As a new comer to the art of cheese making and to this forum I naturally have some questions before attempting my new quest. This also seems to be an active forum with some dedicated cheese makers, which I hope are willing to lend a helping hand.
The first cheese I’d like to attempt making is a blue. I have the following items available.
MM100 Mesophilic Culture
DCI Classic animal Rennet
p. Roqueforti developing culture
LP600 Calf Lipase
2 gal. of raw milk straight from the farm bulk tank.
My question would be, do I use all of the above in my blue cheese? Or what combination thereof?
I see some folks use a piece of store bought blue cheese (Stilton) as an inoculate to their milk. Would I have to do that also in addition to using the above ingredients? I was told that the addition of the store bought cheese was only good for the veining process and that culture would also have to be added?
Finally, for the accomplished cheese maker, one of my favorite cheeses is Gruyere. Is it possible to produce a satisfactory product after gaining some experience in the art?
From what I’ve found in my searches on this cheese, for the home cheese maker, it is a very difficult cheese to produce with a low success rate.
Thanks to all!
The most importing thing is to use a recipe and follow the directions till u have an idea how things work, Read all the recipe posts on the site, and u could take a boo at my website and see lots of pics in my beginning to make cheese and how it progressed over trail and error.
If u have the p. Roqueforti the dont use the store stuff, its only when u want to try and duplicate that one.
I followed the reciepe in Ricki Carroll’s “Home Cheesemaking” which called for the milk, P. Roqueforti, Meso starter and rennet…no lipase. Came out pretty good except that I needed to put a few more holes than I did and need to keep a better eye on the humidity.
If you use a piece of store-bought cheese as a starter to try to impart some of the character of that cheese to your home produced item, it is important to also use a lab-produced starter from a reputable mfr eg Chr. Hansen, Danlac etc.(or if you are feeling very adventurous grow your own - not very reliable!). Same goes if you use the whey from a previous batch as a starter which is what some European traditional cheesemakers do.
This is because the culture bacteria can become infected and destroyed by viruses called bacteriophages. These phages are specific to one type/strain of bacteria, hence most cultures are a cocktail of different types/strains as a kind of ‘not putting all the eggs in one basket’ policy. http://danstrongin.com/stuff/Culture Wars.pdf
In fact some mass-produced manufacturers deliberately infect their curd with phages after they have done their job (lactic acid formation) to slow down or modify the ripening process, but it is unlikely that you would want to use this kind of bland corporate muck as a template for a home produced cheese anyway!
Be aware that the Penicillium Roquefortii culture and its relations you might find in a yummy Stilton etc. are moulds that produce flavour-not lactic acid producing bacteria essential for curd production.
I see you have armed yourself with a prodigious array of cultures and enzymes, Can I humbly suggest that you try the (non essential!) ones one at a time so you get a good idea what each one does. Be aware that a decent period of maturation can have a more profound effect than any cocktail of exotic ingredients. For more info on lipase see the thread on this forum entitled “Lipase”. http://www.rickandlynne.com/rick/go/forums/viewthread/278/
Lucky you having raw milk- We have a little herd of dairy goats and I would not be a cheesemaker without them!
Best Wishes…..Kev.
Thanks to all for the kind comments. It seems the biggest problem in cheese making is in the control of the humidity. My current plan involves a dedicated basement fridge for my cheese cave (the wife asked if she’d be able to use it also…have to keep her away from it).
For the humidity issue I’m planning on using a humidity controller in combination with a ultrasonic humidifier placed on the bottom shelf of the fridge. http://www.planetnatural.com/site/green-air-rhc.html
And a similar unit for temp. control of the fridge itself. I believe if I can successfully get over these two hurdles, I should have a good chance of ending up with a good product.
In my original post I asked about Gruyere of which I see nobody responded to. I’m still interested in hearing about any attempts at this cheese. I know it’s not a cheese making attempt for the faint of heart, so if perhaps there is someone who has attempted this one, I’d surely be interested in hearing about it.
Thank you!
Neil, I don’t know if I’ll luck out. Could you comment on what went wrong?
From my reading, it seems with Gruyere anyway, the milk is heated in a copper lined kettle.
Although they’re not cheap, if that’s what it takes, then maybe that’s the way to go. Besides, it can also be used for other things.
I have a copy of the Ricki Carroll book “Home Cheese Making” on its way. Many folks make reference to this book so I’m hoping it gives good advice. Unfortunately, in my book research, few books give a list of the actual cheese recipes they contain. So I’m hoping Ricki’s book includes Gruyere.
I believe I’ll have good temp. and humidity control in my fridge. I hope the book has good information on weight intervals for the press, temps. etc.
Her book does not carry it, I have the 3rd Edition. U might be able to get away from just putting a copper container in a bigger pot but the thing is their usualu coated becasue copper can be poisonous. I have a Video call cheese slices that does talk about it, will look at it again and see what it says and get back to u.
Just watched the vid on Gruyere nothing special really except only raw milk used, temperature is criticle, 90% humidity for ripening. Warm temp for initial maturing 14c and then after a period its taken to 10c. salted/flipped daily.
Anyone interested in the dif traditional cheeses u might want to get the vids “cheese slices” http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=738276
