Author Topic: Oops, I super-over heated my milk, what should I do now?  (Read 2101 times)

meyerandray

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Oops, I super-over heated my milk, what should I do now?
« on: March 26, 2013, 08:26:45 PM »
I bought some raw milk today to make a pepper jack, and had 4 liters left over, so I decided to make a fresh cheese-chèvre style hopefully.  The cheesemongers that sell me milk make a log-shaped (like goat cheese) cow's milk cheese.  She told me she doesn't add cultures to make that one, just low temp raw milk, a couple of drops of rennet, coagulate overnight etc.  So that is what I wanted to do, but I got distracted with the heat on under my millk (I actually didn't think I had turned it on yet :-[) and brought the temp up to 40 C like over 100 F!!!  Big oops. 
So for a second I thought about pasteruizing, then thought again, if I am not adding cultures, I probably need all the natural cultures that are in there.
but...
if I have already gone up to 40C how many of these cultures have survived? 

So my question...
I don't have any flora danica, I only have a mesophillic culture and a Toma ST blend, should I use a pinch of either of these or try to see what happens without cultures added anyway?  Any thoughts?
Thanks, Celine

bbracken677

  • Guest
Re: Oops, I super-over heated my milk, what should I do now?
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2013, 08:34:54 PM »
I would go with a pinch of the meso after letting the milk cool down to 86ish degrees F. You probably still have native flora in the milk if you only hit 100F...but may have reduced the volume of the native cultures, so a kick-start by the meso probably wouldnt hurt.

Sailor Con Queso

  • Guest
Re: Oops, I super-over heated my milk, what should I do now?
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2013, 08:35:51 PM »
40C is just 104F so most things will survive. I would proceed normally and see what happens.

meyerandray

  • Guest
Re: Oops, I super-over heated my milk, what should I do now?
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2013, 08:56:48 PM »
hmmm, contrasting opinions for an undecided mind...
I wanted the temp to drop to 22 C (72 F) but maybe I will add the rennet more around 30 C (86 F).  I think I am going to try with no cultures and see what comes of it.  Thanks for the feedback, I'll let you know if it tastes like anything!
Celine

meyerandray

  • Guest
Re: Oops, I super-over heated my milk, what should I do now?
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2013, 05:04:13 PM »
So I didn't add any cultures, just added 5 drops of liquid rennet, at about 30 C (86 F) and left it covered overnight.  The temp dropped down to about 23 C (73 F).  I have now left it for 19 hours, and it pretty much looks like yogurt.  Can I add rennet or is it way too late??  It didn't separate from the whey.  I was really hoping to bring this fresh cheese to lunch on Sunday (Easter lunch so it will be the whole extended family) because they are all curious about my new cheesemaking hobby, I really wanted to have something to taste for them.  Can I save this, or should I try again tomorrow?

meyerandray

  • Guest
Re: Oops, I super-over heated my milk, what should I do now?
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2013, 08:44:46 PM »
Taking a second look, it did look like it had coagulated, although the whey was milky-looking, but I went with it and drained.  I don't have small molds, so I put in all in one half-kilo mold to drain.  I tasted the curds and they taste like milk, they are good, but nothing exciting.  I am going to leave them to drain for 24 hours at room temp, then I was thinking of re-forming it is logs (is this a ridiculous idea-to re-form?) then salt and move to the cave at 90/95 RH.  Will they/it acquire more taste despite the fact that I didn't add any cultures to it? 

WovenMeadows

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Re: Oops, I super-over heated my milk, what should I do now?
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2013, 09:39:34 PM »
Is the drained curd firm enough that you could brine it (chunks of balls)? That might bring on more flavor, especially if you use a salted whey brine that could provide some bacterial action. Otherwise, if the cheese did not develop acidity, it would not be very safe to dry age it.

Another option, being a soft curd it sounds like, you could add some salt and herbs, using it as a boursin or cream cheese type spread? Or use in baking as a bakers cheese in place of cream cheese or neufchatel?

meyerandray

  • Guest
Re: Oops, I super-over heated my milk, what should I do now?
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2013, 12:27:12 PM »
When I put the curds into the form, I reserved small little ball of curd seperately, draining on its own in a cheesecloth.  After the first turn of the molded curds, I noticed that it looked more like a primo sale, the curds are elastic and not soft at all.  This morning I went to buy more milk and brought my seperate curd ball with me and had the cheesemaker on the farm taste them and tell me what he thinks.  He advised that I put some salt on it and put it in my cave at 11 degrees, turning everyday, wait for some mold to appear on the outside, brush it down and enjoy.  I am attaching  a picture of the form, and of the sample curd.  I salted the form and am putting it in the cave now (without drying it first?  my cheesemaker friend didn't talk about drying it first, maybe he assumed I would know to do that?)  The sample curd has developed some nice acidity, so maybe the form does have some potential...only time (a brief amount of time I imagine) will tell.
Anyway, I bought 5 liters of milk to try my fresh tomini again, this time I will be using mesophilic culture, and making sure that my brain is awake when I turn on the stove  ;)