The Cheese Thread

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Thanks wabster. I'm totally obsessing about Andrew's blue at the moment. I have these memories of shropshire blue, bought from fortnum and mason last year and man! there is nothing like that in australia ... so now I'm on a mission!

braufrau, The Smelly Cheese Shop in the Central Markets has the Shropshire Blue if you are looking for it.

C&B
TDA

 

[vertigo]

i believe i asked a question on orange mould a few pages ago, there is some good info if you read the whole thread

Yeap, I have read it again. Sweet thread topic. Well the mold on the side, is't showing much?. yet! I don't know about salting the chesse, but good, great info helps.

 

[vertigo]

often found in washed rind cheese it imparts a stinky feet style flavour. once its on there there is not much you can do if you dont like that style. luckily i do!

I found that the last two batches, had a tasting of a blue and an after taste of camembert. Very tastly, but very weird. The chesse's had a light mould cover, some of them leaked yellow stuff. All Tasted OK, but I could tell that I did something wrong..Oh well, I a tried it and not dead.

Between making beer/bread/snags/pasta/pizza im struggling to find motivation to go to work

I feel your pain. My boss said that my chesse's taste good, so I think I'm off the hook..

 

[Burchman82]

hey guys,
Ive spent the last few hours perusing this thread and discussing it with the girl, we're keen to get some blue cheeses down! im thinking of getting the blue kit from cheeslinks.com.au, but im still a bit vaugue on the actual process. is it the same for blue as the cam's that you guys are making?
is there a real good tutorial with explanations on WHY each step is occuring etc?
ill be using a spare bar fridge once i get my new kegerator for the cellaring (also using a spare fridgemate i got lying about)

 

[///]

Heya Fella's

A bit late on this thread, but there you go. With Capretta's assistance, we held 'The Great Cheese Massacre 09' as part Big Ray Day this year. Perhaps it was not the best idea making cheese on a day where plenty of beer is made and drunk ... as well as protein cooked and ate .... and lots of stories from Ray, but we got there in the end.

On the day i had no idea where things would end up, and with alot of patience from Cam we got some curds mixed with some mould from a blue Cam bought. If the cheese makes it out the other end that will be a thing to behold, anyways at about 3.5 weeks old it is half way there.

After a slow start and a change of maturing vessel, the cheese is developing blue mould (and hence leading to a question) and white fluffy mould. This white fluffy stuff looks like cotton wool and is starting to take over the skin of the cheese. I am not sure if this is bad or good, and if I should remove or relax with a beer in hand? I would take a pic but since moving the cable for the camera is somewhere in a box somewhere...

Thanks for the good thread here to, i dont think i have ever started reading a long thread and made it all the way thru till this one ....

Scotty

 

[///]

Just a pic of maturing cheese ... umm is the white fluffy mold bad??

Scotty

 

[wabster]

I personally have no idea if it is good or bad but have a real sense that it ain't right frankly.

Did the cheese get salted after being made? Was it dried/drained properly?

I really hope for you that it IS OK

Cheerz Wabster

 

[wabster]

On the subject of blues or stinkies we made our first lot of cheese that wasn't Camembert Monday.

Over the weekend dropped in to Country Brewer at Casula and got some Rocqueforti mould. Craig there advised to just make it the same way one does Camembert, just use the different mould.

So I now have 4 large rounds of cheese, madly trying to dry them in this humid weather. I reckon the first salting was lost to moisture run off, so have resalted them to try and keep airborne bugs at bay.

The rounds are sure bulkier than Camemberts and softer/rubberier and I'm worried when turning them they will just fall apart but haven't yet - fingers crossed. The are noticeably bigger, the tray that usually holds 4 camemberts won't hold these 4.

Initially there was little smell from them, but now they are emitting the characteristic smell.

I'll take a few photos over the next week or so and if the stuff looks the goods I'll let you know,

Cheerz Wabster.

 

[capretta]

Just a pic of maturing cheese ... umm is the white fluffy mold bad??

Scotty

hahah oh lord, the great cheese massacre of 09 continues apace!

heavens knows what the white mold is but the darker stuff doesnt look too crash hot. that bottom round looks really slimy, which is a bad thing. you should be getting healthy mold growth but i just had a closer look at the photos and it looks like you spilled water on the top of the cheese. bit hard to say mate, but the mold that i thought was a healthyish green looks a little less healthy in these photos. but in for a penny in for a pound ay! there is nothing you can do to change the culture of mold now so... other than ride it out your other option is to bin it. why dont you try cutting up the mongo round and seeing what the inside looks like. if it looks ok and smells right, give it a small taste. you mouth will tell you if youre on the right track!

 

[///]

Ahhh, i think karma may be catching up with us on this one. Sooo, will try it next week. One never knows....

 

[///]

So I gave te cheese a good wash off this morning and tried the thin piece. It has a taste of mould, and I dont reckon the mould we want. I have a pretty good idea of what black mould tastes like as I have a shower in it every 3 months when I clean our 2800l FV's ....

But, besides the mould I reckon I have well screwed up the salt addition (as in too much). Ahh well, consumables ordered from cheese links last night, i hope they will arrive before saturday when I will punch out another batch .... this time in better conditions ....

 

[wabster]

Here are some photos of the latest cheese creation, as mentioned above.

The first one is at 4 days after taking out of the moulds.

​

The second one is today, a week after coming out of the moulds. There is a good cover of mould on the outside and the smell is pretty good.

​

One question I have of the more experience here. How should I wrap these cheeses, in the same breathing cello that we use for camembert, or something that doesn't allow permeation of air?

Any help appreciated as these critters are due to go into the fridge for a few weeks maturation anytime now.

Cheerz Wabster.

 

[kirem]

ordered some gear to make parmesan/romano style, washed rind and white mould from cheeselinks today.

I used to make A LOT of white and blue mould cheese, gave most of it away and the punters kept coming back for more.

now that I live in the desert and not a dairy herd to be seen, 50 years ago I'd be wondering which one to pick :-(

I'll have to use supermarket milk and CaCl.

I am spending too much on cheese, so it is time to make my own again

Do we need a better word/phrase for parmesan? it is like calling sparkling wine champagne, it just isn't the same thing.''

I love blue mould cheese, a good one better than any other cheese, I did a vintage in France in 2005 and the variety of cheese available from a supermarket was superb.

Blue cheese now gives me very strange dreams and even worse I normally remember them. I avoid it, because some the dreams are down right disturbing.

 

[fraser_john]

Blue cheese now gives me very strange dreams and even worse I normally remember them. I avoid it, because some the dreams are down right disturbing.

That is a concern, but kind of funny as well!!! Being lactose intollerant, you reckon I could make a good cheese using lactose free milk?

 

[///]

Take II on the Blue Cheese gig.

These are a week old. Had issues with the set and had to add more rennet. (and after a call to Capretta at 10am on a sunday, poor *******...). Also had too mould mould culture go in, the dropper was clogged and so we had a squirt rather than 6 drops. Smells heaps better than the Great Cheese Massacare '09 ....

Anyways, hopefully better progress with this one!

Scotty

 

[beerbrewer76543]

I just came across this thread and thought: oh hell yes!

I messaged my girlfriend (who hates cheese) to tell her I'll be making some blue vein soon... Her response wasn't exactly supportive! :lol:

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I just came across this thread and thought: oh hell yes!

I messaged my girlfriend (who hates cheese) to tell her I'll be making some blue vein soon... Her response wasn't exactly supportive! :lol:

I think I like your girl friend ! BV is not cheese its fungus on steroids. At least present her a with a Pont L'eveque or St Nectaire ,Talleggio . "NICE". Very good to cook with, you can swing her!
GB

 

[Burchman82]

hey guys,
the girl and i did our 1st blue-vein cheese a cpl of weeks ago and followed all the instructions given by cheeselinks and also this forum. We are controlling the temp in a small beer fridge with a fridgemate. Currently have it sitting at 12deg since the 30/6/09, it is developing a nice dark aqua coloured mold on the outside. Its starting to smell my room up a little, is this normal? its not a particularly bad smell, just a smell.... which is obviously coming from the cheese.
thoughts?

 

[AndrewQLD]

Sounds about right to me, love the pungent smell of a good blue, don't let it dry out to much and don't let it get to moist or the skin will fall off and it will be too runny.
Post a pic when you are digging in.

Andrew

 

[Burchman82]

ive taken photos of every interaction so far, so ill collate them and post whatever results happen at the end!
its definatly not too dry, the fridge maintains a bit of moisture naturally, and theres a small amount of condensation on the decor containers lid (which is cracked open)