B173 and B175

The title of this post stands for the batch numbers of these two cheeses. In cheese making, it is important to keep good notes in case something goes wrong but also in case things turn out well.

To keep track of my batches, I number them all and imprint the number into the cheeses. In this case, the numbers are hard to see. The imprint in the cheese above is overgrown with mould and the cheese below lost a lot of the imprint from washing the cheese. Nevertheless, I can still distinguish the numbers.

So far, things have turned out very well for these two batches. The upper cheeses (B175) were made June 28 in the style of a classic tomme (though I got distracted while heating the milk so the initial ripening temperature was a little high). The lower cheese (B173) I made a week earlier combining the procedure for tallegio and reblochon. Both cheeses were made from Jersey milk and are aging in the basement of our house in upstate New York.

The microflora in this cellar is very diverse as is evidence in the cheeses from B175. The basement was built in the beginning of the last century from natural stones which there are plenty of in Delaware County. It has a concrete floor with lots of cracks and and fresh dirt on it. There are plenty of cracks and air holes in the structure so ventilation a plenty. I think it closely resemblances a natural cave. The average temperature is about 58F and might be a little high but the relative humidity of 95+% is perfect.

I did not do any rind treatment on B175, the molds are a result of the natural habitation of the basement. I intend not to do anything to the rind, I'll let it grow naturally and will observe the stages of mold development.

The cheeses of B173 I washed with a light salt brine which is traditional for reblochon. Because I am not upstate all the time, this washing schedule won't be very regular. But so far the cheeses don't seem to suffer from it. They smell fantastic.

Rind Development

Last week I took two cheeses upstate to age them there. I wanted to see the difference between the rind development in the two different locations. My cave in Brooklyn seems to be rather sterile these days since I installed a Coolbot about a month ago.

Although the Coolbot keeps the cave at the desired temperature (56F) and the relative humidity is at 90%, I am afraid the constant air-movement created by the Coolbot has chased out all the microorganisms. At least, this is my guess. Some of the rinds on some cheeses even show little cracks. I find this very disconcerting especially as I was planning to control the climate in the planned cave at the creamery upstate in a similar way. I shall have to do some more research and consulting how to prevent this or at least come up with a better compromise.

The first four pictures are of one of the cheese I took upstate. Notice the beautiful mold development after only one week. The next two pictures are of a cheese after about three weeks in the cave in Brooklyn. No growth at all.

The last two pictures are of a cheese I made in early January. This one has been aging since then in the cave in Brooklyn. As one can see from the rind of this cheese, the cave did contain a wide variety of organisms before the Coolbot was installed.

Goat Blue

Here are some picture of the Goat blue cheeses op close. These pictures were taken a few days ago. The cheeses are two and a half week old. I love to take these type of photographs. I find the moulds enormously fascinating.

Stilton Style Cheese

This is the Stilton style cheese made on March 30. It is about 7 days old in this picture. The mold is starting to grow as can be seen in the lower shots. Doesn't it look nice and fury?

Stilton Style Cheese

Here are the Stilton Style cheeses I made three weeks ago at a few days old. Over the next few days, I will post them in the various stages until we reach the current stage.

I ended up making two cheeses from that batch. The post from 4/9 shows the procedure of the lower cheese. Because of too few colanders to drain all the curds at ones, I had to split the curds and ended up with two different cheeses. The cheese at the top is dryer, the curds were cooked slightly and is not really a Stilton. I will go through my notes and describe the differences in another post.

The piece of cloth hanging in a tray of water to the left keeps the humidity at the right level.

What kind of mold is this?

Although I am fascinated by all aspects of the cheesemaking process, there are times I find myself drawn to certain aspects of it. In this case I find the mold, isn't it intriguing? It is like velvet. From up close it looks like an alien landscape.

Poil de Chat

Here is another batch of cheeses which is attacked by the Mucor "poil de chat" (cat's hair). These are also moist cheeses but if they are lightly salted, I don't know. This was the first batch of cheeses I brined in a bath not made from whey. I used tap water and salt to make the mixture. I made these cheeses upstate where I did the brining as well. Our tap water there is spring fed and the pH of the water showed 5.7. This is pretty low for tap water but knowing our soil is very acidic, I was not surprised. Because the pH of the water was so low, I figured it would be all right for the brine bath. The brine bath should have the same pH as the cheese. That's why I like to use whey for my baths, but I had contaminated the whey and it was unuseable.

In retrospect, I suspect the pH of the brine bath was higher than the pH of the cheeses. This would have left the rind greasy. I had noticed some discoloration varying from straw to bright orange. This surface is prone to the growth of black or grey mucor. 

I have cleaned the cheeses as I cleaned the ash coated ones, washed with a mixture of water and vinegar after dry brushing. I hope this will take care of it and that the wrong pH equilibrium between the cheeses and the brine bath doesn't lead to any other defects. 

Smear rind cheese

These cheeses I made on November 19, intending to be small smear rind semi soft cheeses. The wheels vary from two and a half to three and a half inch and are rennet coagulated. They were all from the same batch but in the afinage I separated them in two. The wheels below have developed a smear rind, the Brevibacterium linen is clearly recognizable by the orange color. I have smeared the rind with my fingers before turning them every two days, hereby spreading the B. linen, making sure they are well established.
The cheeses in the top picture, though from the some batch and inoculated with the same cultures and yeasts, have been left alone apart from the two day turning cycle. "Wild" moulds and yeasts have established themselves on these wheels. The blue Penicilliums seem to have the upper hand. I am curious what the final outcome will be.

Washed Tomme

a cows milk Tomme with some mold above and washed below

Gouda

Goudas with some mould


and washed

Surface mould development on Tomme

Here are some pictures of some mould development on a cows milk tomme cheese.

Aging Goat Cheese

Some goat cheeses in various stages of development.

Tommes upstate continued

The Tommes upstate are maturing nicely. The environment in the cellar seems optimum. They have developed a nice natural rind, which I wash occasionally with a 3-4 % salt solution to get rid of to much much. Here are various stages over a period of approximately two weeks. The cloudy mold is Geotrichum candidum, added this to only one of the two cheeses.

While washing one of the cheeses, a little piece broke of, which gave me the opportunity to have a early taste. Well, it tastes very promising to say the least. I am very excited and can hardly wait, but I will give it another week.