I am making cheese today! I wanted to have this for Christmas but it takes 6 weeks to age and I think I missed it. I am making an Ale-washed Coriander Trappist Cheese out of Artisan Cheese Making at home. The recipe says that it is not traditional, but I wouldn’t know because I’ve never had a trappist cheese.

You take a quart of milk and put crushed coriander and granulated orange peel in it, and heat it up to 110 degrees and let it steep for 45 minutes to infuse the milk. Then you strain it and pour it back into the pot with the other 3 quarts of milk out of the gallon and make cheese. When it’s time to press it, you put half of the curd in the mold, and lightly press it for 10 minutes, sprinkle it with crushed coriander and granulated orange peel. Then you put the rest of the curd on it and press it.

When done pressing you soak it in a white Belgian ale that has coriander and orange peel in it. I couldn’t decide which Belgian beer I wanted to use, so I am making 2 cheeses. I will soak one in Dog Fish Head Namaste, a white Belgian like the recipe said, and the other in a darker trappist beer called Trappistes Rochefort 8. The darker one does not have the coriander and orange peel flavor to it, but I wanted to try it anyway.

I am excited to try a new cheese. I always make cheddar, pepper jack, or swiss. This is totally different and it sounds special.

What is your favorite cheeses to make for the Holidays?

I don’t have a “favorite for the holidays.”  I eat what is in the cave.  This year it will be Colby.  Its the fav of one of my kids.  He’s been away at school and will be home for the holidays along with his 3 siblings.  I am currently making a cheddar, because I didn’t have any left.  Its in the press now and will be “de-pressed” this afternoon.  My pH meter may have died half way through the make.  The readings were all over the place.  I discovered that a new electrode will cost more that 2/3 the cost of a new meter; so I’m thinking of upgrading.  Any suggestions?  I’m currently using an Omega PHH - 7X.

I have the cheap Checker one. It was actually free. I’ve heard them down graded a pretty good bit but mine hasn’t died yet so I haven’t had to shop for one.

These are my trappist cheeses at around 5 weeks. I wash them twice a week with an ale, water salt solution. Does anybody know if I am supposed to be trying to remove the brown smear or if I’m supposed to leave it on? I keep changing my mind on the issue. It is rather slimy so today I think that the reason I have to wash it twice a week must be to remove it. Maybe.

Hi Tammy, a smear with B. Linens can be quite slimy in the beginning. I have only experience with Reblochon and there I stopped washing after 2 weeks: One week every day one side and the second week only two washings…

Would I have B.Linens smear if I didn’t add B.Linens to the curd? Does it grow all on it’s own?

I’m sorry for the confusion, I didn’t read your recipe very well…
No when you don’t wash with a BL mix and you didn’t add BL to the milk, you are not supposed to have BL on the rind unless it’s cross contamination…

Then I am back to my original assumption that the reason I wash the cheese twice a week is to keep a handle on this stuff on the outside. I have it in a plastic box with a lid on it and I haven’t ever used a B.linens on anything so it couldn’t be from some other cheese that I have.

I think it’s alright, I’ve just never made it before. I’m looking forward to it. It’ supposed to be done January 4th, I think that’s it’s 8 week mark. I will probably taste it tonight to see where it’s at.

Well???? Can’t stand the suspense!

Bobbie

The cheese was horrible. It had a bitter flavor that was so strong I couldn’t spit it out fast enough. I don’t think that whatever was growing on the outside of it was supposed to be there, but I don’t know what I did wrong.

Huh, too bad! I wonder what went wrong. I’m sure we’ve all been through this in various scenarios- my first few attempts with blues were…weird…not tasty at all… but I learned a lot! I have heard that adding organic material like seeds, herbs, etc to cheeses can be tricky because it introduces an opportunity for rogue bacteria to get in there, but I would think the recipe would address how to prep the additions. I haven’t tried anything like this yet, so I don’t have good direct experience with it. I hope you try it again and post results- this forum is so useful for learning piles of info from everyone’s successes and NEAR successes.
Ciao,
Bobbie

I don’t know what went wrong yet, but I will try it again. Just because it doesn’t come out the first time does not mean you can’t do it next time. I tried a blue cheese once and it also contracted a strange odor. Not like blue cheese, more like ammonia. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

Yes, my first few blues were amonia-ish and tasted just like dirt. Actual dirt.
Take care,
Bobbie

sounds like they matured too fast, too high a ‘cave’ temp.

Doesn’t washing the cheese cause it to age faster as well? It kept growing a slime on the outside and I couldn’t decide if it was supposed to or not. Maybe I should have washed it under cold water. My cave is always around 52 so maybe this cheese needs a little colder temp

never had a problem with washing.