Ok, so I've been making brie since the start of the year, and I think I finally getting good at it. So, I wanted to branch out, and also give a try at cheese using raw milk. I have the mold cultures for brie, so I though I would give it a try with raw goats milk, and make Crottin de Chavignol, using this make:
http://www.cheesemaking.com/Crottin.htmlSo, I got the chevre cultures from them in the mail, and I went to the local store that carries the raw goats milk, and found out when the new shipment comes in each week, and got the stuff pretty much right off the truck. I get it home, warm it up to room temp, and add in the chevre culture and the Geotrictum. Then the make says, just leave it for 18-24 hours. That seemed a bit long, but then again, I think this cheese is supposed to be lactic coagulated, so it needs to get to very high (low?) acid levels? Anyway, I shrugged, and went with it. Just before going to bed, I saw the milk was quite well coagulated, solid, but no extra whey on top. So, I checked it in the morning, and ooops, not like it says in the instructions. The curd is contracted and small, and there is like 4 inches of whey on top, not the 1/2inch on top it suggests. So, I stopped it, and put the curd into the strainer after 12 hours. And the curd was kinda hard, rather solid, and left it in the muslin to drain for about 8 hours, also less than the instruction say. Then put it into the crottin molds, and here the molds only half full, or less. Hard to break up the curd to get it in there, and just formed rather lose chunks. I just decide to push the curd down into the mold with a spoon, to really form the shape.
Well, a day later, and the forms really didn't change at all, the curd isn't settling into the crottin forms, so I just salted the cheese, and I'm just going for it. But I wonder is it ruined already? Why did it seem to acidify so quickly? And the curd get so hard? I'd hate to see this not work, since it was $28 for the gallon of raw goats milk. Much more expensive than I've been putting into making cheese so far. And in any case, that gallon makes 4 crottins, and those are like $7-8 a crottin the materials, for a hand made home cheese, that also seem a little expensive too...