Mozzarella going perfectly, then fail...

[mculik5]

I tried to make mozzarella today. Everything was going perfectly until it was time to stretch the curd...and my curd would not stretch, soften...would not anything...

Here's what I did and the ingredients I used. FYI, I'm using an immersion circulator to heat water which heats my "cheese pan," so temperature control is very precise.

1. Heated 1 gallon of Whole Foods 365 NON-ORGANIC whole vitamin D milk to 98F.
2. Added 1/4 tsp of calcium chloride dissolved in 1/4 cup of filtered water and 1 package of C201 thermophilic culture. Stirred and let sit for 60 minutes.
3. Added 1/8 tsp of liquid vegetable rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup of filtered water. Stirred and let sit for 30 minutes.
4. Cut the curds.
5. Increased the temperature to 102F and let sit for 60 minutes, stirring lightly every 15 minutes.
6. Strained the curds and whey through cheesecloth.
7. Put the strained curds back in my dry "cheese pan" and increased the temperature to 114F to allow the curds to ripen.
8. After about 3 hours, I tested the pH of the curds using litmus paper and found it to be somewhere between 5.0 and 5.5 (I think...my litmus paper is very hard to read accurately because the colors are so close together).

Until this point, everything was going perfectly. Good yield, everything looking just like the pictures on the internet, etc... Also, for what it's worth, I made ricotta from the whey and it turned out great. So, with a big pot of 190F - 200F whey on my stovetop I:

9. Salted the whey (heavily, to make it taste like the ocean).
10. Broke apart the curds and added them to the hot whey.

At this point, I was expecting the curds would melt into a large mass (just like I saw on YouTube), and I'd be able to stretch the cheese. However, this didn't happen. Nothing happened. The curds just sat in the hot whey. They softened to the touch a little, but other than that, no change... After a little while (of hoping things would come together), I pulled the curds out of the whey with a slotted spoon and put them in a storage container.

Please help. What did I do wrong? Thanks.

[Threemillswhey]

Ph  wasnt low enough you should  stretch at 4.9-5.2 pH

[Hovard]

If you haven't high quality PH-meter, you can found proper PH when you test your curd.
When you think that your curd is ready, cut small piece of curd and place it in hot whey. Wait and test it for stretching. Divide and try to melt it again. When you see good result on small piece, you can start to make your cheese.
WBR