Author Topic: Chevre fail...ultrapasteurized goat milk culprit?  (Read 3743 times)

Evanski

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Chevre fail...ultrapasteurized goat milk culprit?
« on: October 18, 2012, 09:22:31 PM »
New cheesemaker, first post on forum.

Had decent luck with the easy stuff, like queso blanco, mozzarella,  feta.  Complete fail for chevre.

Using ultra pasteurized goat milk, following recipe in "Artisan Cheesmaking at home" with NEC C20G starter including rennet powder.

Warming milk in La Cruset enameled cast iron dutch oven, kept heat fairly well (76F in the morning, 12 hours ripened).

Thick milk was the result, no curds or definable break.

Added two drops of liquid rennet, warmed back to 80F...no result two hours later.

Added 1/4 tsp Calcium chloride, 1/4 tsp rennent about 10 minutes ago...will check it hourly until this evening.  If it is still just thick milk, it goes down the drain at dinnertime.

Thoughts?  Hard to find goats milk in Nevada...all I could get was ultra pasteurized from Whole foods.


linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Chevre fail...ultrapasteurized goat milk culprit?
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2012, 09:31:25 PM »
maybe, but not too likely. It should work better with UP milk. More likely, temp control or culture choice. Also, you may want to use more rennet. My guess is temp control. It needs to be 76-78 at all times.

Evanski

  • Guest
Re: Chevre fail...ultrapasteurized goat milk culprit?
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2012, 02:59:02 PM »
Not sure I understand your response...

I DID follow an existing recipe quite closely (excepting later emergency measures) and NEVER got anything you could call a curd.

EVERYTHING I have read indicates that UP milk is often hard to get to work in terms of curd formation...can you explain why UP would actually work BETTER?

Thanks for the reply!

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Chevre fail...ultrapasteurized goat milk culprit?
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2012, 03:23:10 PM »
Quote
I DID follow an existing recipe quite closely
How did you ensure even temp? Meaning, for chevre, you started at 76-80F, and then after 12 hours it was still 76F? If so, that's a good temp range. Higher and the growth favors lactococci, which tend to have a thinner set. Lower, and it's not favorable for growth. Below 68, rennet won't work at all. If the temp was steady, then you did not use enough rennet. With enough rennet, it would have set up.

Quote
EVERYTHING I have read indicates that UP milk is often hard to get to work in terms of curd formation
Likely, those authors did not differentiate between gel types. This is true for full rennet-induced gels. For lactic gels and semi-lactics, the whey protein denaturation that happens in UP milk leads to adsorption on the casein. When the acidity increases, it creates a stronger casein-casein bond. There is a reversion point, of course. If you boil the milk for a long time, that's too much. Most UP milk is not like that, though, the denaturation is usually at 30-40%.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2012, 06:46:40 PM by linuxboy »

Evanski

  • Guest
Re: Chevre fail...ultrapasteurized goat milk culprit?
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2012, 06:49:28 PM »
Thank for the reply. 

In terms of temperature control, I used a 6qt enameled cast iron dutch oven, covered it at wrapped in many kitchen towels.  This has been pretty effective, other than the fact that the recipe failed!

I did add rennet (in increasing amounts), which did not help.  Calcium addition also did not help.

Will try different started culture next time, and perhaps another recipe as well and will update.

Thanks for you input.

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Chevre fail...ultrapasteurized goat milk culprit?
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2012, 07:11:23 PM »
If that's the case, it might be the milk. But it wouldn't be the UP treatment. Might just be low quality, low solids.

Oh and if you are adding rennet after the fact, after acidification, it's useless. It will no longer have that many active sites to cleave. Ideallt, in chevre, rennet addition happens at 6.0-6.2 pH.

Evanski

  • Guest
Re: Chevre fail...ultrapasteurized goat milk culprit?
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2012, 02:46:37 AM »
"It will no longer have that many active sites to cleave"...

Now you are speaking my language... :D

Not sure...will be looking for a cheese friendly source here in the Reno/Tahoe area.  Will let you know if I can get something to work.

I am sensing that a pH meter (in addition to a 8" Tomme mold) is in my near future!

Thanks for the input!