Cheese A Day: Guinness Cheddar!

Cheese Makers Forum FAQ Equipment part 1 Equipment part 2 History

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Guinness Cheddar!

In an earlier post I mentioned that Guinness cheddar was on the way, and here it is. I'm pretty sure I could have used much more Guinness during the whey off, but we'll see how it turns out on St. Patricks. Also, notice the wonderfully beautiful stylized cow stamp my wife made--it rocks.

Start date: 3/5/2009
Wax date: 3/7/2009
Taste date: St. Patrick's Day!

Recipe

1 gallon skim, pastuerized and homogenized
1 gallon 1%, pastuerized and homogenized
1 cup cultured buttermilk
1 tablet of rennet
10 drops calcium chloride
Mortons kosher salt

The curd was washed three times similar to the previous loaf, except that on the third wash I added 12 ounces of foreign extra stout and let it marinate for 30 minutes. The curd was cut with a large whisk into fairly small curds, and the whey that was expelled during the pressing was light tan but not markedly so.

The top and bottom of the loaf were nice and flat, kind of satiny. I am using a very fine nylon cloth instead of normal cheese cloth with is giving the loaves an interesting texture. The sides are still quite checked, and that's something I'll have to work on.

3 comments:

BenMarch 10, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Nice wine fridge!

Man, I need to start making cheese. My proclamation of the day: I will start making cheese by the first week of April. Equipment will be purchased with my next paycheck, which comes on Friday. Yes, it will be done.

And your blog will be great help, and inspiration. Thanks for that.
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JaphrgMarch 10, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Just don't spend too much on equipment, it doesn't have to cost much at all. I'm actually toying with an idea for a new style of press that could be even cheaper and easier to use, while applying pressure more evenly. We'll see if it works here in the next couple weeks.
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BenMarch 10, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Yeah, the list is actually pretty short. I feel like I'll spend more on a thermometer than anything else.

Get to work on that press before I decide which one to build!! :)
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Cheese A Day by Jeremy Pickett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at cheeseaday.blogspot.com.

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