Emmental Disaster 2 - Hot Brine

All was going well until brining! The recipe explains that the cheese must be kept around 22c while pressing and brining. As its pretty cold here in London I used a water bath heater and left this over night. I realised the next morning it had heated the brine to 38c. The cheese was pretty firm as if it had been cooked so I'm guessing my Emmental Version 2 is also a failure?

Emmental the second

I decided to have another crack at an Emmental after over heating my first during maturing. The first few weeks is dedicated to forming the eyes within the cheese, this is done leaving out at room temperature around 20c - 24c. Unfortunately I accidentally heated the room to 32c which caused the cheese to soften and tun into a frisby! I also added a little more rennet as my target took and extra hour to get a clean break. Below shows the different stages of during cooking the curds to 49c.

5 mins of cooking

20 mins of cooking

40 mins of cooking

All was going well until brining! The recipe explains that the cheese must be kept around 22c while pressing and brining as as its pretty cold here in London I used a water bath heater. I left this over night and only realised the next morning it heated the brine to 38c. The cheese was pretty firm as if it had been cooked. I'm guess my Emmental Version 2 is also a failure? Ill do a bit of research to see if I can save it.

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test

Emmental disaster

During maturing this cheese the recipe directed me to leave the cheese out at room temperature for 2 weeks at around 20c-24c. All was going well until I decided to move the cheese to a warmer room as it cooled dramatically in its currant room. While I was out the room temperature raised to 32 which caused the cheese to literally melt to a flat pancake.

I moved it back to its originally place and despite its shape, it seems to be doing ok? It may taste bad but it seems to be swelling again so the shermanii seems to be kicking in again. Ill leave this for a week and then place back in my cheese cave at 9c. Each day I'll wash with a light brine to keep away and mould and keep my fingers crossed.

Limburger Test A colander

For this test A I placed the curds in a colander and let it set under its own weight. After 12 hours I salted and turned. It has the imprint from the colander. Id like to have used a traditional basket next time.

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Limburger Test C light pressing

Limburger Test C was pressed with a light weight (around 30lb) for just 5 hours. When pressing any hard cheese I usually press it at a weight around 40lb over night but I wanted a cheese between a hard and naturally pressed cheese. Ill wash with brine each day to keep away mould.

Limburger Test B washes

For my Limburger test 3, which so far consists of 3 naturally pressed cylindrical cheeses I have decided to experiment with the brine wash. I'm going to wash one in Marc De Bourgogne (left), one in Smoked paprika (bottom) and the other with a normal light brine (right)




For my Limburger test 3, which so far consists of 3 cheeses I have decided to experiment with the brine wash. I'm going to wash one in Marc De Bourgogne, one in Smoked paprika and the other with a normal light brine.

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Emmantal

Last week my shermani culture arrived, for a while I have wanting to make Emmental, not so much for the flavour but the challenge of making a cheese with 'eyes'. After reading a number of recipes I decided to use a recipe from 'Making Artisan Cheese' by Tim Smith book. The one key thing about making this cheese is to leave it out at room temperature for 3 weeks to help promote co2 that form the eyes although it doesn't mention this in all recipes. It's also a low moisture cheese so the curds are cooked at a height temperature (49c) as well as being cut to the size if rice. So, I bought some raw milk from my very expensive farmers market in Islington, north London and also added some store bought pasteurised milk to help bulk it out. As I'm a newby to cheesemaking I'm still at the bottom of the learning curve which means I do encounter the odd problem from time to time.

1. heat 1 gallon milk to 33c, once target is hit add 1/8 tsp of Thermophilic culture and 1/2 tsp of shermanii powder to the milk. Although it didnt mention inthe recipy I added some lipase to enhance the flavour, this also helps when using pasturised milk.
   
2. Let it ripen foear 10 minutes maintaining 33c. Then add 1/4 animal rennet and let it stand for 30 minutes. It actually took around 2 hours to get a good clean break. I noticed coagulation always seems to take a little longer when using Lipase, maybe I'm wrong but I must look into this.
3. After a clean break I used a knife and cut teh curds into 1cm cubes, then used used a whisk to break them up even smaller

Limburger

Based on Limburger recipe from 200 easy homemade cheeses. U bought 10 liters I'd stir milk so had to add 1/2 tsp of calcium chloride, 1/4 ma4002, 1/8 geotrichum candidum & some lipase (mild).after heading to 33. I left to ripen for 30 mins. Added 1/2 rennet and left for 30 mins. After 30 minutes the curd was far from ready for cutting. I should have added 1 tsp of rennet for the30 minute target. I've had the same problem since I started to add Lipase so maybe this has something to do with it? Does Lipage increase coagulation time?

The coagulation took around 2 hours in the end. That's 1.5 hours more than it should have so the PH may have dropped a little more than expected. After a clean break was accomplished I cut the curd into 1/2 inch cubes and steered for 10 minutes then rest for 10 minuets. The whey was clear so there wasn't much butterfat lost. Sometimes I cut a little too early causing the whey to be cloudy with butterfat.

As this is more of an experiment I decided to try 3 different techniques for the next stage. The first (Limburger Test A) was to scoop straight into a colander to drain. The second (Limberger test B) was to scoop into 3 moulds where I wash the first in Marc, the second in smoked paprika and the third in a brine/bline wash. The third (Limburger Test C) will be pressed. I'd like to see what pressing does to the texture and flavour of the cheese. This will be washed in brine and Blines.

From left to right, Limburger test A, B & C

Gg

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Alpine cheeses

This week I decided to make a small alpine. My press is around 7" x 9" so I'm limited on size but it's enough to make a start on experimenting. As I have never made an alpine I'm going to keep it simple and base it on a recipe from cheesefourum.org. I managed to pick up 4 gallon of raw milk from a cheesemaker in bougha market London. It's always a challenge to get hold of raw milk in London as it's expensive and only available from at monthly farmers markets.




7 weeks

tester

qweweqe

First Washed rind Epoisses style test

I'm experimenting with some washed rind cheeses that are based on a Époisses recipe I found here. Jos Vulto is a Brookly based cheesemaker and has been a great source of inspiration to me. I made 2 in total, one was washed in a light saltwater brine for the first 2 weeks and then left in my cave (old fridge ) at 11c at around 80% humidity for 2 weeks. I then wrapped it in plastic food wrap and will leave for a further 2 months to mature. Cheese number 2 was washed in brine for a week and then washed in a Marc de Bourgogne wash for 2 weeks. It started off diluted until the last few days where I washed it in 100% Marc. It was interesting to see how they both developed and I look forward to putting them to the taste test in a few weeks. As you can see they were cross contaminated with some blue mould which at first I thought was from my Stilton. After talking to Jos he explained that it could just be in the air and doesn't have to come from the Stilton. Lacitc or washed rind cheese are very sensitive to contamination so a sterile environment is crucial. Regulare washing does help to allow desirable organisms take hold so fingers crossed... These are desirable organisms!

After 2 days, fresh out of mould.

After 2 weeks. Left brine washed, right Marc Washed

After 2 months. Right brine washed, left Marc Washed

smoked paprika

This week I decided to make a smoked washed style cheese. I based this cheese on a Muenster recipe washing in brine for the first week, then over the following 2 weeks in Marc brandy and smoked paprika wash. I'm not sure how this will turn out but so far it smells and looks great! I'm going to place it in a bag and leave for maybe 2 months to allow the smoked paprika to penetrate.



4 days of salt brine wash


2 weeks of smoked paprika and Marc brandy

Let The Cheese Commence

The first few months of cheesemaking I went a little wild in the isles. I made as many different styles of cheese as possible after buying the book '200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes'. It was an interesting time as I had about 5 going at the same time and I didn't really make notes or documented anything apart from the final product. All the hard cheese turned out pretty bad resulting in either bitterness or no flavour at all, like when you have a nasty cold and you cant taste anything. The goat cheeses and washed rind cheeses turned out ok but I realised that I had to understand what was actually going on so I took a deep breath and made just 1 simple washed rind cheese. From now on I'll keep it simple and make notes, photograph each stage and try to read and understand the science behind the cheese.

Washed Rind gone wrong

Waxed Hard Cheeses after 3 months.

First Washed rind cheese, chalky pate

Bline washed rind

Goat Cheese

Stilton, very peppery taste... Did not eat

Pressed acid coagulated cheese

Limburger, my first scuccess!

Blogg that cheese

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