The Cheese Thread

[AndrewQLD]

Hi guys. I have just received my blue cheese kit and I'm about to make my first cheese!

I have just picked up 6.5ltrs of fresh milk (straight from the cow). Anything I should be doing differently than with processed milk?

I was planning on generally following the posted Stilton recipe on the first page, what is the general rule for how much starter culture to add? I was taking a guess of around 1/5tspn? How the hell do you measure such a small amount (same with rennet)? What about using mould spores, they are also added at the beginning? How much?

Hi Cummins,
I use a 10ml syringe for measuring my rennet and my mold spores and the amounts used vary from recipe to recipe. If you bought a blue cheese kit the rennet and mold culture will have instructions with ml per litre on the vials, usually 2.5 ml per 10 lt. Use your fresh milk the same as processed milk.
Good luck and keep us posted with results.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Cummins]

Thanks for the info Andrew. I will post some results at a later time.

My main concern was with the 'Type B Starter'. It has instructions for making a starter culture overnight but I was going to put it direct with the milk, and all it says for that is the whole pack does 250L. I'll just wing it and see what happens.

Cheers

 

[AndrewQLD]

Thanks for the info Andrew. I will post some results at a later time.

My main concern was with the 'Type B Starter'. It has instructions for making a starter culture overnight but I was going to put it direct with the milk, and all it says for that is the whole pack does 250L. I'll just wing it and see what happens.

Cheers

I just sprinkle a few grains in 100ml of milk, stir like crazy, lid it and leave overnight on the kitchen bench.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[mfdes]

Making hard romano type cheeses is pretty easy too. We could be using al those lactobacilli cultures in our beer as well

 

[Cummins]

Well it's in the sink now... My only problem with the inital steps was that the mould spores dripper bottle was clogged and instead of 3 drops about 300 came out, but it sprayed away from the pot luckily. Is there any bad effects with too much? Does it just produce far too much mould?

 

[AndrewQLD]

Well it's in the sink now... My only problem with the inital steps was that the mould spores dripper bottle was clogged and instead of 3 drops about 300 came out, but it sprayed away from the pot luckily. Is there any bad effects with too much? Does it just produce far too much mould?

That's bad luck, from what I remember from school mold colonies can only support a certain density so hopefully you will be ok, I would think you will get an early start to your molding which may or may not be a bad thing. Keep us informed of your progress.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Cummins]

Ok, theyre now in a spare fridge at around 7degs, is this too low? The only other option is in the house at 20 which I thought would be too high.

I also totally forgot to salt the curds, is this super bad? More risk of infection?

Ill let you know how this goes anyway. Might have to start planning batch number 2 soon and do things a little different!

 

[goatherder]

I think forgetting to salt is bad. Like potentially dangerous bad. Hopefully someone who knows more than me will confirm or deny this for you.

 

[Kai]

Yup!

You need to salt your cheese at some point. Make up a saturated brine solution with a little vinegar, get them out of the fridge and give 'em a dunk. Fifteen minutes might do depending on the size, someone else will surely be able to fill you in better.

Without salting your cheese you'd better eat it now or throw it out.

 

[AndrewQLD]

Do as Kai says or you can sprinkle all external surfaces with iodine free salt (crushed rock salt is my choice) and repeat 24 hours later.
12 would be a better temp for the first few days, but 7 will be fine but the blue will take longer to form, just make sure you have the cheese in a sealed tupperware container, you need to keep the humidity high >90%.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[bottle top]

Do as Kai says or you can sprinkle all external surfaces with iodine free salt (crushed rock salt is my choice) and repeat 24 hours later.

Is it important to use iodine free salt?

 

[AndrewQLD]

Is it important to use iodine free salt?

Yes it is, the iodine in table salt can cause your cheese to discolour.

 

[Cummins]

After salting it up, I thought it was back on track, until the spare fridge got turned off and it has been sitting at around 35 degs for 18 hours. I think it's a writeoff now!

Making cheese is so much harder than making beer.

 

[fixa]

LOL... but the results are soooo worth it. I cut open my first chesse the other day, a blue. It was awesome. I left the blue on the outside when i wrapped it, and glad i did because i thought i put a lot of holes in it, but maybe the skewer i used wasn't big enough... there wasn't a huge amount of bluing through it. Bloody nice cheese though. And the havarti i made for the missus is good too. Nice adn creamy, it's the one i made with hippy milk.

 

[capretta]

hmm im with cummins, i have been making cream cheeses and the like since this thread started but i just got my fridge back on line so i thought id make a blue for christmas. i used 6 litres of parmalat and left it at room temp for 20 hours after sprinkling some farmhouse culture on ( cause i didnt make a starter ) and the whole thing turned to a yogurht consistancy!! i tried following the rest of the recipe as per andrewqld but the rennet had little to no effect..
i read heaps on the subject before i started but obviously i have a flawed understanding of the process.. spewin. i ended up getting about 2 cups of curds and pressed it under 5kgs for 30 mins then broke up salted then under the weights again for 40 mins. it sort of held together so i will chuck it in the fridge and cross my fingers and see how we go.

sooo... black mold is bad. any other last minute warnings that may save my life?

 

[AndrewQLD]

hmm im with cummins, i have been making cream cheeses and the like since this thread started but i just got my fridge back on line so i thought id make a blue for christmas. i used 6 litres of parmalat and left it at room temp for 20 hours after sprinkling some farmhouse culture on ( cause i didnt make a starter ) and the whole thing turned to a yogurht consistancy!! i tried following the rest of the recipe as per andrewqld but the rennet had little to no effect..
i read heaps on the subject before i started but obviously i have a flawed understanding of the process.. spewin. i ended up getting about 2 cups of curds and pressed it under 5kgs for 30 mins then broke up salted then under the weights again for 40 mins. it sort of held together so i will chuck it in the fridge and cross my fingers and see how we go.

sooo... black mold is bad. any other last minute warnings that may save my life?

You really need to make a small starter, basically what you have done is made up a huge starter, if you had taken a cup full of your six lt yogurt looking stuff and added that to a new 6 lt of milk and followed the rest of the process you would have been fine.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[AndrewQLD]

Here's a couple of pics of my latest Australian blue. very tasty and creamy with a mild blue flavour.



Cheers
Andrew

 

[capretta]

this was after the choozit cheese culture turned it to yohgurt! and after adding the splach of blue mold culture..


about 13cm across and 9cm high

 

[AndrewQLD]

Looks like cheese to me it may be a little acidic from the starter culture but then again it might be the best cheese you have ever eaten as well.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[capretta]

You really need to make a small starter, basically what you have done is made up a huge starter, if you had taken a cup full of your six lt yogurt looking stuff and added that to a new 6 lt of milk and followed the rest of the process you would have been fine.

Cheers
Andrew

haha thats a sh!t load of cheese! beyond my dairy capabilities! yeah i realised what had gone wrong when i saw it, i just didnt think it would go so quick.. i had a few stuff ups whilst making beer and its the mistakes that help you understand the process better.would i have got a higher yield if the rennet worked properly or is that about it? the cheese itself tasted sour-ish but not unpleasant, hopefully just a "tangy" blue.. just like i like them luckily.