid animal rennet on all my cheeses for several months. Actually, the reason I pasteurized this one is that I am becoming suspect of the cleanliness in milk handling at the dairy. When this cheese comes off, I’m thinking that it will be better. Then, I’ll just have to come up with a less tedious way of pasteurizing. I think it took me close to 3 hours to get it done. Oh, another question: when I pasteurized the milk, I only cooled it to the point I needed to introduce my starters. Should I have gone ahead and cooled it all the way to 40 deg?
Rich,
My understanding is that if you pasteurize, you can just cool the milk to the processing temperature and go. I can’t think of any reason why it would need to be chilled. There may be others on the board with some other information, though.
they chill the pasteurized milk to restore its calcium loss during heating
Just cooling it restores the calcium? If then store bought milk would have it’s calcium restored too, but you could be right or they’re doing something different as I’ve never seen cheese being made professionaly or on tv where they even mention CaCl.
Just cooling it restores the calcium? If then store bought milk would have it’s calcium restored too, but you could be right or they’re doing something different as I’ve never seen cheese being made professionaly or on tv where they even mention CaCl.
store bought milk is homogenized and this is the problem
The “processing” of any food item is usually detrimental in some way. Now, since I work in the food industry, I realize I’m criticizing my own efforts; but one can recognize that every step of processing takes one a wee bit further away from what was provided us for nutrition. Most processing is done for convenience sake, and not to improve the product.
