Here we have two wheels of Monterey Jack. The one on the left is slightly larger due to increased yield from adding calcium chloride to the milk. I'll be adding calcium chloride to all non raw milk cheeses from here on out.
I can hardly wait for them to ripen!
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"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer."
-Abraham Lincoln
I have 4gallons of raw milk that is getting made into farmhouse cheddar today. Its going to be a big wheel! Go go gadget cheese press!
__________________
"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer."
-Abraham Lincoln
This is what the final product looks like off of 4 gallons of farm fresh milk. This is from a double batch and the cheese is pressed into a 6 inch wheel. Weighs about 3 pounds.
I did skim most of the cream for ice cream (almost a gallon from a 5 gallon bucket) and made ricotta afterward from the whey (got 2 cups +/-). I used the farmhouse cheddar recipe out of Ricki Carroll's book.
The next monthly tech meeting for our homebrew club is going to be on cheese making so I thought about doing a pictorial walkthrough as I took pics of the whole process.
I wanted to just link back to the tutorial for a reference piece but we're making mozzarella due to time constraints instead. The cheddar takes quite a while to complete, like 6 hours (sans pressing time).
Maybe I'll do a separate thread for posterity anyway just to show off the process a bit.
I used a really poor cheesecloth and didn't fold it really that neatly. The block didn't look quite as a smooth as I wanted it to. Doesn't affect the taste though.
I'll age it for 6-12 months in my cheese fridge before popping the cherry on it ,unless I just can't wait.
Any suggestions on what beer I should brew to complement a cheddar?
First hard cheese
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