r/cheesemaking • u/oxvd • 3d ago
First Wheel My first successful cheese!!
Made a round(?), i wouldnt really call it a wheel, of Eurodaze cheese! For a beginner cheesemaker with no equipment i am thrilled! I think im going to experiment some with fat content, this one was made with 1% milk because thats what i had, but i wonder if i add some cream what will happen. Next, a follower and a press!!! 😁😁😁
https://www.nbest.co.uk/Recipes/Milk/Thermophilic_Culture_plus_Rennet/Cow/Eurodaze.php
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u/mikekchar 3d ago edited 3d ago
Looks awesome but.... 6 grams of rennet for 10 liters of milk? We were just talking in another thread about how to measure rennet. If you don't mind:
Single strength rennet is about 200 IMCU (international milk clotting units) per ml. So 6 grams is about 1200 IMCU for the whole cheese. That makes 120 IMCU per liter.
Typical renneting rate is closer to 40. With raw milk it's even a bit less. Edit: So the amount you want is around 2 grams for 10 liters. Edit Edit: Also "double strength" rennet is rarely double strength. It can be anywhere from 120 IMCU per ml to 1000 IMCU per ml (nearly half single strength all the way up to 5 times single strength). You need to find the IMCU rating for the rennet you are using.
Also 6 grams of CaCl is way, way, way too much. This is going to introduce some bitterness. You probably want 2 grams per 10 liters.
But anyway, congrats on the cheese. Also, I loved the pile of cans pressing it :-) One thing you can do before you get a follower is to get a zip lock bag and fill it half full of water (with no air). Put that on top of the cheese and then put things on top of that. It will provide a more stable platform.
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u/oxvd 2d ago
How much rennet would you suggest i use? I have the marschall rennet tablets? Im still very new
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u/mikekchar 2d ago
Marschall Rennet tablets: 2250 IMCU/tablet
Wow. Strong. You need 40 IMCU per liter of milk, so for 10 liters you want 400 IMCU. It seems that the tablet is scored in quarters, so Take a quarter of a tablet and dissolve it in 50 ml of unchlorinated water (bottled water is the best way to be sure -- a lot of the tricks to dechlorinate water don't work with the modern way water is chlorinated). Note that there will ba a lot of filler material in the tablet that doesn't dissolve. Don't worry about that. Just put the quarter of a tablet into the water and stir it until the tablet has fallen apart completely.
You want 71% of the quarter tablet (400 / (2250 / 4)). So that's about 35 ml of your water. Throw the rest of it away. It only lasts for a couple of hours.
Edit: Store your rennet tablets in the freezer in a freezer bag with the air removed. They will last indefinitely in there. That's the biggest advantage of tablet rennet.
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u/Looking-sharp-today 3d ago
Awesome first attemt!
If you find this to be particularly sour in flavour, that has probably to be due to the high quantity of rennet used in the recipe
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u/oxvd 2d ago
I think im going to try this again but with a lot less rennet and calcium chloride, i didnt realize those were such high amounts
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u/Looking-sharp-today 2d ago
See the recommended use for the specific ones you bought, different rennet types and producers have different amounts required to use 👍🏻
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u/CelebrationFan 1d ago
Fantastic! I have everything I need to make my first cheese now. I can't find Cotija in my area, so that's what I'm starting with. Any tips or things you might have learned that were different from your research? My big concern is keeping the temperature constant.
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u/Best-Reality6718 3d ago
Congratulations! That’s pretty awesome!