Cheese making.

[gallantwarrior]

Cheddar fresh out of the press.

Nice looking round of cheddar there, PredFan!

I suspect one of two things: my goats might be stressed by the wet weather we've been having. Goats do not like being wet and right now they're up to their knees in mud. It can put their milk "off". You won't taste it, but it might respond in unusual ways to common treatment.
The other likely culprit is some kind of contamination. That's why I'd rather waste a batch than try to make it work. I do have the advantage of having a few gallons of fresh milk every day to work with. I took all my equipment, tools, etc, out to my wash station, thoroughly washed and bleached everything and then let it all air dry. (Using towels to dry can re-contaminate your equipment.)
I have a new batch cooking right now. It's going to be cream cheese, so it will take close to a day to prep. I'm planning on making some chocolate swirl cheese cakes as well as a nice salmon spread.

I'll let you know what I determine. Sharing this information is important.

 

[PredFan]

So I got my Thermophilic starter and my lipase powder for my Italian cheeses. The very first one I want to make is Parmesan. Unfortunately I'm going out of town this weekend, and the Monday I have a welding job to do, Tuesday I work at the hospital, Wednesday I have a doctors appointment. I will have to wait until next Thursday to even start on the Parmesan, and I have to age it at least 10 months!

Ugh!

 

[syrenn]

So I got my Thermophilic starter and my lipase powder for my Italian cheeses. The very first one I want to make is Parmesan. Unfortunately I'm going out of town this weekend, and the Monday I have a welding job to do, Tuesday I work at the hospital, Wednesday I have a doctors appointment. I will have to wait until next Thursday to even start on the Parmesan, and I have to age it at least 10 months!

Ugh!

then get on it....

 

[gallantwarrior]

So I got my Thermophilic starter and my lipase powder for my Italian cheeses. The very first one I want to make is Parmesan. Unfortunately I'm going out of town this weekend, and the Monday I have a welding job to do, Tuesday I work at the hospital, Wednesday I have a doctors appointment. I will have to wait until next Thursday to even start on the Parmesan, and I have to age it at least 10 months!

Ugh!

All good things come to those who wait. It usually takes 18 months for a batch of mead to be minimally aged to drink. I have cheddar that has been aging for almost two years. I try to keep a couple of rounds from each year, just to see how they turn out. It's part of the experiment.
Good luck with the Parmesan, keep us posted how that works out.

 

[PredFan]

So I got my Thermophilic starter and my lipase powder for my Italian cheeses. The very first one I want to make is Parmesan. Unfortunately I'm going out of town this weekend, and the Monday I have a welding job to do, Tuesday I work at the hospital, Wednesday I have a doctors appointment. I will have to wait until next Thursday to even start on the Parmesan, and I have to age it at least 10 months!

Ugh!

then get on it....

I will. A week from now. I don't make my cheese half ass. I wait until I can devote my undivided attention to it.

 

[PredFan]

So I got my Thermophilic starter and my lipase powder for my Italian cheeses. The very first one I want to make is Parmesan. Unfortunately I'm going out of town this weekend, and the Monday I have a welding job to do, Tuesday I work at the hospital, Wednesday I have a doctors appointment. I will have to wait until next Thursday to even start on the Parmesan, and I have to age it at least 10 months!

Ugh!

All good things come to those who wait. It usually takes 18 months for a batch of mead to be minimally aged to drink. I have cheddar that has been aging for almost two years. I try to keep a couple of rounds from each year, just to see how they turn out. It's part of the experiment.
Good luck with the Parmesan, keep us posted how that works out.

I'll be making multiple wheels of my buttermilk cheese and the cheddars as well. For the same reason as you. I want to have some for immediate consumption and others that can sit for a long time.

 

[gallantwarrior]

So I got my Thermophilic starter and my lipase powder for my Italian cheeses. The very first one I want to make is Parmesan. Unfortunately I'm going out of town this weekend, and the Monday I have a welding job to do, Tuesday I work at the hospital, Wednesday I have a doctors appointment. I will have to wait until next Thursday to even start on the Parmesan, and I have to age it at least 10 months!

Ugh!

then get on it....

I will. A week from now. I don't make my cheese half ass. I wait until I can devote my undivided attention to it.

An important aspect to having it turn out well, I assure you.

 

[PredFan]

Finished with the processing portion of the Parmesan Cheese. Now it's in the fridge aging. I fretted about it the whole time I was making it. I want it to be as awesome as I think it can be. 10 months minimum to age, and the longer it is left to age, the better it is.

But I worried about it until today. When I went to turn it over I took a quick sniff of it. I really didn't expect much but what hit my nose was the pungeant aroma of Parmesan Cheese! Sooooooo excited!

 

[gallantwarrior]

That's great, PredFan! I've just jarred up almost a gallon of premo yogurt and have a batch of feta processing. I've got several requests for feta, so it's a good time to whip up a batch. Tuesday I'm going to start a Swiss cheese and see how it goes.
You will find that your patience pays off and will greatly enjoy the fruits of your labors.

 

[syrenn]

Finished with the processing portion of the Parmesan Cheese. Now it's in the fridge aging. I fretted about it the whole time I was making it. I want it to be as awesome as I think it can be. 10 months minimum to age, and the longer it is left to age, the better it is.

But I worried about it until today. When I went to turn it over I took a quick sniff of it. I really didn't expect much but what hit my nose was the pungeant aroma of Parmesan Cheese! Sooooooo excited!

 

[PredFan]

That's great, PredFan! I've just jarred up almost a gallon of premo yogurt and have a batch of feta processing. I've got several requests for feta, so it's a good time to whip up a batch. Tuesday I'm going to start a Swiss cheese and see how it goes.
You will find that your patience pays off and will greatly enjoy the fruits of your labors.

Feta is probably the only cheese I don't care for. It is too bitter for my tastes, however I will eventually make it because my wife likes it.

 

[PredFan]

I'll make at least 4 total wheels of Parmesan. Letting the first wheel age for a year and not using any of the other ones until that one is finished. I wonder if a cheese can age too long?

 

[koshergrl]

I think feta is bitter, too.

 

[koshergrl]

There's an Italian cheese that has maggots in it. You eat the maggots and the cheese.

So I'd say yes, a cheese can age too long, but there will always be someone willing to eat it.

 

[PredFan]

There's an Italian cheese that has maggots in it. You eat the maggots and the cheese.

So I'd say yes, a cheese can age too long, but there will always be someone willing to eat it.

"I don't care how excrementally runny it is, serve it up forthwith my good man!"

 

[syrenn]

There's an Italian cheese that has maggots in it. You eat the maggots and the cheese.

So I'd say yes, a cheese can age too long, but there will always be someone willing to eat it.

"I don't care how excrementally runny it is, serve it up forthwith my good man!"

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CGseBM85gc]International Highlights - Casu Marzu - YouTube[/ame]

 

[PredFan]

The very first cheese I made was a wheel of buttermilk cheese, very simple to make. When it came out of the press, I sliced it and ate it. It tasted like cottage cheese in block form.

I made a second and third wheel of the same cheese and left them to age. Last night I opened the second one after theinimum recommended ageing of 1 month. It definitely tasted like buttermilk. I will let the third wheel of it age for at least another month before opening it. I don't expect it to taste like anything other than buttermilk. I've never had buttermilk cheese before so I'm glad that I made it and learned how to make cheese with it but I don't like it enough to make more.

I am going to make a third wheel of farmhouse cheddar, a third wheel of Parmesan and then start on the mozzarella.

 

[PredFan]

Ok so I've had my first two fails, and one success.

I decided to make my own recipe for a cheese. Basically it's a Farmhouse Cheddar but I wanted to increase the fat content because fat=flavor. To the recipe I added a half a cup of heavy cream. Well apparently when the fat level is that high, it won't make curds. Fortunately, all it cost me was the price of a gallon of milk.

The second fail was one of my buttermilk cheeses. I apparently didn't let it dry out enough before I waxed it and unbeknownst to me, it was molding inside if the wax. Yuck!

However, the good news is that I opened the first Farmhouse Cheddar I made and it was delish!

 

[syrenn]

Very cool!

Congratulations on the successful batch of cheese. What are you going to make next?

 

[PredFan]

Very cool!

Congratulations on the successful batch of cheese. What are you going to make next?

Mozzarella! A wheel for grating, and some mozzarella balls!