Raw Milk - Using

[MrsKK]

Huffdaddy,
I had some cheese that floated in the whey, too (it was a Derby), and when I cut into it after ageing, it was full of tiny little holes.  Tasted good, though.

Cheese contamination can happen anywhere, it wouldn't have necessarily been at the farm.  There are a lot of little "thingies" floating around in the air everywhere, sometimes tough to control.

I make a lot of bread - really stuck on sourdough lately - and I do expect to have some cross-contamination from that.  Haven't had too much of a problem yet.

Greg,
I've made cheddar, colby (not too successful, as it was a really weird day!), mozzerella, ricotta, and I also like Fankhauser's hard cheese recipe.  I've found that Junket rennet sets up just fine when using his method to acidify the milk overnight, as long as I don't warm it to anymore than 70 degrees before adding the culture.  That won't work for me in the summer, but is a good winter option.

I've only used raw milk for cheesemaking and I've only been making cheese for a year, so I can't give any comparisons.  If you have specific questions, we can start a new thread so as to not hi-jack from HuffDaddy.

[thebelgianpanda]

Raw milk is so much easier to work with than processed milk.  Setting is easier, the curds are easier to work with, it's just fantastic.  I've taken to removing some of the cream that rises to the top to give the loaves a more elastic texture, but that's really the only adjustment I've made.  No CaCl needed, even for the raw goat milk loaves I've pressed.

[DeejayDebi]

I only used raw milk for the first time last Friday but I sure was impressed with the creamy, pillowy curds and the yogurt was so much sweeter I didn't need fruit!