Author Topic: No acid developement?  (Read 3806 times)

ChzRanger

  • Guest
No acid developement?
« on: January 27, 2013, 01:26:04 AM »
I have just started making cheese and have made 4 more or less servicable batches of feta with minor adjusments needed here and there, but my last two batches simply refused to cooperate. Physically/structurally  they "acted right" but there was no flavor/acid developement after draining. The only change in my process was was that I added the lipase  dose recommended on the lipase container and not the amount in the recipe so I dont know if that is it or if my culture is inviable, but it should be good. Tyhe recipe is from "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking".

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2013, 01:37:43 AM »
What was drain pH and what is ambient room temp?

ChzRanger

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2013, 04:32:09 AM »
Ambient was approx 72 F for 12 hrs at this time PH was 5.9ish coming down from a little over 6.5ish

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2013, 06:36:26 AM »
That's not too bad, should have worked. Best guess is not enough culture or ripening time to let the bacteria be healthy before adding rennet, or too low of a temp after draining and the curds got too cold. Are you keeping the packets in the freezer? Not too old?

ChzRanger

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2013, 01:26:21 AM »
I have been storing my cultures in the freezer, but my lipase recently spent some time in the fridge before I realized it was supposed to be in the freezer. Also the difference between the recipe lipase dose and the lipase dose on the vile was vastly different. The recipe said 2 scewer tips of lipase / gallon of milk (which I have used successfully) but the lipase vile said 0.1-0.5 g per LITER of milk? so I used .2 g for a gallon. Would this kill/inactivate a viable culture?

ChzRanger

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2013, 01:29:57 AM »
I guess ripening temp could have dropped too low over night but I turned my thermostat up so that would not happen. Seems like since I bought a gram scale to be more exacting, things have fallen apart :-)

Sailor Con Queso

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2013, 05:14:55 PM »
You need to learn to do Mother Cultures.

Making Mother Cultures

ChzRanger

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2013, 07:13:53 PM »
OK I am going for round 3! Going back to the original recipe w/r/t the lipase and will monitor room temp closely. I can never get the fatty cream top plug to go back into soln. It just leaves a fatty film on the surface. can I just toss it?

ChzRanger

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2013, 03:58:49 PM »
Well, no joy the pH dropped from 6.7 to 5.7 in 12 hours at 72F. The curd set time was almost double last night? My whey was pretty cloudy the last two batches, but not prior. I dropped the lipase down to what the recipe called for, no change. Any thoughts should I replace my cultures, lipase, cacl2??

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2013, 05:31:48 PM »
How long and how much does it take to set up normal milk? Do you get a drop to 4.6 within 12 hours at 90F incubation with a 2% inoculation? If there's no acid development, something is happening with the culture. Usually, the issue is due to temp. Given a 1%+ inoculation and good temp, provided culture is alive, it will drop the pH enough.

If you're having slow acidification and everything is right, then other possible causes are cleaner residue, phage, and mutation.

Ross

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #10 on: February 27, 2013, 10:08:42 AM »
Hi ChzRanger,      I'm no expert, but I have made a few batches of feta, and have not encountered this problem, might I suggest that you look up a different recipe and see if you still get the same result or not. You don't mention which type of starter you are using, I use Flora Danica, 1/4 tsp to 10 ltrs(2gal) and 1/4 tsp Lipase to 10 ltrs (2 gal), rehydrate in 1/4 cup of cool boiled water 10 minutes berore adding to the milk, I also use 2ml (about 1/2 tsp ) of Calcium Chloride to 10 ltrs.  Are you using raw milk or store milk?
Use Google, or whatever site you use, and enter in the search engine, 'how to make feta cheese' and see what comes up, there are plenty of other recipes out there. good luck

margaretsmall

  • Guest
Re: No acid developement?
« Reply #11 on: February 27, 2013, 09:05:01 PM »
Have you changed the milk from the earlier successful batches?
Margaret