Cheese and Wine

A couple of years ago, I got thinking what would go great with my homemade wine. Then it dawned on me, cheese. Not wanting to just run to the store and by it, I set out to see if I could make my own cheese.

The first couple of attempts were not what I expected. One batch the curd really had not set right and it was more like yogurt. Threw that batch out. Tried a 30 minute mozzarella and it was just ok. An owner from an Italian restaurant, who was originally from Italy, gave me some tips on how it was done back home. Basically, old school, and his tips did make for a better mozzarella.

I tried making a hard cheese with cumin and caraway seed added. I didn't have a press at the time, so I ended up using two cake pans. A 6" pan inside of an 8" pan and used clamps for pressure. Honestly, it did turn out to be a very good cheese. Surprised the crap out of me.

The worst on of all was the batch made with raw milk. I tried to follow the old school recipe to make mozzarella and tried to age it in the whey for 4 weeks. After a week, the stench in the house was just too much. I pulled the cheese out and boy did it stink. We then named it "Stink Cheese". Well, I powdered the outside of the "Stink Cheese" with garlic powder and the smell went away. Lucky for me. I aged it for about 8 months and took it to the local wine club meeting. Every one loved "stink cheese." Go figure, starts out a bust and ends up good.

If you are interested in trying to make your own cheese here are a couple of sites that I recommend:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese.html This guy has been making cheese for over 30 years and his site has easy step by step instructions.

http://www.cheesemaking.com/ Website of Ricki Carroll who has a book called "Home Cheese Making" Great book. I've read it about 5 times because it contains a lot of basic info.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09337.html This site has a few simple soft cheese recipes. The easiest ones to make and requires no special equipment.

http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/3_1999.htm Interesting article on cheese making.

Good luck and let me know how your cheese turns out.

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Extra Grape Juice

 

The boss just gave me a bunch of concord grape juice made from the grapes on their farm. They wanted to know if I can use it and make something with it. Duh, wine of course.

This year's batch was pretty sweet compared to previous years. The Brix was around 15, so a little sugar was need to bring it up to around 22.

Color is a deep purple and I really can't wait to add the yeast to it. Will have to wait until tomorrow since I added campden tablets today.

Really looks like it will be a decent wine. I'll let you know how it turns out.

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Open Fermenting Beer or Wine

Ok, this is gonna' be me ranting about why none of the beer books, web sites, or experts talk about open fermenting their beer. Basically, open fermentation was the way it was done in the beginning and is still being used in the Trappist Monasteries. So why the big mystery? Why, close the lid on your primary fermentor? Aren't we suppose to be getting oxygen to the yeast so that it can chew up the wort and make our beer or wine?

And you know what really bugs me, is that you can't find any sources for techniques on open fermenting.

I've been using open fermentation for the past three years with a lot of success. I usually achieve a high floccuation ratio (75 - 80%) on beer and almost 100% on wine using this method. The trick that I use is to take a large grain bag and tie it over the primary fermentor. Once the primary fermentation process is almost complete (beer usually 1 - 3 days, wine about a week) rack it over to a secondary fermentor and then close the lid. Try it with your next batch, the results are amazing.

Now, if I could only find hop utilization information when dry hopping.

Till next time, Slainte

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Gluten Free Beer

A couple of months ago, a customer came into where I work and asked if we sold any gluten free beer. I told him that we did not, but I would look to see who did. I searched on the net and at the time found a couple of companies that made it. But as luck would have it, it is not distributed in my state. I told him that I would try to make some and let him know how it worked out. I haven't made any yet because I wanted to see if there were anymore recipes than the one that I was making up.

I found 4 good sites on the making gluten free beer. The first 2 sites are:

www.bellaonline.com/articles/art33929.asp

www.bellaonline.com/articles/art35224.asp

The recipe on the first site is fairly simple and should make a decent beer. The second article gives a little more background on gluten free beer as well as a couple of compaies that make it.


The next 2 sites require a little more work than just opening a can and boiling some water. The sites are:

www.mrgoodbeer.com/gf

www.fortunecity.com/boozers/brewerytap/555/gfbeer.htm

These are for the adventuresome person and they also look rather interesting. The list of additives looks like fun and I really can't wait to try the process.

I should be making a batch within the next few weeks, so I'll let you know how it turned out.

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