Buttering and Ricotta.

[Fallow Buck]

HI All,

I made my two stiltons on Saturday out of 15 litres of Milk and a Pint of cream and a tub and a hlf ofButtermilk. I added 1tsp of CaCl and 1tsp of Rennet. It took about 2hrs 15mins before I got a clean break(ish...) I say ish because when I cut the curds and went to turn them some of them just turned mush. I continued to cook them for an hour and then put them in the colander.

The Curds were pressed for an hour, salted and put in to the mould, (collander method).

My question is that the curds this time seemed very wet. And since being in the collander I seem to have a loose surface on one side. It looks like they will mold OK and hold together but there will be some cracks in the cheese. Can it be buttered and if so what do you use to do this? I remember reading about the process but don't remember the details.

The other thing is that I kept the Whey, ( A LOT OF IT!!!) and tried again to make ricotta. I got all o about 3 table spoons worth!!! How much do you guys usually get out of straight Whey?

Thanks,
FB

[BlueCheese]

Does your milk say ultrapasturized?
Is your rennet good, not old etc?
Was the buttermilk fresh as in active culture so that the proper acid was acomplished for the rennet to act?

[Fallow Buck]

BC,

The Milk isn't ultrapasturised, Rennet was fresh and Buttermilk wasalso fresh.

I can't think of anything else. The little bit of Ricotta that was collected was a bit grainy.

Rgds,

FB

[BlueCheese]

Could have waited more then 2 hours, I thingk I have read some people with problems have waited 4 hours.
If u want to try and nail it down, see if u can get some litmus paper from a chemist and check to see what PH it is, aprox 5 it should be (4.8-5.3 for bloomed and washed cheeses).

[saucisson]

If you got hardly any ricotta then most of the protein went into your cheese, possibly it curdled as well as breaking? It's happened to me when I left the milk at room temperature over night before using it and I got wet soggy curds as a result.
Dave

[Fallow Buck]

Thanks Guys,

The first stilton I did, I used a yogurt starter and the curds were very different indeed. They expelled a large ammount of Whey before they were even cut.

This time round the whey that was given out by the cheese wasn't even close and it was a bigger batch. I took a look at Rik's photos yesterday and the curds looked remarkably similar so that put mymind at rest a bit. When I turned the cheese in the collander this mng I noticed that the broken up peices don't seem to be gelling as well as they should on one side. It probably has to do with the fact that with the collander method you can't put a weight on the cheese in the mold. Is this something that buttering can help with?

Thanks for the help,
FB

[saucisson]

I think you can butter with any remaining sogy curds if you put some to one side, but if they've all drained you may be a bit stuck. If you're very gentle with it it may come together with time and TLC.

Dave

[Fallow Buck]

Saucisson,

I had some latex gloves that I used when turning the cheese. using those each day I turned the cheese, I gave it a light rub over the wet surface which seemed to smooth it out over a couple of days. The surface gelled nicely and I think that if there are some "cracks" internally when I needle it the veining will just be more easily spread internally.

It is Bluing up nicely now, and in a coupl eof weeks I'm thinking of getting some raw milk to try a Stilton with.

I didn't get round to the Camembert so it is still in the pending list of things to do!!

[BlueCheese]

So out of everybody that has created a successful blue/stilton with veins, did anybody scrape the surface?
I have read and heard people scraping the surface so the cheese can breath, they say the outer growth can inhibit the veining by cutting of the air.

[Fallow Buck]

BC,

Iv'e stopped rubbing it now and am lettig the bluing on theoutside form.

I think once the rind has formed the air still gets in ennough through the needling.

How often do you needle stilton, and when do you start?


Some recipes say as early as the first week. Others say only after 4 weeks or so.

FB

[jpj]

i usually do it twice
once very early on, and second time after 4-6 weeks

[saucisson]

I've not scraped and I haven't really had any veining even though I needled twice.

[BlueCheese]

Hmmm, I find/logicaly that the furr protecs the cheese, and that needling twice is more sensible then scraping off the furr, thats what I plan on doing. As I have read in the many recipes, everyone has their own way that works best for them.
Stilton and Gorgonzolas the next one im trying out this week end.

[Fallow Buck]

Are you doinng the 2 day curds for the Gorgonzola?

[BlueCheese]

I have no recipe so I will be using a stilton recipe with Gorgonzola culture.
If anybody has and is able to post a recipe that would be nice