Blue Cheese

This will be my first attempt at making a Blue Cheese. I've chosen a recipe from CheeseMaking.com called "Spanish Blue Cheese". This is intended to replicate a famous cheese I've never had called "
Picón Bejes-Tresviso".  There are a lot of steps involved including a few months of aging at high humidity so it is a pretty good investment in time to make them.  I really enjoy a blue cheese with salad but it is quite expensive - hoping I can find some success here and make some more of these.

The mold that gives blue cheese it's name requires oxygen to grow.  In order to get mold that spreads through the interior of the cheese it is necessary to have the curds come together in a way that leaves air pockets (which are later exposed to the outside by skewering the cheese).  To form the air pockets it is necessary to dry out the curds to a certain extent before adding them to the form.  You still want the curds to have a good amount of moisture as well so, apparently, there is a delicate balance to be achieved.  This being my first time making the recipe I tried not to stress too much about it - I believe I was likely fairly successful in drying the curds out and creating air gaps but will just have to wait a few months to see for sure.

Anyhow, I'll be aging the cheese in my temperature and humidity controlled cheese cave (converted dorm fridge) - the temperature in the basement is pretty good in the high 50s but the humidity is down in the 30% range which is too dry to make this cheese.

At the time of this posting I think I'm off to a pretty good start.  Excited to report on how it goes and hoping it increases my confidence to try some other more complicated cheeses

Recipe Details:

• 3 gal Pasteurized Cow Milk
• 1/8 tsp MA 4002 Mesophilic and Thermophilic Starter Culture
• 1/16 tsp Pencillium Roqueforti (PJ)
• 3/4 tsp Cacl
• 1/2 tsp Rennet mixed with 1/2 cup of spring water
• 3% weight of the cheese in Salt (I used Kosher Salt) - cheese was 1643 g so 49 g of salt

Process Notes:

• 12/23/23:
• Heated the milk in a 5 gal pot in a water bath to 80 F using my Sous Vide circulator

• Added the CaCl and Mesophilic and Thermophilic Starter Culture while the milk heated
• Reyhdrated the mold while the milk came to temperature.  Added this in once at 80 F and stirred to mix everything

• Let the milk sit at 80 F for 90 min to let the cultures start to do their work
• Added the rennet and stirred it in.  Let the milk coagulate for 90 more minutes
• Sliced the curd into a 1 inch grid on the virtical.  Let it sit for 5 min and then sliced on the horizontal
• Stirred the curds over the next 15 min and broke them up a bit

• Gradually transferred the curds to a colander and to a mat to drain in small batches.  I then added them to a separate pan to dry out a bit more before adding them to the form.  This ended up taking a couple hours since I didn't have a mat big enough to handle the amount of curd.  This is the tricky step I noted before and was a real pain.  I need a better approach for this next time.

• Added the curds to the form and let this settle in the basement over night in my utility sink above a pan full of hot water to help keep it warm

• 12/24/23 
• Measured out salt and added 1/3 of it to the top of the cheese
• Moved the cheese to my cheese cave at 88% humidity and 13-15 C

• Flipped the cheese a couple times but kept it in the form.
• 12/25/23 - Added salt to the other side and flipped a couple more times
• 12/26/23 - Salted the sides of the cheese and flipped
• 12/27/23 - Removed from the form and am flipping 1 time a day now.  Waiting to see signs of green mold forming now
• 1/1/24 - The cheese has started to form the blue/green mold.  I have poked holes about 2/3 of the wheel deep on the top and bottom of the cheese.  I'd been keeping the cheese in the high 50s F and at 88% humidity when the recipe recommends 52 F and 80% - I'm adjusting my controllers to this effect

• 1/13/24 - The blue mold has covered the whole cheese now.  I was a but concerned that the holes plugged up so I pierced the cheese again.  The cheese is getting a little slimy which the recipe warned of

• 1/21/24 - Lowered the temperature of the mini-fridge to 43 F and increased humidity to 90% for final aging - maybe a couple more months
• 1/26/24:
• The cheese is starting to develop some orange colored spots (which is expected for this type of cheese

• I've decided to proceed to wrapping the cheese (in parchment paper and foil) which is supposed to cause the blue mold to slow down and work on the internal part of the cheese to create a creamy texture and sweet flavor as it ages for several more months.  I still have it in the mini-fridge

• 4/5/24 - The blue cheese has been aging for a bit over 2 months now at about 5 C and in the high 90% humidity range.  I've got it in a ripening box which is doing a good job keeping the humidity high at this temperature (my attempts to keep the whole chamber in the 90% humidity range resulted in the humidifier running constantly). 

• 4/19/24 - I have decided to cut the aging short and give the cheese a try now (will age half in a food saver bag).  Cut it in half and was very pleased to find beautiful veins of blue mold straight through.  Tried it with a piece of the rind attached.  First impression was a bit of crunchiness which and an intense blue cheese flavor.  With additional bites the blue flavor became more intense until it was overwhelming - this is much more intense than any commercial blue cheese I've had (I've had Roquefort and Stilton and found them to be very pleasant).  The cheese has a distinct ammonia smell to it as well.  I put 3/4 of it into food savers to age in the fridge and left the remaining 1/4 on the countertop to air out a bit.  Then put it in a ziplock bag to try again later (a bit surprised and dismayed at this point)

• 6/9/24 - I have been trying the cheese a few times a week and am nearly through the first 1/4th.  I am eating it with the rind cut off.  I think the cheese is either getting a bit more mellow or maybe I'm getting used to it (probably a combination of both).  I find it enjoyable in small amounts.  It is still very intense, but the ammonia character seems to have dissipated a lot - this intensity is clearly why the cheese is referred to as "Picante" (aka "spicy").  Reading about this a bit, it seems that letting a cheese periodically get exposed to air while aging is good practice.  I'll have to consider this as eat the rest of it

Sour Blonde 9.1.1 - Spontaneously Fermented

I have been brewing Sour Blonde beer semi-inspired by Belgian Lambic for the last 9 years or so.  This is my latest iteration on the project.  I will be doing a spontaneous fermentation for this batch which involves letting the beer be inoculated by whatever organisms are naturally floating in the air.  This is a practice used by the Belgian Lambic producers and has a long history of producing beers with a strong and complex flavor profile.  I have used this practice once before (Sour Blonde 5.1.1) with mixed results.

These beers are made during cool weather which has been found to be important to limiting the amount of spoilage microbes get into the beer.  They also leverage fairly high hopping rates with aged hops to limit the impacts lactobacillus can have on the beer (as this is hindered by hops and would create acidity too quickly which would hinder the effects of the other microbes) but also not impart high levels of bitterness.  I have waited until December to make the beer to wait for a cold period (although I've chosen an unseasonably warm and damp day for brewing - low 60s and foggy) and have used 3 oz of aged hops for the beer.  My previous attempt at spontaneous fermentation used a small amount of high Alpha Acid hops which I had thought were sufficiently aged but ended up adding quite a bit of bitterness that is only now fading (beer was made in 2017)

The beer is leveraging a small cereal mash with raw wheat in addition to some additional flaked wheat to be used in the main mash.  These beers traditionally use wheat and feature a wort rich in unconverted starches which allow for nutrients to remain in the wort after the simple sugars have been consumed by the wild yeasts and bacteria active early in the fermentation

This was intended to be a 10 gal batch but my efficiency was better than expected so it's going to be more like a 12 gal batch.  I'm shooting for a 1.045 gravity in anticipation of high attenuation which would give me about 5% ABV.  My other beers are a bit higher alcohol so a lower alcohol beer like this could make a valuable blending ingredient.

Anyhow, I plan to blend up some new Lambic style beers here in the next month or so and intent to empty one fermenter in the process which I'll use for this beer and then I'll use the other half to top up the others and add some fresher yeast and nutrients to the mix.

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 10 lb Pilsner
• 4 lb Flaked Wheat
• 1 lb Munich
• 4 oz Acid Malt
• Cereal Mash:
• 4 lb raw wheat
• 1 lb Pilsner
• Hops:
• 3 oz of Homegrown Aged Cascade at 60 min
• Yeast:
• Spontaneous Fermentation
• Water:
• 13 gal spring water
• 1 tsp CaCl
• 1 tsp Gypsum

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 11 gal (Target 10 gal)
• Mash:
• 150 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 60 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• Ambient Basement Temperature
• Primary Duration:
• 1 month
• Secondary Duration:
• 1-3 years

Results:

• OG:
• 1.047 (Target 1.045)
• Efficiency:
• 78% (Target 69%)
• FG:
• TBD (Target 1.04)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• TBD (Target 91%)
• ABV:
• TBD (Target 5.38%)

Brewing Notes:

• 12/2/23 - Did an appreciated cereal mash on the stove top by slowly ramping the mash up to a light boil over the course of a couple hrs.  Then left it sitting over night to cool down
• 12/3/23 - Brewday - 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM- including setup and cleanup
• Heated 10 gal of spring water up to 175 F
• Heated the cereal mash back up to near boiling
• Milled my grain.  Added CaCl and Gypsum to it at this point so I wouldn't forget

• Added 6 gal to the Mash Tun and cycled through the RIMS until the temperature had settled to 160 F
•   Added grain to the mash and stirred well to eliminate dough balls.  Added the cereal mash
• Let the mash sit for 10 min to settle
• Cycled the mash at 152 F for 50 min min
• Heated 8 gal of spring water up to 180 F for sparge
• Drained the mash into the boil kettle doing a manual fly sparge until I'd collected 12 gal
• Started heating the kettle after collecting about 3 gal.  Had it at a boil about 10 min after then end of the sparge
• Added the bittering hops as soon as the hot break subsided a bit

• Boiled for 60 min (boiled off 2 gal as expected)
• At the very end of the boil I removed the hops and transported the 10 gal of boiling wort to my raspberry beds  to cool.  I spilled a quart or two during this move.  I'm going to leave the beer out overnight to cool.
• Measured the gravity of the beer at 1.060.  I really want it to be at 1.045 so I'm going to have to add some water (will figure out how much tomorrow)

• 12/4/23
• Carried the boil kettle into the garage (didn't spill any on this trip)
• Transferred the contents into 2 fermenters.  Got 8 gal

• The kettle loses some water cooling like this with the time to steam so the gravity is now at 1.064.  So, I got about 78% efficiency on this batch
• Added 3 gal of spring water to get to 1.047 which is close enough to my target.  This is 11 gal of wort.
• Setup the fermenters with mostly covered lids in my sour beer room which, I assume, is full of microbes that might aid in this process

• 12/8/23 - There is a bit of foam forming on the beer this morning which is a good sign of initial fermentation

• 12/11/23 - The beer has a fruity aroma and the foam hasn't really progressed very much
• 12/14/23 - Growing some mold and a bit of a pellicle.  I've scooped out the mold.  It has some aroma that I'm familiar with from past beers so I'm not that concerned.  Tasted a bit and it is still pretty sweet

• 12/25/23 - Not much change to the beers.  Still growing this yellow slimy mold.  They still smell pretty good so I'm going to let it continue.

• 12/29/23 - One of them is forming some foam which I'm hoping is a sign of some active fermentation

• 2/25/24 - Transferred Fermenter #2 into fermenter #1 (which were each about half full.  Transferred 6 gal of this batch into fermenter 2 which had the yeast cake in it still