Cold or Room Temperature Milk

[jbrewton]

I have seen a few articles on making cheese where the instructions say to let the milk come to room temperature (about 72 F in my house).  I have only made fresh cheeses so far, but does starting temperature matter other than longer time to get milk to ripening temps.?  Are there any studies to back up either claim?
 

[Stinky]

I do it out of the refrigerator, and it works great.

[scasnerkay]

If store bought pasteurized milk, I think it should go from the frig into the pan and start heating it! Otherwise you risk spoiling bacterial growth!

[Al Lewis]

I pour it straight into the pot from refrigeration.  Never had a problem.  Considering the cultures are kept in the freezer I put them on it while it warms up too.  Lets them re-hydrate.

[qdog1955]

I take my milk from the 'fridge to the sink filled with warm water-----temp. close to the make----by the time I have everything prepared and set up for the make, the milk is close to my required temp.---just saves some time.
Qdog

[awakephd]

My normal routine is based on absolutely nothing I have read -- it is just what I started doing, and it seems to work fine, so I continue:

I fill my cheesemaking pot with filtered, non-chlorinated water and add any utensils I will be using, then put on the lid and put it on the stove on high to bring to a boil. As it is heating, and while it boils for 10 minutes or so, I put the milk, still in the plastic jugs, into the sink and fill the sink with the hot tap water. (My tap water only goes to about 120˚ F, so not all that hot.) This begins warming up the milk, maybe from 40˚ F to 60˚ or 65˚ F. Once the pot is sterilized, I empty it, put the sanitized utensils on a sanitized counter, and pour in the milk. I fill a larger pot with hot tap water, put the cheespot in, and set it all on the stove. At that point, the thermometers go in (one for the milk, one for the outer water) and I begin bringing to desired temperature.

[WovenMeadows]

If store bought pasteurized milk, I think it should go from the frig into the pan and start heating it! Otherwise you risk spoiling bacterial growth!

Yes, this. You want to go from cold to culturing (aka warm) ASAP, minimizing time for other (non-desirable) bacteria to grow. The only reason I can think for a recipe to specify (without good reason, too) room-temp milk, is doing a fromage-fraise or chevre type that you'd only culture at 72* the whole time anyway. I.e. substituting room-warming for pan-warming.