# Time to make cheese!?



## Martathegoat

ok have milk will try....
I managed to get hold of some lactobacilus acidophilus capsules made by vitamax by the looks of it...sorry its in Russian.its called VITAMAX-E probiotic narine, they are in the capsule form (this probably means nothing to anyone but hey its worth a try. the Pharmacist said to try it but she did not hear that it was good for cheese, its meant to be taken for upset stomachs (go figure)
any suggestions on how much to use lol, Just read on another thread about spongy looking clabber milk mmmmmm not too sure about mine it just smells sour but def fluffy stuff, all the locals say its just sour milk............but hey thats not the question if this does not work Ill get another 3 lts in 1 and 1/2 days and start again lol

Ive clabbered the milk and ready to go lol got another 3 lts standing by for another batch :biggrin


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## linuxboy

What kind of cheese do you want to make? Acidophilus has a somewhat limited range in terms of the cheese types it can produce. It will make a basic yogurt though, or Labneh. You can try clabbering raw milk for a homegrown mesophilic culture (prostokvasha) or buy some culture from a supplier.

In Ukraine, the most common rennet you can buy is the Meito brand. Pharmacy might have it. Ask for pepsin Mejto, ili sychuzhnyj ferment. Or try http://www.meicom.com.ua/about.html

edit: Seems like Russian encoding is not working. I've transliterated


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## Martathegoat

hey up, well done that happy chappy are you saying I have Kifar or how evr you spell it lol Ive clabbered it, its ready I think to start, lol
Its the first time making the stuff so any will do?
I want to make a hard cheese soon but what really takes my fancy is a culture taken from a blue cheese by buying some and then mixing a paiste and poring it on to ripen. sorry names and terms I know not, just read it on a clabber site http://www.sullivanspond.com/weblog/2007/06/29/bonnyclabber-country-cheese-process-photos/

thats all I know, but not too sure about yogurt though
and I see what you mean about their translation, Tanya had to translate for me lol


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## linuxboy

Oh, if you want to make a clabbered blue cheese, that's easy. Also delicious, I really love a good natural blue. And sorry, didn't realize you don't speak Russian. 

For a clabbered blue, you take the clabber, and heat it slowly to 85-90 F. Stir it around so the whey separates some more. This helps to form a more solid curd. Then take it out, and drain the whey. Let it hang until the curd is more solid. Usually about 4-6 hours, sometimes more.

Mix in your paste of blue cheese and milk into the drained curd, breaking it up. Salt the curd at the rate of 1/2 tablespoon per 3-4 liters milk. And put everything in a mold and let it drain for 1-2 days. Then set it out in a ripening chamber and let the blue mold take over. Eat after 60-90 days.

If you prefer, you can also add the blue mold paste to the milk along with the clabber starter. I like to do that most of the time.


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## buckrun

That sounds very simple! Does it actually set up and mold through?
My blues have been softer almost like cream cheese and not crumbly -any ideas?
Thanks for all this cheese chat Pav.
Lee


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## linuxboy

I love talking cheese. . Can't wait until I finish setting up all the details for my cheesemaking classes/club. Wish all of you could come. We would eat cheese and talk goats and sip on our beverages of choice.

So the deal with crumbly vs cream cheese consistency has to do with primarily two factors. One, the point at which you start draining the whey, meaning either cutting the curd or ladling it for draining. And two, the way the blue culture interacts with the cheese. Fat content and other milk qualities also help with the creaminess or not.

A crumbly blue is because of a moderately low moisture content, and high acid development, and using only a blue mold (no wild white molds or similar). To put it more simply:

For crumbly
- Let the milk acidify in the pot for 45 mins to 1 hour (from adding rennet) before ladling. Ladle using small pieces, 2-3" big.
- Drain overnight or similar long drain time, to get it somewhat dry
- Break up the curd and salt it and pack loosely into a mold, and let it press naturally, so there are openings for the blue. Keep it in the mold for a day or two, then put that into your curing chamber. Use only a blue mold

For soft:
- Longer time in the pot, more like 1-1.5 hours. Ladle using very large pieces, more like 4-8"
- Drain a bit less, so it retains more water. Should be fairly moist curd.
- Same, break up curd, salt it, pack into mold, wait, and age

what influences the moisture is the size of the curd and the length of time you let it sit from adding rennet. More time sitting = more moisture. Bigger curds also = more moisture.

The deal with the blue is that some blues eat the proteins faster than others. So you will get different proteolytic rates. Also, sometimes a white mold will colonize, and it has more ability to turn the cheese to a creamy paste, sort of like a brie.

And yes, you can really make that simple of a buttermilk or clabber blue. You don't need rennet. Blue loves the acidic environment. And it turns it from a crumbly, acidic cheese, to this soft, delightful blue. If you want the veins inside, drain the clabber well and break up the curds again, salt, and pack them lightly. Reserve some of the curd. Let it drain in the mold for half a day or a day, flip a few times. The outside will have all these pockets when you unmold because you packed loosely. Take a cake spatula and the curd and fill in all the gaps so its smooth. Then pierce in 10 days, and re-pierce every 7-10 days for a month so the oxygen gets inside the cheese. And you'll get great marbling that way and a smooth, presentable cheese rind. It's how they make stilton in the UK.


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## buckrun

> eat cheese and talk goats and sip on our beverages of choice.


I'm THERE! With my multigrain extra crusty French bread hot out of the oven.
Dang o Dang why are you so far away! Good thing or you would have a pest of a groupie
That is such a great rundown on the blue process.
It is Squidge's fav salad dressing (gag-ruination of perfectly good greens!) and so we like making our own. 
Thanks so much for that easy way to track the different end results. I think I need to take notes and stop being pleased at however it turns out! 
Lee


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## Martathegoat

gosh linux, ask a simple question and I get all the future questions answered lol, you can write on my board any time lol, thanks for the info that was my next question I think about the blue cheese from clabber as I hope it will take the sourness smell away narrrrrrrrrrr doubt it probably enhance the smell dance:


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## Martathegoat

ok still trying to get there lol
I thought I would do 2 experiments today, 3 lts of vinegar cheese and 3 lts of nettle cheese.
Both by the book.....
heat to 90 deg, and stir slightly and put in the acidifier..ie:nettle or vinegar, both started to go clumpy on the back of a spoon, so I kept them in the hot water and placed them outside in the sun.....5 hrs later they have turned into sweet milk again, so what is wrong with Martas Milk lol it insists on being nothing more than sweet creamy milk....oh yer where did that cream come from, goats milk does not have cream floating on the top??????


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## Martathegoat

Heres a strange occurrence,
The nettle experiment still did not set so Tanya in her wise and wondrous wisdom decided to put some bread in a piece of muslim and place it in there, it set in 5 mins, so my question is what did we get from that experiment, the cheese went kind of rubbery when left over night, tasted brill though, we used it it some cheese pancakes mixed with eggs and fried..m m m tasted good.


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## Martathegoat

I tried your recipe for blue cheese and stored it in the fridge to mature...
it started out as clabbered milk which I forgot about until 4 days later, boy was it sour totally the wrong stuff to be getting but do you know what....
I put the culture in, mixed it all up added salt and left in the fridge as I mentioned..thinking well it will be a strange taste to be sure what with chamomile tasting milk, soured clabbered milk and blue mold.....well I have never tasted a better cheese in all my life, the sourness had totally gone the blue mold has not grown on the inside, it was covered with blue on the out side so have cut in half and left again but it was so creamy and sweetish. dance: is it safe to eat is my question lol


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## linuxboy

Yep, should be fine. You've figured out one of the secret of blues . You want it to be sour; the blues love the sourness of a natural starter.


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## Martathegoat

WELL knock me down with a feather you could, so my enterprise starts here lol


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