Made a 3 # Colby on March 8 and gave it a sample today and rewaxed what I cut off.

It’s really good…slightly sharp (sharper than store bought). The only thing I am not happy with is the fact that it is a bit crumbly. Assuming it is too late to deal with that and they don’t get less crumbly over time…that’s true right?

Is there something I can do in my processes to avoid? This was one that cracked during the first week of curing so that may have been my issue…

This is all about the PH curse we have to deal with.

According to Ricki Carrols book if we follow the various processing step times, it should bring us to the approximate PH range that is specified for the cheese being produced.  Use of PH tester will get us even closer.

I am fairly confident that my first attempt is going to be dry and crumbly as well as I pressed the dickens’s out of it, not understanding that some of the moisture needed to remain in the cheese.  I have since not been quite as aggressive on my pressing following the recommendations fairly closely.