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Third try Brie and high heat cheese

PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 2:14 am
by BBQer
Well here are the pics from my third try.

The Brie at the end of its draining phase.

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And just starting the aging phase. Waiting for the fuzz.

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And the high heat cheese. Milk just getting to temperature.

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The high heat cheese draining.

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And after pressing.

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The high heat cheese didn't taste like much. I think I need to add more salt next time. It had a flavor like mozzarella only milder. Which is to say not much flavor at all.

PostPosted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:41 pm
by BBQer
Well it's been 7 days. The white mold is growing nicely. But I turned the cheese at day 5 and I tore the mold cover off the bottom (now the top). I hope the mold fills in the torn spots.

It has a very strong smell. Not exactly ammonia. More like the really strong smelling cheeses or really old sweaty gym socks.

I finally broke out the hygrometer I bought some time ago and put it in the plastic storage bin I'm using as my aging "cave". It registered only 48% humidity. There was condensation on the sides of the box since the beginning so I assumed the humidity was in the proper range. Anyway, I put a small container of saturated salt in the bin with the cheese and within an hour the humidity was up to 75%. Hopefully things will get on the right track and turn out fine.

PostPosted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:28 pm
by BlueCheese
Looks very nice :)

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:54 am
by BBQer
Five weeks and we sliced into the brie. It looked like brie, oozed when brought to room temp like brie, tasted like brie - except it was just a bit too salty. Hard to get past the saltiness to the brie flavors.

Funny thing though, a couple of days later I tried it again and perception was the saltiness had diminished to a tolerable level. Went back and looked at the recipe, it called for rubbing it with a 1/4 of a cup of salt. I remember not even being able to get through an 1/8th of a cup. Next time I'll try even less.

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Pre-room temp picture. No oozing yet. :lol:

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:11 am
by Richierich
That looks great. What sort of temperature have you been ageing it at? I left mine for 6 weeks and it was solid like in the middle. Also how thick is your Brie? Mine was perhaps a little too thick, maybe 3" or so.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:32 pm
by BlueCheese
looks fantastic LOL
I/4 cup salt? I use about 1-2tbls.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:33 pm
by BBQer
Well I didn't (read as "don't" :lol: )know what I was (am) doing - first try and all.

I will definitely adjust the salting amount.

This piece is about 1.75" high. Didn't have a lot of control of that. I piled the curd into my make-shift mold to about 5 or 6" high. After all the draining, it ended up at the 1.75" mark.

The aging process went something like this - one day to drain and reduce in height to the 1.75" mark, then I was flipping it periodically until no more whey would drain out - another day or bit less, salted it, then stored it at about 50-55F and 90% humidity for 12 days, then wrapped it in breathable cellophane and stored it at 38-42F and 97% humidity for the remainder of the 5 weeks.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 9:08 am
by Richierich
I think as mine is a little thicker it will take that little bit longer to age, or rather I hope it will.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 5:15 pm
by BBQer
And if it's quite a bit thicker, you'll just have a camembert right? :)

What is the difference between brie and camembert? Some of the recipes have both in the title.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 5:39 pm
by BlueCheese
their the same except a temp dif of 31/88f compared to 29/84f at start up. I have not found any dif between thicknes, just ripening temps. The culture of the brie is throughout the cheese, so the enzyme cultivation is even, from my observation.