Murphy's law and sticking cheese cloth?

[qdog1955]

  I don't know who this Murphy guy was, or why the law has his name----But if I ever catch up to him, I'm gonna kick him in the arse.
In the process of making my third Asiago ( which has been my best, most consistent make ) I ran into a problem on what should have been the final flip in the cheese press.  You got it----the cheese cloth isn't just stuck---it's welded---but for some reason, it's only the bottom, the top and sides are fine.  Try every thing, but end up making a real unsightly mess of the bottom. So the cheese hasn't quite reached proper Ph yet---so I decide while it's still warm, to do a naked press and hope it "heals" some of the scars---I have never done this with this mold----and here comes that darn Murphy------I can't get the cheese out of the mold, not because of nubbins, but because it has formed a super strong vacuum. It takes two people wielding those thin cake icing spatulas around the inside to finally break the seal. Out pops the cheese----upside down on the table-----no problem, I'll check the Ph on the bottom----and Murphy shows up-----the bottom of the cheese is at 4.85 and the top is 5.56-----now I'm looking for 5.2----check 3 more times-----check meter----everything is fine, except the top and bottom are different Ph.
   Has any one ever checked both top and bottom of a cheese for Ph?  Logic tells me they should be the same---but there not---and that makes me wonder if that's the reason the cloth stuck so bad. Give me some thoughts guys. 
   Here's a tip that may come in handy----the cheese cloth had at least an 1/8" thick by 7" piece of curd stuck to it. I soaked the cloth in Purple Cleaner, which is basically lye soap---in about an hour, it just mostly melted away and a hot water rinse, it was like new. So it seems lye soaps work wonders on any cheese making euipment.
Qdog
 

[Mermaid]

Good to know about the soap! I've had trouble with cheesecloth sticking. I find it sticks more if the cheese acidified too much . If the cheese room stays cool and humid it comes right off- but dry and or warm? Forget about it!
I've never tried measuring the pH of the top vs bottom of a cheese. Fascinating! How long were you waiting between each flip? Maybe because the warm whey warms the bottom of the cheese more than the top as it slowly expels?

[qdog1955]

It's a mystery to me-----I've never had a reason to check top and bottom Ph ----but I think I will now, just to see what is normal.
  There have been some good posts on preventing cloth sticking----soaking cloth in vinegar and cal.clor.----never had to much trouble before, so I didn't soak it, 'cause I didn't want the vinegar throwing off my Ph reading.
  I was just going to trash the cheese cloth it was that bad----but the Purple Cleaner just amazed me----I haven't found anything that softened and ate up cheese curd like that.
Qdog