Having a horrible time getting moz cheese to work. Finally broke down and purchased a PH meter. Used the recipe at (
http://wacheese.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48:traditional-mozzarella-howto&catid=43:moderate-cook-temp&Itemid=66). The Washington cheese guide seemed to give me a detailed PH points to reach. The basics of the recipe were:
3 gal raw goat milk (did not Pasteurize)
heat milk to 88 degrees.
1/4 tsp of TM_81 DVI thermo
waited 2 hours had a ph drop of .2
add 3/4 tablet rennet
floc time 3 minutes
waited a total time of 10 minutes
cut curd to 1 inch squares and healed for 10 minutes
cut curd to .5 inch squares and healed and stirred at 104 degrees for a total of 50 minutes
drained when PH reached 6.0
put in cheese cloth for 30 minutes until PH reached 5.3
stretched cheese fine
glowed in the excitement of finally making good cheese
NEXT day.....cloud of darkness returned
The cheese was just slightly dry and had a off taste. Like it was going bad after less that 24 hours. The off taste seemd to get worse as the time went on.
I am suspicious of the 30 minute drain time. Everywhere it mentions a 3 hour bag time. But my PH was down low fast.
The cheese did weep a milky fluid when we ate it that night.
So what did I do wrong to get the cheese to go bad so fact?
The things that seemd odd was a 3 minute floc time and a 30 minute drain time. I'm wondering if I should pasteurize before I make the cheese. I am only doing the cheese for home use, so I was trying to avoid the extra time step. But if I have to, I have too.