Author Topic: Pre Ripening the Milk  (Read 3003 times)

tnbquilt

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Pre Ripening the Milk
« on: January 01, 2013, 10:05:57 PM »
I was looking around on the internet yesterday and I found a article on Ricki Carrol's site that said something about them pre-ripening the milk when using raw milk. It said something about letting the cultures in the milk start to work before doing anything to it. And for more information it referred to an advertisement for advanced cheese making classes.

I looked around on the internet but didn't find anything about it. I searched this site and I found a post where someone was asking about putting culture in the milk and letting it sit in the refrigerator over night. That wasn't what I was thinking of.

I usually take the milk out of the refrigerator and put it right in the pot and start heating it. Would it be beneficial to sit the milk out and let it warm up naturally for awhile before starting to heat the milk? I seem to think that I read something about that once but I don't remember where. I think this might be referred to as pre-ripening.

linuxboy

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Re: Pre Ripening the Milk
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2013, 03:43:31 AM »
Quote
Would it be beneficial to sit the milk out and let it warm up naturally for awhile before starting to heat the milk?
If you do this, you are encouraging the growth of the natural flora in the milk. Whether you do it or not depends on a bunch of factors such as:
- How sure are you of milk cleanliness? Meaning, will this actually help or will the population of harmful (pathogenic or poor flavor) bacteria increase?
- What cheese are you making and what is the process?
- What is the pH at the beginning and what is the target rennet pH?
- What is your added culture schedule (timing and amount)?

Milk needs to ripen after adding starter for most cheeses to increase the acidity. What article did you read?

tnbquilt

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Re: Pre Ripening the Milk
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2013, 05:07:20 PM »
I don't want to do this if it causes the harmful things to increase. I trust the farmer where I buy my milk, but I don't want to cause a problem for no apparent reason.

I have been making cheddar this week and I have been trying to check my ph levels and record them. Just from comparison to what people post on this site, my ph levels are all high. For example most things say to drain the cheddar at 6.02 or 6.03, but (going from memory because my notes are at home,) mine is in 6.57 range when I get through cooking it. I am no where close.

So all during the process my ph seems to be high, but after it is pressed I can check the ph of the whey in the bottom of the pan and it is low at that point. Down in the lower 5 numbers.

I was reading around and trying to see if I could find a reason for this.

I have had a variety of problems with my cheese lately, bitter flavor, dry cheese with a tangy flavor, and I am trying to get a way to control what I'm coming out with better. I know that the dry tangy cheese was from trying to cook the cheddar to reach specific ph levels when my ph meter was not calibrated. I haven't figured out the bitter part yet.

I'm being very careful and recording step by step and keeping a good log, but I can't relate any of the ph levels that I am seeing back to what people on this forum are seeing. I've cleaned my meter, and I calibrate it before I start making cheese each time.

I may need a new better quality ph meter.

Is it possible that the milk starts out with a high ph? I don't know what the ph of milk is supposed to be.

At this point I am recording my ph levels but I am using the time as given in the recipe.




Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Pre Ripening the Milk
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2013, 06:27:43 PM »
"Normal" milk pH is usually around 6.6. This time of year, my milk tends to be a little higher, around 6.7, so I compensate for the slightly higher pH. For example, the time to rennet is not an absolute constant. You look for a DROP in pH of .05 to .1 depending on the cheese. So you would add your starter bacteria and then wait for the pH to drop to say 6.65 or 6.6. Again, this depends on the cheese.

tnbquilt

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Re: Pre Ripening the Milk
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2013, 10:13:02 PM »
Thanks. I checked my notes and my milk is 6.75 when I added the rennet, and after I got through the cooking stage and it was time to drain my ph was 6.37. I did not write down what it was before culture. I'm home now and I have my notes so I can be more accurate.

I balanced my ph meter before I started the make and it did calibrate, but tomorrow you have to calibrate it again.

I bet I need a PH meter, this is a older cheaper one that someone gave me.

bbracken677

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Re: Pre Ripening the Milk
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2013, 10:58:55 PM »
Virtually every milk I have used in Dallas has had a beginning pH of 6.7 plus or minus .05.  Not sure why you are saying you need a new meter...

tnbquilt

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Re: Pre Ripening the Milk
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2013, 05:35:37 PM »
I was trying to look at ph levels like I see listed here. I've read many times that you drain the cheddar at 6.03 to 6.01 and then you cheddar it to 5.84 and then press.

I'm not anywhere close to these ph levels, and if I wait until I do reach those levels the cheese is not edible. I assumed that the ph meter must be off.

I quit trying to aquire the ph levels that I see on the internet and just started recording my own at various times in the recipe. When I used the times in the recipe the cheddar came out pretty good, but I was trying to improve it by using my ph meter to check my accuracy and everything went down hill from there.

I think i work too hard at this, and I get off in left field alot