It is almost 60 days since my first cheese after my hiatus, so a sampling will happen soon. I have battled the blue-molds and the cheese has a nice hard rind. Think I'll look for a "trier" (a tool that allows you to sample a small core from your cheese) so that I have a better handle on the aging process. Since the first, hard cheese, I've now got two, softer Tomme cheeses aging in the pantry.
But the wild experiment I just tried I'll call a "Hop Cheese". Its a hard cheese that has a small amount of hops mixed in with the curd. The idea came to me last fall, as I sat and talked with a dear friend at the Madison County Hop Festival. Other herbs are routinely added to cheese, so why not hops? Stay tuned and we shall see.
The "Fumee` Braggot Noir" is now in the sampling/evaluation stages. My initial reaction is that the recipe needs tweaking because you would not know there was 3 lbs. of Buckwheat Honey in the mix - and that's the whole point of a Braggot Ale - it's half honey. What I have (and this is not a bad thing) is a smoked porter. The chocolate malt and the smoked malt overpower any flavors the buckwheat honey may have contributed. It is a very good tasting smoked porter, but a little disappointing just the same. I have a second attempt at a Braggot sitting in the secondary fermenter now that also uses the Buckwheat honey but the base-ale is really a wheat beer. Maybe this will work better.
Until then... Peace
Cheesey-boy
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Monday, November 26, 2012
Still Here
No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, or move south of the border.
"Other things" have been at the forefront, but I've recovered the Blog password and will proceed.
After a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat I once again got the urge to make some cheese. I had to do some hunting to find the cheese press, and the culture I used was way old, but I think i have a decent cheese made in the style of Asiago cheese. Time will tell, of course.
Meanwhile, an update on the Brewery:
I have tried a new (to me) style called Braggot (rhymes with maggot).
If you combine barley malt and honey in near-equal proportions and ferment it, you have a Braggot-ale.
I have named mine "Fumee` Braggot Noir" as it is a dark, smokey malt mix with Buckwheat honey as well. I mashed Smoked Malt, Chocolate Malt, Dark-Crystal Malt and added Amber DME. It has been hopped quite well with Northern-Brewer and Nelson Sauvin (from New Zealand); the hops should balance the residual sweetness of the buckwheat honey. It is currently sitting in the secondary fermenter and may get bottled up this next weekend.
That's All For Now - just needed to check in.
Peace.
"Cheesey-boy"
"Other things" have been at the forefront, but I've recovered the Blog password and will proceed.
After a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat I once again got the urge to make some cheese. I had to do some hunting to find the cheese press, and the culture I used was way old, but I think i have a decent cheese made in the style of Asiago cheese. Time will tell, of course.
Meanwhile, an update on the Brewery:
I have tried a new (to me) style called Braggot (rhymes with maggot).
If you combine barley malt and honey in near-equal proportions and ferment it, you have a Braggot-ale.
I have named mine "Fumee` Braggot Noir" as it is a dark, smokey malt mix with Buckwheat honey as well. I mashed Smoked Malt, Chocolate Malt, Dark-Crystal Malt and added Amber DME. It has been hopped quite well with Northern-Brewer and Nelson Sauvin (from New Zealand); the hops should balance the residual sweetness of the buckwheat honey. It is currently sitting in the secondary fermenter and may get bottled up this next weekend.
That's All For Now - just needed to check in.
Peace.
"Cheesey-boy"
Monday, February 28, 2011
Muenster on the loose!
Several weeks back I made what I'll call a Muenster-style cheese (I was actually following a Brick Cheese recipe but they are very similar) complete with Red bacterium on the surface. It's been aging well, but i coated it with wax and noticed the wax starting to puff out a little. I cut off the wax and found the surface to be still very wet but looking normal. So I dried it out for a few hours and re-waxed it. I'll give it a few more weeks before I cut it open.
Made another Tomme-style, hard cheese Saturday; with cow milk instead of goat this time. The style gives me pretty good cheese each time, plus I still have the culture to use up.
Homemade yogurt has been very successful. I add a little vanilla extract when I set it in the Coleman cooler to incubate. It was delicious on top of my Duncan Hines Spice cake!
On the beer topic: if you can find Sam Adams Winter Lager in a store near you, try it. The label lists several ingredients that would normally be associated with Belgian-style beers (orange peel, spices) but the resulting beer is very pleasant to those who do not particularly like the bold Belgian beers. It is seasonal, so it won't be in the stores much longer. My own beers are aging well, but the Lager is by far the best.
peace;
Cheesey-boy
Made another Tomme-style, hard cheese Saturday; with cow milk instead of goat this time. The style gives me pretty good cheese each time, plus I still have the culture to use up.
Homemade yogurt has been very successful. I add a little vanilla extract when I set it in the Coleman cooler to incubate. It was delicious on top of my Duncan Hines Spice cake!
On the beer topic: if you can find Sam Adams Winter Lager in a store near you, try it. The label lists several ingredients that would normally be associated with Belgian-style beers (orange peel, spices) but the resulting beer is very pleasant to those who do not particularly like the bold Belgian beers. It is seasonal, so it won't be in the stores much longer. My own beers are aging well, but the Lager is by far the best.
peace;
Cheesey-boy
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
New Year, New Outlook
Six-months later...
Divorce is over, house is once more solely mine, sanity is intact and the desire to forge ahead with Bread, Beer & Cheese is re-newed! whew!!
The beer cellar currently holds three batches of homebrew that are aging. I've made a Dunkel-weiss (dark wheat), English Pale Ale, and a German Lager. Each one seems to be on-target for the particular style, and I'm thinking they will only improve with a few more weeks of aging. I have been working towards all-grain brewing but have to improve the equipment if I really want to mash many pounds of grain. The Lager was done without the benefit of malt extracts and the yield was not as many gallons as it should have been; due to troubles with my setup.
In the Cheese Department I have been happy with the results of an October batch which was made using goat milk and Flora Danica culture to approximate a Havarti-style cheese. I also received a little X-mas gift from Vermont; a chunck of cheese that I helped make at the Cheesemaking Class at Bardwell Farm, back in April. A very solid cheese, almost a grating cheese, but still slice-able, and delicious.
I've also been making yogurt at home, both with purchased cultures and lately with store-bought yogurt. I'm looking into methods for improving the incubation equipment and methods to make the process better.
Breadmaking hasn't happened simply because of the limitations with my 1940's vintage, Chambers gas stove. My oven thermostat is not functional, so anything I do bake has to be watched and regulated by propping the oven door open just enough to keep the temperature in a plus or minus 5 degree range.
Anyways, I'm still here and I'm looking for 2011 to be the first year of the next great chapter of my life.
Peace,
Cheesey-boy
Divorce is over, house is once more solely mine, sanity is intact and the desire to forge ahead with Bread, Beer & Cheese is re-newed! whew!!
The beer cellar currently holds three batches of homebrew that are aging. I've made a Dunkel-weiss (dark wheat), English Pale Ale, and a German Lager. Each one seems to be on-target for the particular style, and I'm thinking they will only improve with a few more weeks of aging. I have been working towards all-grain brewing but have to improve the equipment if I really want to mash many pounds of grain. The Lager was done without the benefit of malt extracts and the yield was not as many gallons as it should have been; due to troubles with my setup.
In the Cheese Department I have been happy with the results of an October batch which was made using goat milk and Flora Danica culture to approximate a Havarti-style cheese. I also received a little X-mas gift from Vermont; a chunck of cheese that I helped make at the Cheesemaking Class at Bardwell Farm, back in April. A very solid cheese, almost a grating cheese, but still slice-able, and delicious.
I've also been making yogurt at home, both with purchased cultures and lately with store-bought yogurt. I'm looking into methods for improving the incubation equipment and methods to make the process better.
Breadmaking hasn't happened simply because of the limitations with my 1940's vintage, Chambers gas stove. My oven thermostat is not functional, so anything I do bake has to be watched and regulated by propping the oven door open just enough to keep the temperature in a plus or minus 5 degree range.
Anyways, I'm still here and I'm looking for 2011 to be the first year of the next great chapter of my life.
Peace,
Cheesey-boy
Monday, June 21, 2010
Transfiguration in process
transfiguration - n. To change radically the appearance or shape of
I've been holding back on posting any topics lately because the Cheesey-boy is divorcing.
Cheese making has been temporarily suspended due to the uncertainties of the home situation. I also really need to devise a better aging and storage setup before I get any more cheeses stashed down cellar. The cellar is really too dry for a proper cheese cave.
But I will share my impressions of something from the Beer department of B,B & C.
I bought a summer 12-pack of Magic Hat beers that I highly recommend. They make a pale ale simply called #9 that I think is just about the perfect example of what a Pale Ale should taste and smell like. In there is also "Odd Notion" a Belgian-style ale that I liked very much too. The other two beers in the variety pack were an IPA and something else not so notable. If you see Magic Hat beers in the store, buy some; I think you'll enjoy.
Peace,
Cheesey-boy
I've been holding back on posting any topics lately because the Cheesey-boy is divorcing.
Cheese making has been temporarily suspended due to the uncertainties of the home situation. I also really need to devise a better aging and storage setup before I get any more cheeses stashed down cellar. The cellar is really too dry for a proper cheese cave.
But I will share my impressions of something from the Beer department of B,B & C.
I bought a summer 12-pack of Magic Hat beers that I highly recommend. They make a pale ale simply called #9 that I think is just about the perfect example of what a Pale Ale should taste and smell like. In there is also "Odd Notion" a Belgian-style ale that I liked very much too. The other two beers in the variety pack were an IPA and something else not so notable. If you see Magic Hat beers in the store, buy some; I think you'll enjoy.
Peace,
Cheesey-boy
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Good Cheese, New Brew, possible job
Have good news to report upon opening a waxed,Kefir-Havarti cheese. It was good, though perhaps maybe not quite up to typical Havarti texture. Have also been enjoying the Brick/Munster cheese. Cheese production is on hold until all issues on the homefront are resolved.
Read about, but haven't tasted a local brew by the Empire Brewing Co. in downtown Syracuse. It's a pale ale made with Madison County, organic, cascade hops. I know both the brewer (from my days with the local home-brew club) and the grower (who is an original member of North East Hop Alliance) and I may have actually planted those hops with him, years ago. Good to see local businesses supporting each other. It's not in bottles, so you must visit EBC for a sample.
This week I met with the cheese maker at Northland Sheep Dairy, in Cortland County. While there isn't really an opportunity for me in the cheese house, there is a need for some weekly work in the cheese cave. They age the cheese at least 3 months (more for some) and the Affinage work has been at the bottom of the to-do list. I have to work out the details yet, but likely scenario would entail a 3 hour stint, once a week to give some TLC to the aging cheese. In the realm of artisan, farmstead cheese making, the cheese cave and aging techniques are quite often an after-thought, I've been told. Perhaps this aspect of cheese making will open some doors in my future.
Peace,
Cheesey-boy
Read about, but haven't tasted a local brew by the Empire Brewing Co. in downtown Syracuse. It's a pale ale made with Madison County, organic, cascade hops. I know both the brewer (from my days with the local home-brew club) and the grower (who is an original member of North East Hop Alliance) and I may have actually planted those hops with him, years ago. Good to see local businesses supporting each other. It's not in bottles, so you must visit EBC for a sample.
This week I met with the cheese maker at Northland Sheep Dairy, in Cortland County. While there isn't really an opportunity for me in the cheese house, there is a need for some weekly work in the cheese cave. They age the cheese at least 3 months (more for some) and the Affinage work has been at the bottom of the to-do list. I have to work out the details yet, but likely scenario would entail a 3 hour stint, once a week to give some TLC to the aging cheese. In the realm of artisan, farmstead cheese making, the cheese cave and aging techniques are quite often an after-thought, I've been told. Perhaps this aspect of cheese making will open some doors in my future.
Peace,
Cheesey-boy
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Commercial Kitchen - almost
When I was in Vermont, at the Cheese Maker's class, I met a person who works at a nearby College where they have a small-scale industrial, creamery. The College has a long history of agriculture curricula and the creamery was once attached to a large tie-stall barn. I was invited to visit and be a helper, so I jumped at that!
The room has several bulk-tanks for milk storage, a pasteurizing tank, several cheese vats, a press, and much more. It was a real eye-opener for me to get my hands wet and see small-scale cheese making equipment. The creamery makes fresh-cheeses and ice cream that is used in the College dining halls and also sold retail through a restaurant/store owned in part by the College. The pasteurizer is inspected and licensed so that any of the products (except fluid milk) can be sold to the public. The biggest limitation on its potential as a cheese making plant is the lack of sufficient aging facilities. Right now, the walk-in cooler where the hard cheese can be stored is also where cases of beverages and other 'stuff' are stored, so it is not a controlled climate at all.
Although we still have not made a batch of cheese where temperature was set, culture was added, rennet added, curds cut, etc. etc.; we did make a couple small batches of fresh cheese and ricotta. I did get to help pasteurize a batch of milk and learn how many things work around there. I hope to stay involved there through the summer, at least.
In my own cheese cellar, I had some discouraging news as I cut into a few of the cheeses I have been aging, only to see the results of over-use of both cultures and rennet! Pretty much terrible cheese. But, I'm learning slowly how various parts of the puzzle fit together as I strive to make artisan cheese. My Brick Cheese (like a Limburger - but milder) showed the best results, but other cheeses were very acidic and nasty. I won't give up.
peace,
Cheesey-boy
The room has several bulk-tanks for milk storage, a pasteurizing tank, several cheese vats, a press, and much more. It was a real eye-opener for me to get my hands wet and see small-scale cheese making equipment. The creamery makes fresh-cheeses and ice cream that is used in the College dining halls and also sold retail through a restaurant/store owned in part by the College. The pasteurizer is inspected and licensed so that any of the products (except fluid milk) can be sold to the public. The biggest limitation on its potential as a cheese making plant is the lack of sufficient aging facilities. Right now, the walk-in cooler where the hard cheese can be stored is also where cases of beverages and other 'stuff' are stored, so it is not a controlled climate at all.
Although we still have not made a batch of cheese where temperature was set, culture was added, rennet added, curds cut, etc. etc.; we did make a couple small batches of fresh cheese and ricotta. I did get to help pasteurize a batch of milk and learn how many things work around there. I hope to stay involved there through the summer, at least.
In my own cheese cellar, I had some discouraging news as I cut into a few of the cheeses I have been aging, only to see the results of over-use of both cultures and rennet! Pretty much terrible cheese. But, I'm learning slowly how various parts of the puzzle fit together as I strive to make artisan cheese. My Brick Cheese (like a Limburger - but milder) showed the best results, but other cheeses were very acidic and nasty. I won't give up.
peace,
Cheesey-boy
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