this is the third time i’ve made brie/camembert, and something different has happened each time.
the first time, i used 4 quarts of goat’s milk and got good results, although a little too firm (they were in the first cheese fridge when it went nuts and cooled everything down to the low 40s and then up to the 60s in rapid succession). they tasted good!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djpiebob/4354742816/in/set-72157622489253791/
the second time i went with 1/4t flora danica, 1/8t pen. candidum, 1/8t b. linens, i used 2 gals of cow’s milk and ended up with more curds than i had molds for, so i improvised and used the three brie/camembert molds as well as the two chevre trapezoidal molds i have:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djpiebob/4353840437/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djpiebob/4354588336/
and, well, i think i left them at the 50F temp in the cheese fridge for too long:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djpiebob/4396387240/
(but delicious!)
this time, i used 1/8t flora danica 1/8 t pen. candidum 1/16t b. linens and 1 gal of cow’s milk, and something different happened with the curds—they didn’t set up all silky, but grainier, more like for cheddar or pressed cheese. my theories are that it’s either that the milk was a bit older than i usually get (and i’d also let it sit in my fridge for a week) or that i didn’t use any CaCl:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djpiebob/4432684356/
but i drained and salted the curds anyway and they seem to have developed the right fuzziness:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djpiebob/4448817686
i am not taking any chances, so i wrapped them after a week in the 50F fridge at 85% humidity and moved them to the regular fridge.
any thoughts or advice on briemaking? i find it very pleasant to experiment with the mold-ripened sort of cheese because the turnaround is pretty quick and i can try a new approach based on the last result without having to wait too long.
