I made Gouda #3 today. I discovered that my 1/8 tsp is closer to 1/12 of the all teaspoons I own. This might have been the reason for the slow acid development and slow coagulation of Gouda #2. Today's make followed the recipe pretty closely. I still get unexpectedly fast acid development once in the press, though. Today's curds went into the press (after pressing in the whey) at pH 5.97. In 1 hour 20 minutes, the cheese was down to 5.43.
1. Is it likely that the curds are actually staying too warm because I'm using a thick walled pvc pipe for a mold--causing faster acid production? I am expecting it to take 4+ hours to get down to 5.6.
2. I'm measuring the pH of the actual cheese, not the whey running off. Is there a significant difference between the pH of the runoff and actual cheese/curds?
I took this tall guy and cut it in half to brine and age.
