Better Knit

Pressed cheeses are either rennet coagulated low moisture ages cheeses such as gouda and cheddar or they can be naturally pressed by the weight of their own curds and why like many Tomme style cheeses. The aim of pressing a cheese is to force the curds into a particular shape determined by the recipe why dehydrading and fourseing out moisture. Pressing also prepares the cheese by knitting teh curds and sealing teh cheese in preperation for rind development.

Pressing Weight

Not all cheeses are pressed at the same weight. Stiltons are pressed very lightly to enable air pockets that help develop the blue mold. Goudas aer also pressed at only 20lb as to create that specific texture where cheddars and grouyeres are pressed at 50lb giving them an overall firmer lower moisture pate. Dutch style cheeses are also pressed at high preassure in order dry and hard rind to protect them from external changes in enviroment.

Pressing Method

Pressing methods vary depending on wheese if being made. Try to keep the curds/cheese warm while pressing as it helps to get a good knit. Cheesecloth sticking to the cheese means the PH of the cheese is low (High calcium cheese) or the cloth isn't fine enough. To prevent this soak the cloth in why with some additional calcium chloride and vinegar.

• Prepare a hoop on a cheese mat to allow drainage of whey. The holes in the hoop will allow drainage from the sides
  
• Cheese cloth is placed inside the hoops to help prevent loss of whey through the holes
• Place the curds gently inside the cloth lined hoop and place the follower on top (this is only needed for the first and second pressing)
  
• To prevent the cloth being pressed inside the cheese, make sure its pulled as the follower is pressed
  
• Start with a light pressing to remove the excess whey. If a heavy weight is applied too early the curds become damaged and can leak out from the holes within the hoop. Butterfat can also be lost and if the the cheese is pressed too early, excess whey can not escape from the center of the cheese giving a undesirable defects
  
• After 30 minted of light pressing, the cheese can be unwrapped and turned and redressed. This can then be pressed with a heavier weight. The reason for turning is the allow uniform dehydration of teh cheese (the top always loses more whey than the bottom). During pressing the cloth tends to stick to the cheese so unwrapping helps prevent this. This can be repeated depending on the cheese being made.

Tomme style wash

TOMME STYLE

• Whene washing cheese with Bline, add it to a ration of 3% salt
  
• When washing in beer, add it to a radion of 10% salt
• Smear the cheese with the solution and keep it damp, around 90%. This is accompished by placing it in a bag or a tupperwhare box lined with a damp cloth in a temperature of about 12C.
  
• Wash the cheese twice a week for 3 weeks at least, putting the solution in the fridge between washes. The cheese will first go sticky, before the bacterial develops
• Once established, wrap the cheese in a wrapping paper and continue to ripen at 12C
• Your initial brine must be balanced for pH and calcium. Try to use these the whey, or add 1 TBSP CaCl2 solution and 1 TBSP vinegar to get teh right ballance. If unballenced the cheese outer layer will likely become slimy as the calcium goes out of the rind.
  
• Your brine temp should be the same as your cheese temp.

Lactic Cow Cheese #1 after 3 weeks

As you can see the lactic cow cheeses have started to pick up some penicillin and blue mould which at a guess is from the goat cheeses I have in the same fridge. They have been washed in Marc Brandy for the last 2 weeks and Ill carry on until the rind has developed

penicillin and blue mould apearing after 2 weeks

The next2 cheeses were bathed in beer overnight. The rind has become quite slimy so I don't think there will be any good rind development. I read that soaking in beer can cause 'mushy rind' due to the sugar in the beer. This can be prevented by balancing the PH by adding acid and Calcium.

Brining in beer is asking for a yeast problem. I have done it in the past and it's critical that you drop your pH to match the cheese and add CaCl. Once it's out of the brine be sure to dry it well before it goes into the cave for aging. It's very, very easy to get a mushy slop rind when using any sort of high sugar liquid as a brine. Once it starts it's very hard to stop. I can't stress that enough.

Beer soaked caused a slimy rind. I think the reason for this was due to the beer not being calibrated to the ph of the cheese. Due to the imbalance the calcium was drawn from the cheese causing it to go slimy.

The final 2 cheese have been washed with 1/5 brine solution. The same penecillin/blue mould has started to develop on the rind.

Tomme 1a & 1b after a week

The first pressed Tomme 1a hasn't really done much over the past week. I washed it with salt brine and so far its not developed any rind or any mould. I'm sure it will over time. The surface is quite dry and rough, im not sure why. I decided as an experiment to wax Tomme 1b to see how it develops. I'm not sure if I can call this a Tomme now its been waxed..

Tomme 1a (left) & Tomme 1b (right)

Tomme 1b after waxing

Goat/Cow #2 - 1 month tasting

A nice powdery blue rind has now formed over goat #2. I decided to taste one today and leave the rest for next month to see how they develop. After just one month the cheese has started to develop a typically strong nutty taste. The cheese was slightly chalky in the center and overall a lovely complex taste. I'm very keen on trying raw goat milk next time, if this wonderful taste can come from pasturised store goats milk I'm sure raw can only get better.

Goat/Cow #2 after 1 month

First tasting..

TOMME #2 - 3 days

After 2 days out I moved Tomme #2 to the cheese cave which is usually around 8c and 85% humidity. I have a number of cheeses that are being attacked by a blue mould so today I may give the fridge a good clean. I'm going to wash this in a light brine that's been inoculated with some Geotrichum Candidum. This will help develop a good rind. The plan is to keep the humidity around 90% and let it go wild for a month, then scrub it and wash in salt brine with some Marc Brandy to help develop flavour.

Tomme #2

After miss reading the Tomme recipe yesterday I decided to try again today with the other half of the Raw milk I bought from the farmers market. This time round I'm going to let it press under it's own weight. I'm also going to be more careful when it comes to cutting the curds, I felt yesterday's effort was a little rushed and the curds varied in size which isn't good for consistency. To help with cutting I decided to use a shallower but wider stockpot for easier cutting. Yesterdays was very swap so the curds at the bottom were hard to cut.

I started off hearing 2.5 gallon of milk to 32c. I added 1/4 lipase mild an then 1/3 tsp of M400 cultures. This was left to ripen for 50 minutes, 20 minutes longer than I should have so the acidity may be lower than what I needed. I also added 1/4 tsp of calcium as I read it helps to produce better curds. After 50 minutes I added 1/2 tsp of animal rennet an left for a further 45 minutes until a good cut was possible. The curds were then cut into 1/4" cubes and studded slowly to help expel the whey. I then started to hat them slowly. The why was quite clear and not too milky which shows the butterfat was retained in the curd. I also added about 3 liters of warm warmer so reduce the acidity caused by over ripening. I read it's a good idea to wash curds for a more nutty taste. The temperature hit 38 after 30 minutes. Also I forgot to mention the curds were heated to 35c before cutting, I'm hoping this didn't cause any problems. At this stage the curds looked constant in size and started to matte, I spooned them into a Tomme mould and left it to naturally press under it's own weight for 30 minutes. I then turned and left for 2 hours. I'll now turn and leave it overnight.

Tomme recipe

Here is a Tomme recipe I found on www.cheeseforum.org. This is for a classic Tomme style cheese using cow or goat or sheep milk or a blend.

Mode:

• Warm 2 gallons milk to 32c
• add 1/4 tsp MA400
• Ripen for 30 mins at 32c
  
• Add CaCl2 diluted in cold water
• Add 3/4 tsp of animal rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup distilled water
• After 45 minutes cut curds into 1/4 " cubes and let it heal for 10 minutes (preventing matting)
  
• While stirring increase temperature to 38c over 30 minutes. Hold at 38c until the curd is at the right texture. You can tell this by pressing This can be checked by squeezing some curds in your hand. If the curd matts it's ready, if it breaks, leave for a few minutes and try again.
  
• Drain in a mould (pH should be 6.35 or higher) and let it press under its own weight turning every 30 minutes, then every hour for 5 hours.
• Press overnight or until pH is 5.4
• Brine in 20 % saturated bring for 8 hours turn after 4
• Leave at room temperature. Once dry move to the cave and leave to age for 3-6 months at 10-12c, 85-90% (or higher if using special b linens)

Wipe/scrub down every day for 3 days with a 20% brine, then every other day for 5 days, then twice a week for 3 weeks. This washing/scrubbing helps prepare the rind by introducing various cultures that over the weeks protect the cheese pate. As you can see the rind is starting to harden.

http://cheeseforum.org - Linuxboy

"This cheese should have a relatively high (relative to other meso cheeses, similar to alpine styles) mineral content, meaning that calcium phosphate will not be degraded, and whey drain pH will be high (6.3+). This results in the curd sticking to each other and matting quickly. If you settle under whey too long, you will have a wheel already formed. Suggestion is to use a pot with the same diameter as the mold so you can plop it right in to the mold"

"For a washed curd tomme, follow the process through cutting, healing, but raise heat much more slowly for the first 15 mins. Target 92F, and stir gently for those 15 mins. The whey should separate enough to where you can draw off enough whey to equal 1/3 of the total milk amount. Before you draw it off, heat a volume of water that is 1/3 of the milk amount to 130F. Drain off the whey and add the heated water in two stages. Add the first half and stir gently for 5-10 mins until the curd firms up a little more. Then add the second half. Your final temp should be the same as with a normal tomme, right around 100F. Do not heat to the high end of mesophilic (105). You do not want acid production to be that fast. If concerned about temp, add the heated water in three stages so you hit 100F. Then stir the curds until they are the right texture, as noted above in the list"

"Just a suggestion....to my taste I have always preferred a washed curd tomme. It's less acidic, more plastic bodied and I have always found it to bring out the nuttiness of the milk. To wash you simply remove 1/3 of the whey before heating the curd to 100F and replace that whey with 135F water (raising total temp to about 100F). The rest of the recipe is the same. I'm thrilled to see someone else using flocculation, I have had heated ebates in the "industry" about this. Automation and large scale production seems intent on making everything set times, but with variable milk supply (like here in NZ) it's impossible to do that and get consistent result. With that said 3 is a great multiplier for Tomme, most of the time. If your wheels can't hold their shape cut the multiplier in half and go from there. If you make the cheese often you can try and extend the multiplier and see how far you can go to get the ideal moisture content of the curd"

Lactic Cow Cheese #1 BEER

I read in a post that a Tomme style cheese can be left to soak in beer for a few days. The yeast from the beer helps develop flavour so I used some well matured homebrew I made a t Christmas! I decided to try this with my lactic cheese (beer wash),. I'm unsure if this will work but Ill give it a try and see how it goes.

Tomme #1a & #1b

I went to the farmers market today and bought 4 Gallon of raw milk. On the walk back I decided to make 2 gallon into a Tomme style cheese. Tommes are usually low in fat as they are produced from the skimmed milk left over after the cream has been removed to produce butter.

To start I heated the milk to 32c and added 1/8 tsp Lipase milk and 1/8 tsp of Calcium Chloride and let it stand for 15 minutes. I then added 1/4 tsp M400 starter and let it ripen for 30 minutes. Once ripened the PH would have dropped a little, I then added 1/4 tsp animal rennet diluted in water and gave it a genital stir for a minute and left it to coagulate. Ive yet to try the flocculation technique but I need to feel more confident in doing so. Maybe Ill do it on tomorrows batch? Once I got a good cut, I think it took around 40 minutes I then cut the curds into 1/4" cubes. The coagulation time for Tommes should be around 30 minutes so the acidity may me a little too high? Maybe next time Ill use a little more rennet. once the curds were cut I then continued to stir to prevent matting, the idea is to now raise the temperature to 38c over 30 minutes to expel more whey from the curds. I have decided to wash the curds as I read that reducing the acid in the whey gives a more nutty and slightly plastic feel to the cheese. I replaced 1/3 of the whey with warmer water over 20 minutes to raise the temperature to 38c. This was meant to take 30 minutes so I just stirred for 10 minutes to make up the time. After leaving the curds to settle I spooned them into my press. Tommes are usually left to press under their own weight but I miss read the recipe. I only pressed it very lightly so I just left it, after 3o minutes I undressed it from the cloth and repressed again at a very light weight. The remaining curds were left to press under its own weight naturally.

Curds ready to cut

Curds straight after cut

Curds after 30 minutes of heating to 38c

Curds in press

Left over curds left to press naturally

Lactic Cow Cheese #1 after 2 weeks

For these lactic cow cheeses I decided to wash 2 in 1/5 brine, 2 in Marc Brandy, 2 in beer and leave one natural. I'm also going to place them in a Tupperware container to keep the humidity around 85 % and also to prevent them from contaminating with the other goat cheeses that have a heave blue mold. Ill try to wash them each day for 2-3 weeks.

1/5 salt brine

Marc Brandy

Beer wash

Goada #1

Here is a quick Gouda #1 update. The rind is developing very well after being washed in a 20% brine solution which I also use for my Gruyere.

Gruyere #1 Rind Development

wipe/scrub down every day for 3 days with a 20% brine, then every other day for 5 days, then twice a week for 3 weeks. This washing/scrubbing helps prepare the rind by introducing various cultures that over the weeks protect the cheese pate. As you can see the rind is starting to harden.

Lactic Cow Cheese #1 after 1 week

Here is an update after a week, the cheese was left in their moulds at room temperature around 14c for 3 days while I salted them. They were then placed in the cave at 7c where Ill let them mature. IM thinking maybe Ill keep half of them in a separate box as I have some goat cheese with blue mold which may effect them. At least if they do get infected Ill be able to see the difference. Maybe I can wash one in Marc Brandy? I feel an experiment coming on...

Goat/Cow #2 lactic after 3 weeks

So, as my second batch of goat cheese had no Penecilin Candidum, no white fluffy rind appeared. There was a little build up of the white mold but it soon turned blue with another mold. I'm sure this is fine, I hope it will soon die off and start to produce a hard protective rind.

Goat/Cow #2 lactic after 2 weeks

As i didn't add any penecilin candidum the rind took a little longer to develop. You can see by the photos below the white rind starting to cover. Also you will notice some blue mould appearing. I had them close to a cheese that had a number of coloured bacteria which I think has attacked these. I'm not sure how this will affect the final cheese, I'm not to worried about it but the next batch will be kept in a tupperware container to prevent any other bacteria from attacking.

Lactic Cow Cheese #1

I decided to make a lactic cow cheese. I followed the same procedure as the lactic goat but without the Penacillin Candidum. I heated up 2 gallon of pasteurised store bought milk, added 1/4 tsp of lipase, 1/8 Calcium Chloride and let it ripen for a good 30 minutes. I heated this up to 32 bu accident, my heater is a little unpredictable sometimes. I added 1/8 tsp of MA400 started and left this to coagulate at around 21c for 24 hours. That next evening the curds were very much like a yogurt which I scooped into some moulds. Ill leave this overnight and turn in the morning. Ill also salt them each side.

Curds after 24 hours. PH4.2

Scooping curds fragile curds into moulds

Moulds after being filled. The level will drop by
about 75% in the morning.