More or less by the book recipe (200 Easy Cheeses). I had a weird experience making this cheddar: we are ‘enjoying’ a record heatwave, and instead of adding hot water to the water bath to raise the temperature of the milk, I found myself adding ice cubes to keep things cool! (Target temperature 32 degrees C, ambient temperature 38 degrees C).

I used culture from a pack that is supposed to be enough for 50 litres of milk, and it was a bit of a hassle trying to work out just how much I should use - in future I think I’ll stick to the ‘one packet does 8 litres’ stuff, where there’s less chance of me getting things wildly wrong. What happens if there’s too much/too little culture?

The weight for the final pressing was 21 kilos, and the cheese seems quite solid. I hope it will have a good texture. I also hope I’ll be able to resist cutting into it for at least 6 months. In the meantime I hope to be making a few shorter-aging cheeses (eg another Caerphilly) to help me fight temptation.

The whey produced over 500 gm of ricotta, which will probably turn into a cheesecake. But is there any way of having less ricotta and more hard cheese? Would increasing the amount of calcium chloride raise the yield? The cheddar weighs 1.6 kilos, which seems just about right since the book says to expect a yield of 10%.

On the subject of whey and heatwaves, I found a great way of using leftover whey! The juice of two lemons (about 6 tbs) and 50-70cc honey melted in half a cup of warm water added to a litre or so of whey (after ricottafication, I just made up a new word), chill in the fridge and serve over ice cubes. Very, very refreshing on a hot summer’s day!

Looking good, I never had luck with cheddar however it was winter when i made them and its cold in here.
I used to add a touch of starter in milk the day before then add it the next day, by then it would be a strong starter. I was told this is not good because the process would be too fast and aggressive and could make the cheese prone to being dry. I dont have a stable enough environment to know whats affecting what. When making Bloomed cheeses it does not matter i find since they like acid. their very forgiving except when the room is too warm, then you get the ammonia smell.

Denise,

Happy to see you moving into cheddar.  I think you’ll enjoy it, and it will give me another person to bounce ideas off.  As to the culture measurement, maybe I can help a bit.  I usually make a 4 gallon batch, which is close to double your 8 liters.  For this I use a rounded 1/4 tsp of culture; and this seems to work out just right.  If you use that as a starting point, you should be able to easily adjust your culture amount to match your batch size.

I agree that when one makes a new cheese, it’s very hard to leave it alone for a long aging.  You could compromise and try half at three months, and that would give you an idea of how much sharper and additional three months aging would produce.

Well, if it tastes even halfway to how a cheddar should taste, I’ll enjoy eating it!

Is a rounded 1/4 tsp the same as a flat 1/2 tsp? That’s what the recipe called for, but when I measured it out there didn’t seem to be two-thirds of the culture left in the packet (reckoning a 50l packet has enough for three-and-a-bit 16l batches). I ended up using what seemed to me about a third of the packet, then next time I can use half of what’s left, then the time after that finish the packet. (The 8-litre packets are good because most of the recipes in 200 Cheeses call for 16l of milk, and even I can reckon 8+8=16 : and the packets stay unopened until they’re needed, so chances of contamination are minimal).

I’m going to have to start tasting something soon, since I’m running out of wax for new stuff. The stuff I’ve been using is what I got my sis-in-law to bring back from a trip to the US, and baggage restrictions meant that I couldn’t ask her to bring more than a couple of kilos all told. I’m trying to convince DS (dear son) that it’s time he made another visit to relatives in the old country so that I can send him off with a shopping list.

I just returned from a visit to my relatives -600 miles away- on the occasion of my Mother’s 90th birthday.  I brought a bunch of stuff back but nothing cheese related.  I did bring them a 4 lb. Colby, which was loved by all.

No, a rounded 1/4 is not the same as a flat 1/2.  You probably already know this but I’ll say it anyway:  Culture is a living bacteria in spore form.  It is reactivated when one adds it to their milk, and it begins to grow.  No matter how much or how little culture you add, it is going to grow.  Using more will just take a bit less time, and using less will take a bit more time.  Calculating the time differential would be difficult, however.  After trying various amounts, I found that a rounded 1/4 tsp. works best for me.  Originally I used the packets too, so I just dumped the contents into the mix and went on.  Now I use a bulk pack, so I had to start measuring.

BTW, your mention of a Caerphilly got me to thinking that I am in need of another one myself.  Thanks.

So….if I think I might not have added enough culture, I can just leave it a bit longer before adding the rennet? And if I’m in a hurry, I add more culture? (Not sure that being in a hurry and cheesemaking go together….)

Congratulations to your mother on her 90th birthday! I’m sure she and the rest of the family enjoyed the Colby.

Yes, they greatly loved the Cheddar.  My sister hoarded what she could of the remains.  And, by the way, my 15th grandchild was born 2 1/2 hours ago.

Green Cheese Maker - 14 August 2013 04:33 AM

my 15th grandchild was born 2 1/2 hours ago.

Now that is cause for celebration! Congratulations, to you and the parents, and great-grand-mama! I’ve only got two grandkids (so far), and I know how happy they make me…you must be over the moon!

Gotta lotta cheese to make, to feed all them grandkids….