California Tech Guy

@sausalitocheese.bsky.social

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Tech Guy, Cheesemaker, interested in most things science. More opinions than nature allows. Turing complete.

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Cruising along!

Cruising at 1000ft in a radial beaver.

Cheese posts are on hiatus right now, but I tthink I will make some smaller cheeses, maybe Wensleydale, or Colby. Stay tuned and you will get pictures.

Behold blue cheese, kissed with geotrictnium from the last cheese.

It now has a coat of many colors! Estimated 3 weeks from ready. #cheese

Continuing to ripen 60 days to go #cheese

#cheese A little geotrict is mixing with the blue. 4 weeks to go!

Ripening continues. Color changes on rind as the enzymes and yeast continue working. Almost no smell at this stage.

No cheese pic it's caturday #caturday

The humidity needs to be increased, as there are signs of the surface drying. Surface mold is fine, it's probably from the camembert that I aged in the same space.

Slowly turning blue

The blue is more pronounced and the cheese smells great. It is also very tacky. This feeling is caused by yeast that lives on the surface.

Blue is starting to become visible!

Today a little mold growth is visible on the sides. This is safe and can be wiped off with a little brine. Blue should start showing soon as the cheese has a strong blue smell.

Salting completed. Smells blue but with undertones of ammonia, which is normal as the enzymes start to break dairy proteins.

Sometimes my roommate gets hungry.

Almost all the salt has been applied. In addition to the blue smell, I'm also getting a faint acid smell. Aging space was 99% rh this morning, which is still a little high but fine.

Salting continues. The cheese now smells bright blue as the bacteria grows. Aging space is 96% rh which is just slightly high.

Pre salt weight came to 2100g. Over the next few days the cheese is dry salted. This simply means I measured 60g salt and will slowly rub it in and flip the wheel daily.

The blue is now in the form. Next up, first flip

Curd is draining on an inclined cookie sheet lined with muslin.

20% of the whey has been removed, now comes a 15 min stir

Now we have large curds and whey is coming out.

The curd is cut, now it's time to stir and release whey.

Blue cheese time! Start with 4 gallons of milk with added calcium, heating up to 90. #cheese #blue

Tomorrow is cheese day. Plans are for 3 gallons of milk for a yield of 3.5 or 4lb cheese. Here is a picture of the last time I made this recipe.

Camembert made for the first time. Handling and working curd is tricky, but the aging is simple when compared to other cheeses in its family. Made from Clover and Alexandre dairy.

This is what it looks like with the rind on, trimmed off for serving, it has a grassy taste. Not toxic, but not what you want with cheese.

4lb homemade cheese, this tastes much like Swiss but those are mechanical holes. Age time 6 weeks, mild flavor.

End of feed.