u/Smooth-Skill3391

This was so supposed to be a nice easy make. 34L of milk, 1.8L double cream, 2.7kg slim milk powder.

Gornall method. Over two days. Literally just 30 minutes stir, no scald.

The spots are where I scorched the milk on one of the days and couldn't be bothered to re-do.

Honestly this was just too big to manage easily. It was 9kg post milling, has pressed for 48 hours. I needed three place mats to wrap around because of the size of the mould. The curds never got below the rim of the mould. I also forgot I was low temp pasteurising the SMP on day 2, and left them at 65C for about the hours. The curds were very soft and shattered easily.

If I'm going to make at this scale, I need bigger moulds and more time /attention to detail.

Otherwise fine, well see how it turns out...

Hi all. So Jo has been on at me to make an applewood Smoked style cheese for some time. The commercial stuff is processed high cream cheddar, melted drown at which point smoke flavor is added and the cheese is reformed.

Obviously I didn't fancy any of that. Some research suggested that the style was more akin to, and suited to a double Gloucester, than a cheddar. I'm happy to use liquid smoke though, as I can't imagine messing about with sawdust and stuff for hours on end.

To emulate the Jersey milk, I added cream to take the mix to 6% butterfat. Started with 34L of whole milk. 1.8L 50% cream and a mixed meso, targeting 5.45 at milling. Scald to 35-36C. Single layer cheddaring. I wasn't expecting this kind of jump in yield. This is a kilo more than last week's cheddar with the same milk but no extras.

I've learned there's a thing called cold slump where there isn't enough free calcium to support the extra cream and the cheese starts fine but collapses under its own weight in Affinage like my old Wensleydale did. Although I added extra calcium chloride and cut/stirred to barley grain size as opposed to pea size curds at draining, I'm still a little concerned. On the plus side?, an hours cheddaring turned into three as the curing took way longer than expected. I'll be giving it the requisite paprika wash when it's dry.

I'm quite proud of the form factor on this, had to use some flexible PVC table mats as a guide above the mould and press slowly to keep it in shape. The liquid smoke was added at the same time as the salt, and has given a little marbling effect.

I've never aged a wheel of this size, or for that matter, this shape. I don't think I have a vacuum bag large enough to pack it if things go wrong. Any advice from you great and good of cheese on how to manage this would be hugely appreciated.

Hi guys. So I was trying to make Gianaclis Caldwell’s Brie de Melun (Lactic set bloomy rind cheese) but thought I’d substitute goats milk for the cows milk. I used 14L of St. Helen’s Farm, homogenised, pasteurised goats milk.

I’ve had numerous problems with the set of this milk before, but they seem to have a lock on the supermarket section so it’s hard to find a substitute, and when I did, I still had some problems with coagulation, so to be honest I’m not sure if it’s them or me.

In this case, I added if anything, a little extra rennet and the standard 0.5% meso. The recipe says 18-24 hours for the set. I checked after 12 and the pH was already down to 4.2 and the curd was a runny mess, the consistency of buttermilk

I’ve got it draining now, but I’m not sure if I’ll get anything at all tell you the truth, and as it’s dropped to 4.1, I’m not even sure the Geo or PC will find a home.

Do you folks know if goats milk acidifies noticeably faster than cows milk? Could I have done something else wrong?

Thanks very much!

I felt like I needed a bit of a win, so went ahead and made a Cheddar again. Long make as usual, especially since I under-dosed the culture a little at 0.5% so cheddaring down to 5.3 took more like 3.5 hours than two.

This was all pasteurised, homogenized milk, different to my usual Milk, Skim Milk Powder and Cream mix that allows me to work in a smaller pot. The yield was a little higher, especially for a Cheddar, at 3.9kg but 11% is about right post press. Not my best press, had to blitz it at 150kg for a final overnight past the 24 hrs, to get it to seal, but I'm wary of over-pressing early after the last Wensleydale, which trapped whey and wound up proteolysing too much.

It's not the right form factor, this is my second hand commercial Gouda mold, and it presses right down. I'm not sure how to get more height on it, perhaps some kind of sleeve around the mold is the way to go initially. That will affect post make flavour, but hopefully not too much - I suspect it will wind up sitting somewhere between an artisanal and block Cheddar in flavour intensity and paste structure.

As it goes, other than the fact that I don't have a container/sink large enough to fit the 50L pot so this was managed on the hob and had a longer warm to temp - it was pretty easy to manage, and a less fussy clean up. I also got 1.1kg of a nice Ricotta with just the right moisture from the whey having held back 4L for bread making so that's a bonus.

This wheel is for my Swiss pal Andy, who after some skepticism (Donna, his wife was a cordon bleu Chef and was a bit bemused that Cheddar could be a board cheese. Not so in Switzerland or her native Jamaica) loved it. I'll age it to rind if it goes well and then vac pack for the balance of the year, or will PVA if it looks like it doesn't want to hold.

So far so good. Will keep you guys posted.

Like Ari and his Beaufort, Mozzarella’s becoming my white whale. Funnily enough, I’ve never failed the fast acidified version and I can’t seem to get this right.

The latest came close, but was still over acidified, and as a result didn’t really stretch much. Just about melts but that’s it.

These are, from the top left, a dried and blued labneh style cheese I’ve posted before, long, pronounced yoghurt tang and umami follow. A creamy cows milk spreading cheese, Gianaclis’ Kasseri, but with an annato wash because why not? (also bottom left sliced) and a Cheshire when I realised I’d overshot and didn’t bother with the filata at all. Vac packed as it was over even for Cheshire and had started to crack.

The Kasseri tastes like a nice version of a Mediterranean cheese but without that distinctive filata texture and pliability to the paste.

It may be that because I use skim milk powder, cream and a pasture tincture as a UF replacement to supplement my milk, acidification is just really fast and I’m giving myself too short a window. I’m going to try plain milk next.

Ho hum… but I haven’t forgotten you guys, I’m just currently too ashamed to opine on anything. I’ve got a few Territorials to produce as we’re pretty much out and some bloomies. Then it’s back to the drawing board….