I was unexpectedly relieved of the obligation to work today; but it was too late to get fresh milk from the dairy; so against my better judgement I’m making a cheese from store bought milk.  I’ve been eating on a very, very good Monterey Jack and I have no more in the cave, so that was the cheese of choice for today.  The last time I made one I altered the recipe somewhat; because my previous Jack attempts had been exceedingly sharp tasting.  That’s not bad, but that’s not Jack.  So just prior to the last soak I exchanged 1/2 of the whey with 100 degree water.  The result was a tangy but not overly sharp cheese, that was actually more moist than my previous ones.  In short, it was, and still is, excellent.  We’ll see how this one turns out with factory milk.

Rich,
Good luck with this Jack attempt!
You know, I’ve become convinced that either raw or store bought milk can produce a product of exceptional quality, as long as the process is controlled.
So far this year I’ve been hung up on cheddar and I’ve made everything from poor quality (my first attempt) to something that I’m really really proud of, even though all of my cheeses are very young.
Today I took a break and made a Gouda. I had planned on a Manchego but until I find some Ph markers for this style it scares me.
My past Gouda attempts have been tasty but not exactly the type of cheese that I wanted them to be. The texture was somewhat crumbly and definitely not the commercial quality I was looking for, despite the rave reviews from my family and friends.
This convinced me that the problem was acid production so I did modify my recipe drastically on the make today.
The main thing I did differently was during the pressing schedule….
Instead of just giving it a 6 hour press (as my recipe calls for), I checked Ph levels along the way.
Well since my target Ph level (at the end of pressing) was 5.45 I only ended up pressing this cheese for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Now to compensate for the reduced amount of time I did increase my press weight to 9 p.s.i. (previously I have only used 1 p.s.i.), so that I would see a nice closed curd.
My reasoning was this…
Since Gouda curd is not salted it continues to build acid until the time that it goes into the brine bath.
Since the cheese was still building acid it needed to come out of the press when the Ph was right.
Of course I don’t know how this will turn out but I do feel pretty good about the make.
The cheese felt completely different going into the brine than it usually does (good or bad? I don’t know).
My point is this….
So far I have made cheese according to a recipe instead of using my meter to hit the proper Ph markers.
I attempted to do this a little at the end of last year, but nowhere nearly as much as I’m doing this year.
So far I am making the best cheese of my life and hopefully this is something that will continue to improve.
I didn’t want to go on a rant here, but I’m really excited about finally seeing a commercial quality cheese come out of my kitchen.
I know that many of you have made good cheese without the use of a meter, but for me it has become a necessary piece of equipment. I’m just not very good at reading when a curd is “right” from the look and feel.
As I said before, good luck with this Jack, my friend.
I’m convinced that you are one that can tell when the curd is at the right stage even without a Ph meter. I’ve seen your cheeses and they look better than anything that I produced last year (or in previous years).
I wish I had your ability but I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I don’t.
Because of that fact I’ve become very involved in the “science” of the make and it has opened up a whole new world in my cheese making endeavors. In short, I’m having a blast!
Hope you, and everyone else, are having a great weekend.

Dave

Thanks for the complementary words, Dave, but I’m not too sure they’re deserved.  I’ve had more than my share of disappointments too - especially with Gouda.  The acid production is likely the problem, because most of my Gouda attempts end up being as sharp as a 1 yr old cheddar.

As for the Jack, I was very disappointed with the curd set.  The break was hardly what I would call “clean” even though I gave it an extra 20 minutes.  When I cut it I was equally disappointed.  Usually the curd is so firm that the entire mass turns in the pot when I pull a knife through it.  This time it did not even move.  So I was not holding out too much hope at this point.  But, by the time it had set for the required 30 minutes and I started stirring I noticed that there were some nicely shaped chunks of curd.  It was quite soft so I had to be exceedingly gentle while stirring.  Even so, by the time it had cooked completely the curd had the appearance of cottage cheese.  This was not really bad, as I did save back some curd for just that (and it was great!).

The pressing went well.  Its out of the press now and onto the drying rack.  There is a very nice closed texture to the rind surface.  This was helped along by heating the mold before the final two presses.  It is a bit wet, as all my Jacks are, and I expect the wheel will sag a bit during drying. 

Of course the proof is in the eating, so it will be a while before a final judgement can be rendered; but all in all I think I’ll stick to farm fresh milk.  The process is so much more rewarding.

A question:  do you think that the differences I noted were due to a lower milkfat content, or was it the nature of the milk itself?  And yes, I did you CaCl in the process.

Rich, in a word I think the problem is homogenization.
I also have a real problem getting my curd to hold together during the cooking and stirring phase of a make. I have learned that less is more when it comes to stirring but I still get, (at least somewhat) what I would call a scrambled egg consistency by the end.
I’ve noticed that if I am very careful, most of the curd pieces do hold their form for the duration but even so… as soon as I dump them into the strainer, I have what looks like scrambled eggs.
I have not noticed that it has affected the taste or texture of the final product although it would make me a lot happier to see all of the curd pieces hold together throughout.
From what I’ve read, this is due to the process of homogenization.
Regardless, I am limited to using store bought milk so for the time being I have to work with what I have access to. I would love to get my hands on some fresh milk but the dairy farmers around here won’t even consider selling to someone that is not licensed.
Good luck on this cheese and hopefully it will age well.
I just took my Gouda out of the brine a few minutes ago and am hoping for the same sort of success for it.
Enjoy your Sunday.

Dave