1st ever cheese, and it's wet and sour. Help?

[george]

Cheewilly - try the gouda recipe from 200 Easy - never fails to be scarfed up immediately around here.

[shotski]

Cheewilly - try the gouda recipe from 200 Easy - never fails to be scarfed up immediately around here.

I totally agree. This is a link to my first spiced Gouda it was wonderful and just could not keep it around. Don't give up it  is way to rewarding once you get a good recipe.

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11449.0.html

[UVM cheese chemist]

Dear MontereyJill,
It sounds like the problem you have here may be related to the type and extent of salting.  Although you did not detail the salting procedure, I will include a bit of theory here.
Salting not only removes whey to lower the moisture content, it also removes a great deal of lactose in the process.  Residual lactose is fermented to give a sour flavor.  In addition, salting inhibits the starter from fermenting the residual lactose while the cheese is in the press.  The result is a drier cheese with a moderate acidity.  Failure to salt properly results in the opposite effect.
Other confounding factors may play a role.  If the mill size is too large, the whey removal and starter inhibition will not be as efficient.  Also, if an inefficiently salted curd is pressed, no matter what the moisture content is or how long it is pressed, eventually, the curd granules will fuse and drainage will greatly decrease as the excess whey does not have an easy escape route.  This may be exacerbated if the initial pressing weight is high; the soft and wet curd granules deform under the weight and fill in the spaces between unfused curds where whey would have escaped if the weight were less.
Although recipes are excellent, there is so much variability in cheesemaking that problems can occur, especially if you are not sure what to look for to ensure that the process is proceeding well.  You will certainly develop this sense in time.
Kudos for taking on cheddar as your first cheese!

Happy cheesemaking,

UVM-cheese-LAB

[Boofer]

Dear MontereyJill,
It sounds like the problem you have here may be related to the type and extent of salting.  Although you did not detail the salting procedure, I will include a bit of theory here.
Salting not only removes whey to lower the moisture content, it also removes a great deal of lactose in the process.  Residual lactose is fermented to give a sour flavor.  In addition, salting inhibits the starter from fermenting the residual lactose while the cheese is in the press.  The result is a drier cheese with a moderate acidity.  Failure to salt properly results in the opposite effect.
Other confounding factors may play a role.  If the mill size is too large, the whey removal and starter inhibition will not be as efficient.  Also, if an inefficiently salted curd is pressed, no matter what the moisture content is or how long it is pressed, eventually, the curd granules will fuse and drainage will greatly decrease as the excess whey does not have an easy escape route.  This may be exacerbated if the initial pressing weight is high; the soft and wet curd granules deform under the weight and fill in the spaces between unfused curds where whey would have escaped if the weight were less.
Although recipes are excellent, there is so much variability in cheesemaking that problems can occur, especially if you are not sure what to look for to ensure that the process is proceeding well.  You will certainly develop this sense in time.
Kudos for taking on cheddar as your first cheese!

Happy cheesemaking,

UVM-cheese-LAB

Excellent presentation on salting. A cheese for that and this goes into my library.

Anyone else taking notes?

-Boofer-

[Spoons]

Dear MontereyJill,
It sounds like the problem you have here may be related to the type and extent of salting.  Although you did not detail the salting procedure, I will include a bit of theory here.
Salting not only removes whey to lower the moisture content, it also removes a great deal of lactose in the process.  Residual lactose is fermented to give a sour flavor.  In addition, salting inhibits the starter from fermenting the residual lactose while the cheese is in the press.  The result is a drier cheese with a moderate acidity.  Failure to salt properly results in the opposite effect.
Other confounding factors may play a role.  If the mill size is too large, the whey removal and starter inhibition will not be as efficient.  Also, if an inefficiently salted curd is pressed, no matter what the moisture content is or how long it is pressed, eventually, the curd granules will fuse and drainage will greatly decrease as the excess whey does not have an easy escape route.  This may be exacerbated if the initial pressing weight is high; the soft and wet curd granules deform under the weight and fill in the spaces between unfused curds where whey would have escaped if the weight were less.
Although recipes are excellent, there is so much variability in cheesemaking that problems can occur, especially if you are not sure what to look for to ensure that the process is proceeding well.  You will certainly develop this sense in time.
Kudos for taking on cheddar as your first cheese!

Happy cheesemaking,

UVM-cheese-LAB

Excellent presentation on salting. A cheese for that and this goes into my library.

Anyone else taking notes?

-Boofer-

Absolutely! Only 5 posts in, and UVM-Lab lad is making his (her?) posts count!

Welcome to the boards UVM! Your knowledge will be greatly appreciated here 

[UVM cheese chemist]

Dear Boofer and Spoons,

Thank you for welcoming me to this forum.  I am inspired by all of the great questions and by people like yourselves who are dedicated to finding solutions.  I will do my best with the resources that I have available to contribute insight and technical knowledge to these discussion boards.

Happy cheesemaking,

UVM-cheese-LAB