Geoffrey,
I think your kefir sound like it is still too active to make good
cheese. You should let it drip in the cloth a little longer, until it
no longer bubbles. I sometimes leave it four or five days. Every day
I check it, and I only pass to the following stage if I see it
sufficiently compact.
I do not know what kind of press you use - I use a very rudimentary
press, made from a wooden disk and a Chinese bamboo strainer. If you
can, try to leave the cheese in a non-hermetic press, so it can
release excess gases. Sometimes I do not use a press at all - I let
the leban drip a little longer in the cloth.
Before putting it in salt water, the cheese needs to be quite solid
so it will not crumble.
I hope this can help. Good luck.
Giacomo
--- In Kefir_making@yahoogroups.com, "Geoffrey Murison" <muri@s...>
wrote:
> hello Giacomo and all,
> I de-moulded my first cheese a few days
ago. All went well untill I put it in the salt water, after 5 minutes
or so y started to crack! So I took it out and put it on the side
board, it continued to crack, so I put it in the fridge and it is
still continuing to crack. The cracks cannot be "mended" by rubbing
olive oil on them, what is needed in this case is some Epoxy
glue!!! :-)
>
> I will mention a couple of things that I observed:
>
> A) when the Kefir was in the cheese cloth-bag dripping, after a day
it got "spongy" (it was bearly dripping by then) I left it "spongy"
and the next day I put it in the press with that consistency.
>
> B) after about 12 hours of it being in the press it "fermented"
again and generated such a pressure that it burst the seal I had
made! The paste was sort of bubbly, with air in it. I reinforced the
seal and pressed it untill the air came out and carried on untill no
more whey came out. Then I de-moulded it.
>
> What pressure shoud I apply to press the paste?
>
> Could A and/or B have been the cause of my cheese cracking so
violently? Any body have any other ideas?
>
> Thanks
> Geoffrey
> Argentina.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
|
