The Cheese Thread

[bL@De]

Well got my first batch done yesterday, geez it takes a while doesn't it!

One problem I left the stove on low (bloody electric rubbish) and checked the milk, it hit just below 50 degrees, this was just after the starter went in so I think I may have stuffed something up although not sure what to expect now.

The camembert certainly look normal enough ie round, I am up to where you put paper towel over the top and leave for 24 hours, we'll see how it goes after that.

The milk was crazy, the cheapest we managed was BD Farms which was $4.08 for 2L, an expensive lesson if the above mistake stuffed it up.

How do you guys manage to keep it at the proposed 32 degrees through the process?

Have a couple of pics will need to grab them a little later.

Cheers
Darren

 

[capretta]

warm water bath gives you greater thermal mass therefore greater temp control. just do it in the laundry sink and pour in boiling water every now and then..

 

[bL@De]

ahh good so my idea of whacking it in the laundry trough wasn't such a bad idea after all

It seemed to work alright, I found the water would hold the temperature for 20 minutes or so.

Checked the camembert this morning, a lot of moisture is still coming out and gradually getting smaller but we'll soon see how it all pans out when they head into the aging stage.

 

[Linz]

How do you guys manage to keep it at the proposed 32 degrees through the process?

Cheers
Darren

Mell uses a boiler in a boiler, with water in it, over a cheapy gas burner from the $2 shop. Heating the water around the pot with the milk in it.

 

[KHB]

I just got the camaberet kit from cheeselinks for a birthday present. My question is to start out making to rounds for the hoop supplied how many litres of milk will i need?

Cheers KHB

 

[Tseay]

Gals and Guys , if you are willing to put your cheese and beer out there, would you check out the Castle Hill beer comp post under competitions.

 

[edoeven]

my first batch of cheese if on the way as I type! I have a couple of questions.

I made the cheese last monday- so today is 7 days old. The instructions mention it might take 10 days for the mould to grow, but my cheese was well and truly moulded up by 5 days. I wrapped it today. Had a bit of a problem - I had turned the cheese once or twice while waiting for the mould to grow, and it was stuck to the plastic mesh pretty bad. Also the paper towel was stuck in the cheese

so it took a fair bit of effort to get the cheese off the plastic mesh to wrap it and ended up with a bit of paper in it, oh well. The mould "skin" came off in a few places where it was stuck (but I managed to get most of it stuck back on) will this cause any problems?

apart from that and taking a long time it went smoothly I used the cheapest milk. Sorted temp control with some gear I managed to borrow from work ( a chemistry lab ) so that went well, got a nice clean break, however when I was stirring it and cutting it I think a lot of my 2cm chunks ended up a lot smaller, making them hard to get find with my slotted spoon, especially towards the end (or, perhaps I didn't remove enough of the whey), so I poured the mix thru a strainer to get the last of it.

I checked the temp where I was maturing, ~ 15-17 degrees, this is a little higher than recommended! This is probably the reason my mould grew a bit fast I guess, should I keep maturing at this temp or get it somewhere cooler? (the only other option is the fridge I guess....) could I run into problems if I keep maturing it at 17 degrees?

also, can someone confirm that the rennet from the country-brewer kit is 'vegetarian' ?
cant wait to try the cheese in a few weeks

 

[capretta]

hey all been lovin the cheesemaking, but wanted to ask a question of the mould lovers. i have been aging a few rounds with a combination blue and white mould i got off some tasmanian heritage blue/cam and 4 weeks on i have developed a dusty looking orange growth in conjunction with the white and blue moulds. now my mrs is not very adventurous and that wrote those cheeses off for her, but to talk her round has anyone else had experience with mould of that description? needless to say i washed them with brine and wrapped them heres hopin!

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

hey all been lovin the cheesemaking, but wanted to ask a question of the mould lovers. i have been aging a few rounds with a combination blue and white mould i got off some tasmanian heritage blue/cam and 4 weeks on i have developed a dusty looking orange growth in conjunction with the white and blue moulds. now my mrs is not very adventurous and that wrote those cheeses off for her, but to talk her round has anyone else had experience with mould of that description? needless to say i washed them with brine and wrapped them heres hopin!
View attachment 20315

Hey capretta, I had a similar type of thing happen to my one and only effort at making Stilton. The cheese wound up with an overpowering ammonia smell and taste so it got binned.
I too would be interested to see if the orange mould is a sign of something good or bad. I do want to try it again and soon.

C&B
TDA

 

[capretta]

hmm, the cheeses in the same batch did have a strong ammonia taste/smell early on but that has since mellowed, only to be expected for a cam though i believed... i will leave these till the end of the week and ill give it a go and report back.

 

[AndrewQLD]

Orange mold on a Stilton style cheese is very desirable, all good stiltons will have that particular mold and you can see this in the crust of a good English Stilton. The mold to watch out for is black and is not a good sign.


The ammonia aroma is usually quit strong if the cheese has been matured too warm or in too high a humidity, if it's strong open your aging box and let the cheese dry slightly and the ammonia smell will lessen considerably.

Andrew

 

[sjc]

Further on the orange "mould", it could be Brevibacterium linens, which occurs naturally on huma skin but is also cultured speciifically for washed rind cheeses, such as the French Pont l'Eveque. It competes very strongly with the white mould and will give the cheese a good pong and quite a different flavour to that derived from a pure white mould.



Cheers

Stephen.

 

[agraham]

Tried my pecorino that was made 3 months ago....wow is all i can say.

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

All i can think of is living on a farm and being self sufficient....

 

[capretta]

haha that pretty much sums it up i think... time to go feral and join these blokes in tasmania.
passionate apprentices

i think there is room for a cheesemaker and possibly a brewer as well but from what i remember i think john made his own beer too so you might even be able to start a club down there!!

 

[agraham]

Love the hair cut You dont have be that hard core a "greenie" to want to live like that.

 

[KHB]

well my first batch finished aging and when i cut it it was hard and a little rubbery!! Was 5 weeks old im thinking maybe i didnt have enough humidity as i had the temp spot on when making it. I used a brocolli box ice packs and a cup of water to get it humid next time will try a smaller box and have a towel dipped in the cup to act as a wik. Whadda ya reckon??

 

[capretta]

did you use milk and cream? or just milk? i always add some cream to my milk to bump up the fat content. cams are meant to have minimum 35% fat i think i read? maybe your temp with the rennet was too high? or the curds cut too much? not sure.. :unsure:

did it taste nice??

 

[AndrewQLD]

well my first batch finished aging and when i cut it it was hard and a little rubbery!! Was 5 weeks old im thinking maybe i didnt have enough humidity as i had the temp spot on when making it. I used a brocolli box ice packs and a cup of water to get it humid next time will try a smaller box and have a towel dipped in the cup to act as a wik. Whadda ya reckon??

You'll find the longer you age it the runnier it will get! I would leave one for another week or two to see what happens.

My first attempt at Camembert was interesting,

At six weeks the first one I cut was rubbery in the middle and runny around the outside, the mold works its way in eventually.
At 10 weeks the last one I cut literally flowed out of the skin, tasted awesome too.

Andrew

 

[ArnieW]

Woohooo,

I've just been given a super cheese-making kit for my birthday - there are lots of cheese-lovers in this house

Anyway I'm planning on starting with a camembert this weekend, so have been doing a bit of research. My local coles has the unhomogenised organic milk that others have talked about but its only 1% fat. Would it be ok to add cream to it and if so are there any guides as to the right amount? Or should I search for a full cream milk?

Arnie

'blessed are the cheesemakers'

 

[Airgead]

Woohooo,

I've just been given a super cheese-making kit for my birthday - there are lots of cheese-lovers in this house

Anyway I'm planning on starting with a camembert this weekend, so have been doing a bit of research. My local coles has the unhomogenised organic milk that others have talked about but its only 1% fat. Would it be ok to add cream to it and if so are there any guides as to the right amount? Or should I search for a full cream milk?

Arnie

'blessed are the cheesemakers'

If its from Coles its probably parmalait. That should come in a full cream as well. our local Coles certainly carries it and its what I use for chesemaking normally. If I'm feeling really flush I'll get some uber hippy milk from Macro but at $7 for 2l that's a bit steep for everyday.

Some cheeses do want a low fat milk though... fetta is one from memory (chese book not with me at work). The brie type styles usually want more than full cream. Cheddars and things like that are usually regular full cream.

Cheers
Dave