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Cheesemaking thread, will add to it throughout the day. I am making Iowa Alpine.
Step 1: weigh out freeze-dried cultures (thumbs up for scale), sprinkle on milk surface, let dissolve 5 minutes, stir in gently.
Step 1: weigh out freeze-dried cultures (thumbs up for scale), sprinkle on milk surface, let dissolve 5 minutes, stir in gently.
Step 2 (3 minutes later): add CaCl2 and veal rennet, diluted in cool water, stir in gently. Close lid, record temperature: 90.6°F.
Detour from today’s batch for a slightly haphazard tour of our aging room.
Step 3 (1 hour later): test curd set
Step 4 cut the curd into ~peanut sized pieces. No video because I’m alone
Step 5: stir and cook the curd. I stir by hand the 1st 5 minutes to be more gentle. Should go from 90°F to 118°F in 45 minutes. Not heating too fast, not too slowly.
Step 6: Draining whey
Step 7: Hooping
Step 8 (30 minutes after hooping): Flip cheese wheels, apply pressure about equal to the weight of the wheel.
Step 9 (1 hour after step 8): Flip wheels again.
Add weight. I will do one more flip in 3 hours and double the weight. After 12-14 hours total pressing time, the wheels go in brine for 36 hours, then age at 54°F, 85% humidity for a minimum of 4 months.
