Intermediate Cheesemaking: Beyond chevre

[freemotion]

That is why I stopped using the stove to heat the milk. I use the sink and hot tapwater. I start by putting the jars of milk in the sink with cool water, then gradually make it warmer. (I broke a gallon jar by starting with hot water once....) Then hot tap water. It is easy....I just get it started before I go out for chores, and change the water in the sink each time I come in for something...to filter milk, to grab a bottle for a kid, to get scraps for the pigs.

I check the temp of the bottles with my hand to develop a feel for it. I'm getting better at it. When it gets close, I check the bottles with the thermometer, then transfer it all to my cheese pot. If it needs a little more heating or cooling, the whole pot goes into the sink with a tapwater bath.

The entire warming process takes maybe an hour or so this way, but it is not finicky, and I am doing other stuff anyways, so it seems like no time is spent at all. Especially since I am not hovering over a pot within a pot, and I don't have to lift my big pot out of my canner. I can't lift it that high and have to have dh nearby or I have to stand on a chair. What a pain. No more.

In the summer, it is easy to hold it at whatever temp because the air temp is close to the culturing, etc, temp.

 

[freemotion]

Oh, and your feta (sorry! the hens will turn it into eggs for you, all is not lost) didn't work because you pasteurized the bacteria in the culture. You probably know this, but I thought I'd clarify it for the lurkers.

 

[Wildsky]

That is why I stopped using the stove to heat the milk. I use the sink and hot tapwater. I start by putting the jars of milk in the sink with cool water, then gradually make it warmer. (I broke a gallon jar by starting with hot water once....) Then hot tap water. It is easy....I just get it started before I go out for chores, and change the water in the sink each time I come in for something...to filter milk, to grab a bottle for a kid, to get scraps for the pigs.

Thats a fantastic idea!!!

 

[Wildsky]

Well, I ruined my first batch of cheese. I was making feta (4 gal batch) and thought I had turned the heat off at 86 degrees to let ripen for an hour. When my buzzer went off I went to add the rennet and realized the heat was still on 148 degrees.

I let it cool and added rennet anyway. It sat all night and all day today and hasn't set up. But it's sort of thickened.

What ever it is....I hope the chickens like it.

I've made sooo much cheese lately that I do know better. I need to slow down and pay attention I guess. I was trying to get dinner going and it was already 8pm

The chickens will love it, mine love my mistakes!

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Well...just before I was going to lug it out to the chickens, I decided to stir it with a spoon. It had some curd like consistancy. So I stirred it and turned on the heat. I have noooo idea what I'm doing...lol. We'll see.

 

[newmochick]

Free - stupid question/clarification -

Your heating the milk in the beginning in your sink vs on the stove top in a water bath? Once it reaches the certain temp for the cultures, take it to the stove? I went to a cheese making class but realized that I can't do it until I get a camp stove (glass top stove top ) so I don't remember the process very well. If I don't have to use large containers for a water bath to heat milk, maybe I can now do it on my stove top?

You all have no idea how hungry you guys are making me!!!!!

 

[freemotion]

Free - stupid question/clarification -

Your heating the milk in the beginning in your sink vs on the stove top in a water bath? Once it reaches the certain temp for the cultures, take it to the stove? I went to a cheese making class but realized that I can't do it until I get a camp stove (glass top stove top ) so I don't remember the process very well. If I don't have to use large containers for a water bath to heat milk, maybe I can now do it on my stove top?

You all have no idea how hungry you guys are making me!!!!!

I no longer use the stove at all for mesophillic cheeses. The water comes out of my tap at 120 F and that is plenty to get the milk to 86 F for feta and into the 90's for other recipes. Especially if I have it in quart bottles, but it works with gallons, too, just takes a little longer.

I have the pot waiting on the stove where it was just steam sterilized with a little boiling water, then drained and cooled. I put the milk in it and recheck the temp. It goes back to the sink if it needs adjusting, but I'm getting pretty good at guessing and rarely need to do much adjusting. I never turn on the stove at all. Make sense? When I did use the stove, I would often overheat the milk. I want raw cheese with all the benefits of raw milk, so that means I need to keep the temp under 110 F at all times.

If it is cooler in the kitchen, I will throw a fleece lap blanket around the pot to hold the temperature during culturing, and may put it back into a sinkful of hot water for a few minutes if needed.

 

[newmochick]

Thank you for that clarification. Now I can put cheese making on my to-do list this fall!!!!!

 

[RockyToggRanch]

I use my glass top stove. This is the first time I've screwed it up. I use my digital thermometer that stays right in the milk. When it beeps I turn everything off. This time I was distracted and only turned off the thermometer and not the stove.

 

[Wildsky]

What on earth happened here?

I admit, I wasn't planning to make cheese today, and I was in a hurry because I suddenly realized every bottle and jar I have was full of milk.

Its the feta recipe. I added everything and waited an hour or so - went back to check for a break in the curd and found that! :/

It was firm, enough to cut it up into the little squares, but I'm not sure why it got that swirly look to it.