Difference between revisions of "Cheese making"

Revision as of 05:14, 1 March 2017

February 25, 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.

Cheese 1:

Started at 7:30 am
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 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.

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