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After some success with Camembert we now want to try a Gruyere but we’re having trouble with amounts of culture to use with 6 L of raw milk. I’ve got a Mad Millie 3 -pack of Thermophilic culture which according to Mad millie food tech. needs L. helveticus added, but they can’t give me a quantity. I also want to add Propionic starter for nuttiness and hole development. Anyone able to help??
Hi Lesley
For that amount of raw milk, I wouldn’t use more than a 1/4 teaspoon of culture, even leaning towards slightly less if you can. And then for the Propionic I would try around 1/16th of a teaspoon, or just a very small pinch. You really don’t need a lot.
Thanks for the reply Rachel – would that be 1/4 tsp thermophilic plus L. helveticus – i.e 1/8 tsp of each?
Right, so we started making an Emmenthaler, not a Gruyere, before I got your last reply and took liberties with the quantities of starters.
We ended up with 8L of raw cow’s milk, and added 1/8 tsp Thermophilic DY17 plus 1/32 tsp L. helveticus. Then added 1/32 + 1/64 tsp Propionic shermanii !! Close to 1/16 tsp if my maths doesn’t fail me. Whether these quantities are ok – only time will tell, I guess. We had another hiccup with the rennet – added 1/4 tsp calf rennet and at 1 and 1/2 hours still no sign of curd formation so added another 1/4 tsp and finally got clean break at 2hr 10min!! Don’t know if that will affect the final cheese but followed Curd Nerd Emmenthaler recipe to the letter for the rest of the process and the cheese bobbing now in the brine looks very inviting. Sorry for all the detail.According to my affinage records ( as an ex-schoolteacher I love those records ) we won’t be tasting it until July 2015! We waxed it after 3 weeks of flipping and washing with a simple brine at room temp and it’s now in the cheese fridge along with an emmenthaler which is also waxed -THAT was fun!
