I made last ” Friday 13 (oops)    “

Two color Traditional Cheddar out of 11 gallons of raw cow milk… my biggest wheel i ever made so far in on batch

in press mold right now with 60kg (132 pounds) of press, mold size 7”,  and i am hardly managing to achieve close rind, i believe it needs 200 pounds.. anyway

Actually i had to make my wife help me with whole cheesemaking process , two pots, to parallel process , rennet , cutting , cooking , stirring , pH, time,  temp controls on two separate pots ..... one pot is white, and other orange (annato) .. i combined the cooked curds just before draining in 5 minutes.

i drained @ 6.2 (perfect) , milled @ 5.3 pH perfect, the time table was just perfect, the salt content was measured correctly and precisely, and added on three stages

the press was started with 20 pounds , then 40 pounds, then 80 pounds, then now 132 pounds ...

.....  today i am going to bandage it with lard…

Tomorrow i will post here some pictures

Wish I had more room, love to make bigger wheels,

Yesterday after four days in press with 132# of press
I removed the wheel and i got smooth rind…

I heated the lard and bandaged the wheel with cheese cloth, guys it was nightmare, I had what i expected, the upper cap (one of the circles) peeled off the wheel while inserting the wheel back in the mold downward.

i have had lot of pain, but finally pressed it after i put the side cloth, and now it is in press, Jim Wallace (cheesemaking.com) tech guy, told me that he put two layers of bandage on two separate days.
He also melt the lard then dip the cheesecloth in that, wringing it out before applying. ....

So i am going to apply two layers also, but the second layer i will not put it back in press.

4 days? it needed that long?

yes, because i make it less moister to be aged at least 18months in bandage

Now , i finished larding my wheel with cheese cloth, and i made 2 layers, second layer i did not press , and it looks fantastic

when i started the bandage work, really talk to myself that this is the last time i go through it, but after i finish, nah i will do it again..

I attached thread between the to side layers to put professional tag ....

Now the problem is to insure ur wheel sit in 85% humidity for such a long time , i think , i will eventually put it in big plastic bag with small opening

u might as well use wax then??

actually u r right, but i went with bandage because i want to taste the cheddar in real traditional way by letting it breathe.

the big plastic bag still has a lot of air trapped inside, and i can open weekly to change the gases and keep humidity, but by waxing, the cheese will suffocated 100%

pictures are self explained

Lard (tallow) i rendered myself

and final double layer bandage , not the thread to attach the tag

Wow!! great job, love the pineapple looking cheese

do not u think the two colors looks nice?

very nice! makes me also want to add some beet root juice to make a red cheese, tri color cheese LOL.

Nabil….
This is a fantastic looking cheese despite the headaches you had with it!
With a wheel this large I agree that you probably needed at least 150# of pressing weight, if not closer to 200 lbs. Regardless, it looks as if the curd came together well by the end of the press time.
I’ve decided that there are three cheeses that I want to perfect: Cheddar, Swiss and Stilton.
After I feel that these three are under control I then want to choose ONE of these styles and make it exclusively.
My dream for retirement is to make and sell one style of cheese that is good enough to impress everyone that gives it a try.
One question that I do have for you….
How much annatto did you use in your colored curd? The color is absolutely beautiful and one that I would like to duplicate.
Congratulations on a fantastic looking cheese!

Dave

Dave, those cheeses are my top favorite, and i consider any cheese else as second grade cheese ..

I always wanted to master the most main cheeses (cheddar , swiss , Stilton)  those are the most classy cheese and represent meso , thermo , and soft (mold)

actually i could not decide yet which cheese i should master, at the end, we need to master one type of cheese ....

annatto (double strength http://www.dairyconnection.com/color.htm )  i think i used teaspoon or so, ur milk should look orange, and by the way always the colored cheese get darker when u finish than when it was before cutting.

Us small cheese makers are still measuring anatto in drops.  You have graduated to tsps.  You’re leaving us behind, Nabil.

Dave, you better start getting things lined out with USDA right now if you plan on making and selling cheese.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy working with them, as I do every day.  I work at a food processing plant, and the regulations sometimes even make sense.