Cosmo Clone

Chevre is a fresh soft cheese usually made from goat milk, but apparantly it can be made from cow or sheep milk also, as I recently learned in my cheese making class at Three Shepherds in Warren, Vt. It is easy to make and you can either use plastic cheese moulds (I’m using heart shaped molds that I picked up online)or nylon cloth or cheesecloth. Or make a cheese mould out of a plastic container, like Tupperware, just remember to sanitize, sanitize, sanitize and if you are cutting, clean cuts only as rough edges harbor bacteria. Below is a recipe using one ½ gallon of milk. I initially made this a one gallon recipe, but we ran out of milk in the house and you DO NOT WANT TO RUN OUT OF MILK WITH A 16 MONTH OLD who can now see the bottles of cheese making milk in the fridge! Again, before making this cheese, sanitize anything that will be in contact with the milk and cheese.

Ingredients: 1/2 gallon of milk (fresh raw milk will also work), preferably non homogenized milk. Or use a ½ gallon of skim milk and 1/2 pint of heavy cream. 1/8 tsp of Mesophilic Series MM Starter Culture and 1/8 teaspoon single strength calf rennet or you can use any type of rennet. (One drop per quart of milk-single strength)

1. Heat the milk to 72 degrees Fahrenheit . (I overshot the runway here and hit 81 degrees super fast, but no turning back, you can't leave warm milk laying around.
2. Sprinkle the Mesophilic starter over the milk, let sit 5 minutes before stirring in. Raise the temp of the milk to about 76-82 degrees.(no need here..lol..already there) Let sit for 2 hours. Add the rennet diluted in about 20x the equivalent amount of bottled water.
3. Cover the milk and let sit for 18-24 hours at room temperature (about 75-77F).
4. After this period you will see some whey on the top of the curd mass. Place your plastic moulds on a plate or something to allow the whey to drain and gently scoop the curds into the moulds. As the moulds drain down a bit, scoop more curds into them.
5. Let the curds drain covered for about two days at room temperature (about 68-72F). Keep the curds in the moulds covered. During this room temperature period acidity is being developed which gives this type of cheese its tangy flavor. This acidification also helps preserve the cheese.
6. After the cheese have ceased weeping or draining whey, take the cheese carefully out of the moulds, salting all sides (using course non-iodized salt, kosher is good) and wrap in plastic wrap. After salting you can sprinkle dry herbs or paprika onto the little cheeses. Use only herbs that are sold for cheese making. These herbs have been cultivated and treated so their mold count is safe for cheese production. Using herbs from your garden can harbor organisms that may make the cheese unsafe for consumption. I am using a smoked paprika and a bit of crushed red pepper flakes.

This type of cheese will last about 10-14 days in your refrigerator and is super versatile, a spread, a stuffing, a flavored accomaniement.

Recipe-Fresh Ripened Cheese

Mmmm...bacteria. I've decided that nothing will make me appreciate all those wonderful results of milk digestion that I find in the cheese case more than learning how to make a batch at home. A simple fresh cheese would be a great place to start and wet my feet into this new foray that is the world of home dairying.
The ingredients for fresh (or a type of cream) cheese are simple: whole milk, cream, culture, rennet, and salt. Bacterial cultures ferment lactose, a sugar found in milk, and create an environment where enzymes in rennet can curdle the milk. The resulting curd is then separated from whey by draining it through cheesecloth or fine straining bag. Finally, salt adds flavor and natural preservation. Pretty simple, aye? Let's give it a try.


My punch list:
• 2-quart stainless steel saucepan
• Dairy thermometer or instant-read thermometer that reads accurately in the 70–100 degree range
• 2-quart glass or stainless mixing bowl
• Muslin bag or standard cheesecloth- I used a bag
• Colander or large sieve, plus another larger mixing bowl for draining
• 1 pint whipping cream
• 1 pint whole milk
• 1⁄8 teaspoon Flora Danica or other mesophilic culture-I used mm101.
• 2 drops liquid rennet (animal or vegetable) or 1/4 of a dry rennet tablet- I used liquid calf, old school!
• Bottled water
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

CLEANING: Thoroughly wash and rinse your equipment with boiling water to sterilize the pieces. Contamination with undesirable bacteria will ruin your cheese. I also brew beer, so I have no rinse sanitizing product that I am assuming are safe, but will have to experiment. You can also use dilute bleach, but rinse really well.

CULTURING AND RIPENING: Combine the cream and milk in the saucepan. Attach the thermometer and heat the milk mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches 72ºF. Transfer the milk mixture to the bowl. Add the mesophilic culture and stir.


COAGULATION: Prepare rennet by diluting 2 drops liquid rennet in 1 tablespoon of bottled water, or by crushing 1/4 of a dry rennet tablet with the back of a spoon and then dissolving it completely in 2 tablespoons of bottled water. Add rennet to the milk mixture and stir well with a spoon for 1 minute.

FERMENTATION: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm location (about 70ºF) for 12 to 16 hours (I've read that overnight in an oven with the oven light on works well). Try not to disturb the cheese while it is ripening or it may not set well. The mixture will be thick like yogurt when done.


FORMING THE CHEESE: Empty the contents of the bowl into a cheesecloth-lined colander or sieve, set over a larger bowl. Allow to drain at room temperature (68–74ºF) for 6 hours or until draining stops. Empty the liquid accumulating in the bowl from time to time so that it does not prevent the cheese from draining properly. Discard the liquid and transfer the cheese from the colander to a clean bowl. Using very clean hands or a spoon, knead the salt into the cheese until it is evenly distributed. Store the cheese in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The flavor will continue to improve over the first few days.

Adding bacteria to perfectly good milk may seem counterintuitive, but rest assured: these bacteria are harmless. In fact, the byproducts of the bacteria living, multiplying, and dying are responsible for many of the flavors we enjoy in cheese. As you make this cheese, taste a few samples intermittently with a very clean spoon, to note how flavors develop over twenty-four hours of fermentation. You can create a little flavor laboratory right in your kitchen, or in my case, my basement.

Just like good beer comes from good ingredients and proper sanitation, good cheese comes from good ingredients and proper sanitation. Use the best milk and cream you can find. The other stuff—mesophilic culture, liquid rennet, and butter muslin cheesecloth—may be found at homebrewing stores that carry cheesemaking supplies or online at various retailers, just google cheesemaking supplies. You may also substitute one tablespoon of buttermilk for the mesophilic culture if you don't want to make the commitment, the culture is freeze-dried though and will last in your freezer.Note, though, the change, like in any recipe, will impact the flavor. If you can’t find liquid rennet, use dry rennet tablets, often found in the dessert section of a well-stocked market (look for the Junket brand). Likewise, four to six layers of standard, loose-mesh cheesecloth may be used instead of the harder-to-find muslin.
Have fun!

Pale Ale Mild-1st Batch Sparge

Mild

4lb maris otter
.5lb Briess pale ale
.25lb flaked oats
.5lb Simpson Caramalt
1oz fawcett pale chocolate

.5 east kent goldings 60 min
.25 east kent goldings 15 min
1 lb corn sugar at flame out

yeast-new strain-1945 NB Neobritannia

1.75 gal mash in at 164
Target 154, came in a little low on mash in, per digi, way high by cheap thermo?????
60 min, add 2 gal 195 degrees water
170 per digi
Vorlauf
Emply into kettle
Add 2 gall 155 degree water
Vorlauf
Empty into kettle
Saves about an hour vs fly sparging
This is another low gravity recipe that I'm testing, my target OG is around 1.038, which should yield me just over 3% abv.Pre boil looks a little light at just over 5 gall, will add plain h2o to kettle 
Ouch, had to add 1 full gallon water to pre boil
Mash 8:09pm
Sparge 1 9:10pm
Sparge 2 9:30, had to wait for water to reach temp, Better organized next time.
Boil 9:58-minimal hotbreak, boo, super low gravity could be the reason- orrrr
The dreaded batch sparge 
First hops 10pm
Second hops 
10:45pm
Wort chiller 10:45
Corn sugar 11pm
Cool down
Wort chilled to 80 degrees 20 min, whirlpool and let settle
Drained kettle 12:00am
OG came in at 1.040 @ 66...weird, great efficiency for my first batch sparge, can it really be this easy??
Will allow temp to drop to low 70's to pitch yeast
12:50 am 9/11/10 pitched yeast

Sierra Nevada Tumbler

Profile: The newest addition to the Sierra Nevada portfolio of seasonal beers, Tumbler Autumn Brown Ale conjures falling leaves and cooler weather. But even as temperatures hover in the 80's here in the northeast into September. this malty brew offers a welcome contrast to the flood of IPAs and hopped-up hybrid beers around right now, and I'm welcoming that.

Made with freshly roasted chocolate and smoked malts, Tumbler should have a profusion of dark cocoa and coffee notes, balanced by mildly spicy and fruity aromas and flavors and some hop bitterness, but it's barely noticable to me.Overall, super smooth and a decent commercial beer by a brewer known for hopiness aka Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Perfume beer!!

Doofus Daddy

This post is actually the result of an email that I saw from a friend of my wife. It explained a card that she had just read that made her think of me of all people. The card basically showed a picture of a baby getting a bath in a sink full of dirty dishes and the caption read, “why dads shouldn’t babysit”. LOL. First, it only took a second for me to think the exact opposite. Isn't it actually quite ingenious that the father was not only multitasking by cleaning the baby AND the dishes simultaneously, and saving water in the process, but the GUY WAS DOING THE DISHES!! HELLO LADIES!! Damned if we do, damned if we don’t. When was is it that our culture somehow developed this stereotype that fathers are either invisible, incompetent, or second-rate parents? Most people (including dads, myself included) think mom is best suited to be the primary and most influential parent. One sees that mindset everywhere from the school nurse’s office to sitcoms. How often does the school nurse called a sick kid’s father at work to come pick her up? Does she have his work number at all? I'm willing to bet many have the NEIGHBOR as a second contact. Or watch the "sitcom" daddy who doesn’t know which end of the baby to put the bottle in, or who gags when changing a diaper, or completely ignores the child as they completely wreck the house while he's watching his favorite sprorting event. That’s the stereotype of Daddy as a dummy. In television while I was growing up, the sitcom father was presented completely different from today. The entire family sought him out to ask him advice and he was the family problem solver. The sitcom father of the past was presented as wise and intelligent. He was revered and honored by the whole family. He was respected. There were very few jokes poking fun at the sitcom father of the past. Usually, he was the one cracking jokes about other family members. Think back at some examples of these shows and how father’s were portrayed: "Happy Days", "Leave It to Beaver", "I Love Lucy", "Father Knows Best", with an exception being Fred Flinstone.
The sitcom fathers of today are often presented as the butt of jokes. They are made fun of by the family. They are often treated like one of the children and the wife has to look after them. The rest of the family does not seek them out for advice; instead they seek out the mother. The sitcom father is sometimes portrayed as so incompetent that he can't even complete simple household chores or look after the children. I know this creates humor, but this movement has permeated into commercials as well, and now obviously greeting cards!! Just think of some of the sitcoms today and the father’s role as a bumbling idiot, to clueless to take care of himself, let a lone a child or two. From the deranged father on “Malcolm in the Middle” to the generally incompetent "Everybody Loves Raymond", even if dad has a good job, like the star of "Home Improvement," at home he's forever making messes that must be straightened out by, you guessed it, mom.
So where did we fathers go wrong? There have always been some bumbling fathers like Dagwood Bumstead (duh) and Fred Flintstone, but now they're the norm. A study by the National Fatherhood Initiative found that fathers now are ten times more likely than mothers to be portrayed negatively on network television.
Still, no matter how much dad does in real life, I think he'll remain a doofus on television, and not just because he's a safe target and makes the audience laugh. In fact, Homer Simpson has become the longest-running doofus on television by appealing to guys, who have made "The Simpsons" one of the few sitcoms with a predominantly male audience. Homer embodies a famous mantra across all species, that motherhood comes naturally, but fatherhood must be learned. It's an awkward process, no doubt about that, and contrary to my wife's beliefs, it can't be learned from a book. Before I became a father, dads my own age often did look like doofuses to me as they struggled with drooling babies and their new domesticity - no more free time or disposable income, lots of chores to do, oftentimes general malaise with life and orders to take from wives/recent mothers ruling the home. Believe me, I’ve witnessed it all first hand, to many it was quite a mental beatdown.
As a big fan of the Simpons and someone without children at the time, I’ll be the first to admit that I saw Homer as hilarious and actually a decent portrayal of today’s absent father figure, looking for an out at every opportuinity. Looking back now, all those commercials and sitcoms that I would laugh at regularly were doing their job and painting the exact image in my head that on the surface, it appeared they were shooting for—that every father wanted to be everything BUT a father. Now? As a recently inductee into the fatherhood hall of shame, I realize that even in Homer’s case, yes, the guy may want to duck out for a beer sometimes, but when he sits on that couch with his family he does not look like a man longing to escape. He is at peace. I guess in me, fatherhood has created one more happy doofus.

C'mon do we really need another Pumpkin Ale?

Yes, if it's myyyy Pumpkin Ale...
Pumpkin ale 8/25/10

Grain bill 10.75 lbs
Mash in 3.5 gal water 162 degrees
Came in low, 150 mash for 70minutes instead of 60 to account
Sparge with 5.5 gal 185 degree water
Vorluf 15 min
Hops 60 min
Spice zero min
Cool to 75 in fridge
15 minutes from boiling to 85 degrees, but not much better after
Aerate
Pitch yeast 70-75, closer to 70, the better
Ferment at 66-68 4 weeks
Bottle 9/22
Start 9:00pm, in fridge 1:40am, pitch yeast pitched at 2:20am


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