cut it and send us picturessssssssssssssssss

Now who’s being impatient?  I will, of course, send a pic; but I’m going to let it age a bit longer first.  I may go for 4 months.  Hang in there Nabil.

oh my god , that’s a long time .. because i have a wheel , which same as urs, and i am not going to cut it until u do

That would be great Rich if u got the eyes.

Rich,
I have to agree with Nabil on this one. Cut that sucker open and let us know what you find!
Honestly, this is the first time I’ve heard of delayed swelling. Hopefully you will find something impressive once you do cut it.
Good luck!

Dave

Alright you guys, settle down!  I’ll see about getting you a picture; but that’s all you’ll get for a while.  Now that its swelling, I want to give it space to see just how far it will go.  The bottom is barely bulged, but the top is quite noticeable.  Look for a pic later tonight.

OK here’s the pic.  The swelling amounts to about 3/8” at this point.  Never having had a successful Swiss type, I don’t know how much swelling to expect.  Maybe one of you can help me there.  I was wondering, however, just how much of the CO2 that is created manages to escape the cheese through the rind while it is sweating, rather than creating eyes?  Anyway, here’s the baby:

Totaly random from since we dont repeat the process exactly, so the amount of culture and the temp is going to alter the amount is my guess. Rick’s cheese exploded a couple years ago so because we dont have “proper” cave and constant conditions then out results will be random as well.

Green Cheese Maker - 14 April 2009 11:03 PM

OK here’s the pic.  The swelling amounts to about 3/8” at this point.  Never having had a successful Swiss type, I don’t know how much swelling to expect.  Maybe one of you can help me there.  I was wondering, however, just how much of the CO2 that is created manages to escape the cheese through the rind while it is sweating, rather than creating eyes?  Anyway, here’s the baby:

CUT IT CUT IT CUT IT CUT IT CUT IT CUT IT CUT IT CUT IT CUT IT CUT IT CUT IT

by the way u should flip this wheeel and u will notice that the swelling will form again on the other side

CUT IT

Nabil - 04 May 2009 09:43 AM

CUT IT

Nabil, it truly amazes me that someone such as yourself, who can be so patient to wait for a cheddar for an entire year, cannot wait a few weeks to see what happened to my emmantal.  As of now, the plan is to cut it on or about 5/21, which will give it 4 months.  Can you maybe wait that much longer???

yeah, i was teasing you, wait as along as u feel it is ok…
actually i have cheddar now i made on 1/1/2008  

you now Rich, no matter what i did, following: pH, time, temp, calcium contents, press under whey, .... , on very perfect schedules, many wheels of mine like urs is in my cave now, same looking of urs, but i have a feeling that i will not find any holes in it…

i am not able to cut any of them for not to be shocked

i start to believe that making emmental, yellow , rubbery , kind of soft , big eyes; we need to wash the curds in final stages, all the cheeses we are doing is swiss type of hard Gruyere not emmental (soft)

for this reason i am waiting ur news

Yes, I know the apprehension you are feeling.  I’m not holding out too much hope at this point.  We’ll just see what happens.  And I won’t make you wait too long - just a couple more weeks.

OK Nabil, et al; here is the finished emmantal.  As you can see, the eyes are disappointingly small.  The swelling that occurred later in the process appears to be from the cheese actually being pushed apart by gasses within wheel.  I have not seen such a thing before, maybe some of you have.  Anyway, I’ve been eating the cheese - it has a delightful swiss flavor; but is not quite as dry as a traditional swiss.  Its wonderful on sandwiches.  I’m thinking that future attempts will have to be pressed under whey, as this one was not.  I believe some of you have such cheeses in the works.  Maybe you will have better results than I have had.

pressing under whey is the key of success, because when u not, there will be enough room to accommodate the gases, and not having clean eyes….