Author Topic: An experiment with 3 rennet types  (Read 3746 times)

Offline scasnerkay

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An experiment with 3 rennet types
« on: September 06, 2015, 04:58:48 AM »
The cheeses were made on April 28 and May 6, using a washed curd recipe from Caldwell. The 2 shorter ones were made from the same ripened milk, divided after ripening into 2 pans. The cheese on the left used liquid paste rennet, and in the middle standard calf rennet. Then I added the third in the experiment with microbial veg rennet. I did try to control all variables as much as I could. All were aged about 2 months with natural rind, then vacuum sealed for 2 months. The differences in texture and taste are very subtle. I will wait until another day or two and see if taste changes. I plan on aging half of each another few months by vacuum sealing them.
So at this point, the primary difference is the appearance of gas formation in the liquid paste version.  Anyone out there have any comments on that??
Susan

qdog1955

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2015, 09:51:47 AM »
Susan,
  That's very interesting-----Which Caldwell recipe?  Any p. shermani?  Let us know about the taste difference, if any.

Qdog

Offline awakephd

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2015, 11:47:57 AM »
No idea on how to explain the differences, but a cheese for your experiment! I look forward to hearing if significant taste differences emerge over time ...
-- Andy

Offline scasnerkay

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2015, 02:34:48 PM »
No p.s. Was included, but the starter was F.D. which can make gas. Maybe the curd was softer in the paste rennet version, and so that trait could be better seen? Flocculation was about 10 to 12 mins in all cases.
Susan

Kern

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2015, 06:30:18 PM »
I think you may have hit the reason for the differences:  paste hardness and elasticity.  All the photos show some gas formation, which suggests the cause is not microbial.  It would be most interesting to see the results for the same test if PS were used.  BTW, you've likely posted this but which of Caldwell's three washed curd recipes were used?  As an engineer/scientist I love to see stuff like you've done.  So AC4U!   :)

Offline scasnerkay

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2015, 10:48:18 PM »
The make is not exactly like the one in her book - it was a variation from at her class I took in the Spring. I have included the make from the veg version here, along with another picture of the veg make by itself. The two animal rennet makes were the same, just different rennets.
Susan

Kern

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2015, 01:14:23 AM »
Thanks for the recipe.  Very nice rind on the vegetable version.  What treatment did you give it?

Offline scasnerkay

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2015, 03:35:59 AM »
I think the photo makes it look sort of blue, but really it was just grey. No treatment other than brushing with a dry brush. The rind was stable after about one month and did not change. The bumps are from the form used.

I am just a bit disappointed. Part of me wanted to like the paste rennet cheese the most... But for now, surprising me, I think the cheese made with microbial rennet wins. They are each very tasty and smooth, with good mouth feel/texture. But the microbial rennet cheese seems to have more depth of flavor. Perhaps the rind contributed to the difference. The other two were just white with geo? It will be fun to revisit them in 2 months!
Susan

Kern

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2015, 05:00:24 AM »
You inspired me to open my Caldwell Same Temperature Washed Curd cheese today.  It very much looks like your middle picture with the calf rennet.  I followed Caldwell's recipe pretty much to the letter.  The main difference between your recipe posted above and the book recipe is the culture (MM 100 and LM 57) in the book recipe and some slight differences in the water wash temperature, which in the book has 1 tsp of salt added added.  The taste of mine is mild and pleasant with a medium soft paste in the middle grading over to a firm paste within a half-inch of the rind - all is edible.  The cheese has Havarti characteristics and will be useful for a lot of purposes but is not a "knock your socks off" cheese.  Mine was made on April 10, 2015 so was 5 months old when opened.  I bagged half of it so we'll see what it looks like in a couple more months.   

Offline scasnerkay

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2015, 10:00:51 PM »
This is a follow up to the original post. At about 3 or 4 months the veg cheese was the surprising winner!! Now at almost 7 months.... drumroll please... the paste rennet wins! The veg did not have any bitterness, and each of them was quite tasty. However, the paste had more depth of flavor in side by side comparison with the other two! This was the general consensus of several tasters, without knowing which was which. Alas, due to consumption of said test cheeses, I cannot carry the experiment out any further! I have made several other cheeses with the paste rennet, and while they have each been quite good, I probably will not order it again, because I found working with the standard calf rennet is much more predictable for coagulation times.
Susan

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #10 on: November 29, 2015, 03:10:42 PM »
When you say "standard calf rennet", are you referring to liquid or dry? I have used dry calf rennet for about five years and it has been consistently reliable.

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Offline scasnerkay

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Re: An experiment with 3 rennet types
« Reply #11 on: November 29, 2015, 04:53:54 PM »
Long answer to a short question.....
I have not tried the dry calf rennet, this was liquid single strength calf rennet. All the rennet types in this experiment came from Artisan Geek. The calf paste rennet is not on the website however, Yoav suggested it as an interesting product to try so I did. He indicated it should be used at the same rate as the liquid single strength rennet. When I asked about IMCU for the various rennet types he sent this:
Paste rennet is 166 IMCU/ml
Liquid Calf rennet is 323.5 IMCU/ml
Veg rennet (microbial) is 800 IMCU/ml
Yoav also sent the following advice:  ""IMCU is a confusing measurement. If you go by the old trusty old Soxhelt method it would make more sense. The soxhelt method is simply the answer to the question: "how many parts of milk can 1 part of rennet coagulate in 40 minutes?" (assume we are talking about an average of cow's milk). Both the paste and the liquid calf are the same: 1:15,000. The veg rennet is double at 1:30,000.""
My flocculation times were 20 mins or more using a bit more paste than liquid rennet. So I switched to using a number of ml correlated to the number of gallons: 2ml for 2 gallons, 3 ml for 3 gallons, etc. That brought the flocculation time to about 15 mins.
Regarding the holes in the paste washed curd shown previously, Yoav's comment was that the flora in the paste rennet enabled a ""life succession of propionibacterium"" where the other rennet types did not feed those bacteria.
I am waiting to open two tomme wheels one made with paste and the other with liquid....
Susan