Of late, I have been cheesing up a storm.  Every Friday night for the last month, I have made large (14 litre) batches of a single recipe.   It seems to definitely be the way to go, because with all the same equipment, I can make two rounds of cheese instead of one!

Tomorrow night, I intend on making Caerphilly.  Caerphilly is one of my favourite cheeses to make.  It is relatively quick to make, only takes 3 and a half hours from milk to mould, and you can eat it in only three short weeks.  I wrote about the method in the last post, so I thought I would follow that up with the Caerphilly video tutorial due to the fact that I said I would, and that Melinda asked this question;

Hi Gavin, could you clarify a couple of things for me please?

How do you “Let mixture sit for forty minutes at the target temperature” Is that a constant reheating to keep it at that temp? If this is the case, that would mean that the mix is constantly dropping a couple of degrees, then being warmed up again. Or is there an easy way to do this? I’m assuming that you can’t just walk away from the cheesemaking while it’s resting?

“until you get a clean break” What is a clean break? Would you be able to show this in a photo or video please?

To specifically answer your first question, you will find that if you use my double boiler method the milk stays a constant temperature when at rest.  It takes a little practice, but as soon as the milk reaches the target temp, turn the heat off, and keep the cheese pot on the smaller saucepan.  The heat from the water in the lower pan keeps the milk at about 30-33°C.

You can definitely walk away, as I do when I make long ripening cheeses like Camembert (90 minute wait for the curd to set), however I check with the thermometer at about the halfway mark just to make sure.  You should get a better idea from the video.

The second question will be answered in the video as well.  May I also recommend that you purchase one of the cheese books that I reviewed recently?  It has all of the introduction to cheesemaking info you will ever need.  The authors do a much better job of describing the ins and outs of the methodology than I could do justice to.

If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will endeavour to answer it.  The recipe for this cheese is located at this post titled, “Caerphilly” if you are interested in trying to make it.  It is relatively quick to make and only takes 3 and a half hours from milk to mould, and you can eat it in only three short weeks.  Also, and most importantly, it tastes divine.  Unless you live in the UK, it would be very rare to find this cheese in the shops.

Enjoy!  Blessed are the Cheese Makers, or so Monty Python says!