Cheese making

Avenues for more research - Cheeses from the Savoie region of France near the italy/swiss/france triple point (high altitude, poor soils, drier in some places)

• Tomme - skim milk - use cream for butter
• Saint Marcellin/ Brie de meux- brie type
• Beaufort/Abondance/Gruyere/comté (buy and compare)
• Reblochon - 4-6 weeks
• Feta
• Clothbound cheddar (in blocks)
• Parmesan - once per month make parmesan instead of Gruyere type
• Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/02/cheese-expert-essential-cheeses.html

February 25, - March 7, 2017, Andre

As recorded in the Value added log Andre made a Gruyere cheese this date:

On Saturday Andre used 20 gallons of milk (1/3 of the milk was from a cow 2 months fresh - the tother two thirds were 1 week fresh) in 2, 10 gal pots to make roughly 25 lbs of what turned out to be Gruyere. Wed March 1 he made a second cheese of the same type using slightly more milk.

To make this cheese, Elias and Andre made a ring-type mold out of a food-grade plastic tapered barrel using a circular saw, grinder and hand-held torch. Reference to this recipe was made following the decision to reduce cooked curd temperature to 112° rather than the full 125° called for in the original Parmesan recipe - otherwise the recipes are similar.

Numbering - I made the following numbers of metal: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9 (six upside down), and the letter G for Gruyere. I didn't't make 3, 4,or 8 because they would be hard to form using just sheet metal.

The numbering system for cheeses Is this: every cheese gets a 2 digit number for now. Starting with 12, series continues like this: 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 29, 51, 52, 55, 56, etc...

Cheese 1 (Branded "12G"):

Started at 7:30 am, Saturday.
20 gallons milk - 7 gallons fresh and warm, 13 gallons cold from the fridge. Full fat.
Warmed gently to 86°F (took 2.5 hours!), add Thermophilic Direct set cultures (5 packets of C201 from cheesemaking.com)
Streptococcus thermophilus, lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Lactis, lactobacillus helveticus
Waited 40 minutes added 6.5 tablets rennet
Waited 1 hour. nothing happened (might have stirred too much? Also for some reason i added the crushed tablets directly to the milk rather  than to water - silly.
Added 6.5 more tablets to water and then to milk - got a clean break in 30 minutes.
Cut curd and transferred both pots to the sink for warming. 
Took a long time to heat the curds - probably should have removed more whey sooner
Was initially intending to make a Parmesan but since it was 2:45 and I had a meeting at 3:30 I put the curds into the mold early at 112°F rather than waiting till it reached 125°F
I googled to realize that I had inadvertently followed a Gruyere recipe minus the addition of (and reaching just shy of the 114°F called for in the recipe.)
Made the ring mold around 14.5 inches in diameter and 4.5 inches high
initially put about 20lbs of water in the pot (used as follower) then worked up to ~120 lbs of water, weights and jugs etc. flipping each time and removing and re-dressing the cheesecloth each time. (about 4 flips)
Pressed overnight - removed from press in the morning - left it out Sunday and Monday to ripen and dry on the surface.
sine the pot follower had gotten crooked it dug into the cheese on one side and I used the propane torch to melt and reseal that crack - I liked the look of the lightly toasted surface. 
Saturated brine bath starting Tuesday Morning in a blue barrel.
Plan to brand the cheese with the number "1"

Cheese 2: (Branded "15G")

Wed March 1 with the Gruyere recipe used above.

Set milk from the night before to cool, mixed 7 gallons fresh with 3 gallons from cooler - set out additional 7.5 gallons from cooler.
Skimmed some cream (1 gallon) in the morning and to used 7 gallons of morning milk as well.
Total of 24 gallons
All out of thermophilic direct set culture but obtained some TA60 (Streptococcus Thermophilius) (added a tiny bit of dust of two of the packets of C201)
Ripened 30 minutes with culture, 1 hour to get a clean break.  
Heating went 2h faster than previously because we removed a lot of whey and used one pot on the stove top instead of just warm water. 
Curd went into molds at 12:50

Halloumi

Mar 4 - 15 gallons of milk for Halloumi - packed in brine.

Heated milk to 85°F added rennet - waited for clean break - cut curd and drained - should have heated curd to 100°-106° first to get it to press together - Next time!

Pressed into cakes, clarified whey by removing ricotta, (heated to 155° - added acid, heated to 165° added salt heated to 185° skimmed ricotta, cut cheese into chunks and added back to whey.) after it floats we salted and added dried mint.

Let it dry for the day and packed into 5 jars with 10% brine.

Thursday March 9, 2017

Cheese 3 ("16G")

Skimmed 2 gallons cream Three pots - 1 including some colostrum 24 gallon @90F Gruyere 1/2 tsp TA61 @9am 2 tsp rennet at 10:45 Heated to 120F by 12

October 2015: Ashley Urban

Cheese-making trial synopsis:

Cheese 1

1. Heat 5 gal whole milk to 88 F, add mesophilic and thermophilic cultures

2. Allow milk to ripen, add rennet (1 tab

3. cut curds, salt, press

4. Allow to dry for 4 days, then wax

Cheese 2

1. Heat 5 gal skim milk to 88 F, add thermophiic culture along with yogurt sample

2. Allow milk to ripen, add rennet (1 tab)

3. Cut curds, salt, press

4. allow to dry for 3 days, then wax