What exactly is the effect of adjusting the rennet amounts?
Yes I understand it acts faster (first, is this a direct relationship as in, doubling rennet will halve the coagulation time, or is it fractional, like doubling rennet will cut 1/4 off the time?)
But, all time factor adjustments taken into consideration, what effect does more rennet have on the final cheese? What effect, specifically, does it have on aging and flavor? Does it have an effect on how the curd releases its moisture during the cooking stage?
Also,
When exactly does the time factor in renneting stop? What change causes the curd to stop binding moisture into itself?
For example, if I adjust the brewing time where the already cut curd is gently stirred and matured before the temperature is increased, I assume this is going to have a direct effect on the moisture content -I assume this based on direct observation, where a longer brewed curd is a bit softer and more pliable.
I would just tend to assume that the complete time factor of the make matters when rennet is concerned -which would imply that if your time to curd cutting is off target, you should probably adjust other stages accordingly. (like, if the curd took too long to set, you should cut it more slowly and brew it a little longer so the rennet-time factor works out through the entirety of the make. This with alpine style cheeses where the culture-time factor in the vat is fairly insignificant)
My thought would be that cutting the curd doesn't STOP the chemical process (because that wouldn't make any sense) but it does slow it down by causing most unbound moisture in the gel to break loose of the curd, thus making it less 'available' to be chemically bound. This of course relates directly to cutting speed and curd size. Then of course curd size also plays a factor into how moisture is forced out of the curd when it is heated.
This is all my theory based on observation and experience, and just conjecturing about what makes sense to me. SO I could be way off here.
But I am trying to put together a collection of accurate information and would like to explain WHY things matter how they do.
Specifically, I am trying to understand the aspects of rennet time, cutting time, cutting size, and the overall time factor of the make.