Interactive lesson

Cheese in brine, step by step

Interactive lesson: brine with calcium, packing the slabs, ripening at 12–15 then 4–8 °C, measuring, topping up, renewing and desalting.

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The whole lesson as text

1. Making the brine

Brine for sliceable cheese is water or whey, salt, a little calcium and a little acid.

Boil the water or whey — Boil the water or whey for 5 minutes. Strain whey through muslin to remove lumps of whey cheese.
Weigh the salt — For sliceable cheese, 80–100 g of non-iodised salt per 1 L. Dissolve it in the hot water and stir until it has all dissolved.
Cool — Cool to the temperature of the room where the cheese will ripen: 12–15 °C (54–59 °F). Never pour warm brine over cheese.
Calcium and vinegar — Add 1 mL of 33 % calcium chloride and 4–5 mL of 5 % white distilled vinegar per litre (or 2–3 mL of 9–10 % vinegar). If half the brine is whey, no vinegar is needed.

Why: A brine of just water and salt draws calcium out of the rind. The rind softens, turns slimy and the slabs fall apart. That's the most common fault with home-made white cheese.

Buy calcium chloride as a cheesemaking solution, never the kind for moisture traps, de-icing or from a chemical supplier.
Drinking water only: well water without a test result, cloudy water or water that smells doesn't go into brine.

2. Container and packing

The slabs go tightly into a clean container and always stay under the brine.

Slabs on the board — The slabs are dry-salted and stand on a board for 12–24 hours. The method from milk to slabs is in H40-04.
Packed tightly — Pack the slabs tightly into a clean container, edge to edge. A glass jar of 2–5 L, or a food-grade bucket for 5–20 kg of cheese.
Pour the brine over — The brine covers the slabs by 2 cm, roughly 0.5 L per 1 kg of cheese. Make 20–30 % extra and keep the surplus in a closed bottle in the fridge.
Weight, lid, label — A round plate, a stainless rack or a plastic divider holds the slabs under the surface. Close the container and give it a number.

Why: A top slab sticking out of the brine grows mould within days, and it spreads. That's why a weight holds the cheese under the surface.

A bucket must be new or only ever used for food; a tin only food-grade, lacquered inside, never rusty.
Keep a glass jar somewhere dark: light yellows the cheese.