Miserable Mozzarella

[ksk2175]

I've been able to pull off the 30 minute mozzarella numerous times but today I had guests coming for dinner so thought I would try a traditional mozz. I followed Caldwell's recipe and also had Ricki's book open. I started at about 10am ... It is now 8:30 pm and I give up. Good thing the dinner guests called to postpone until next weekend. I have had cheeses that haven't turned out before but for some reason, this one has me so frustrated I just had to come on here and vent. I thought the make was going very well until the long drain waiting for that last PH drop. Seemed to stall at 6.1.  Keeping that heat up for that long with my vat setup was difficult but I was able to do it.  PH finally dropped to 5.2 after about 6 hrs of turning, draining, and keeping the heat up.  I recalibrate my meter just be sure and got the same reading at 4 different spots on the curd ball.  After all that it wouldn't stretch and wouldn't melt but rather got all grainy and just turned to tough cottage cheese. As a last ditch effort I even tried to microwave it and nothing.   I am too tired tonight to type out my recipe, process, and PH markers but will tomorrow.  I think it's time for three fingers of Jack and call it a night.

[AnnDee]

This is what I call 'accidental halloumi', it happened to me a lot during my first year of cheesemaking and mostly when I started using culture to acidify the milk. Maybe next time if you are pressed for time, you can try the hybrid method, this hasn't failed me so far. There is recipe to make this in Caldwell's book, but before I got this book I used yogurt as the culture.

[ksk2175]

This is what I call 'accidental halloumi', it happened to me a lot during my first year of cheesemaking and mostly when I started using culture to acidify the milk. Maybe next time if you are pressed for time, you can try the hybrid method, this hasn't failed me so far. There is recipe to make this in Caldwell's book, but before I got this book I used yogurt as the culture.

Thanks Ann.  I have had no problems with the quick method but really wanted to try the traditional method... learned my lesson well I guess ... if its not broke, dont fix it.  I may revisit this again in the future but still scratching my head as to what may have happened.  The only thing I can gather is maybe the curds cooled to much and acid production stalled out.  It was a 4 gallon vat with a 2 gallon make in it.  This makes it hard to keep the curds warm even though I was keeping 105 degree water in the hot bath, with that size vat, there is a lot of dead space.  When I only had the curd mass in the bottom corner, the vat would sit in the water at a sharp angle.  The PH was going nowhere so I tied the handle of the vat to sink faucet which kept the entire bottom of the vat in the warm water and only then did the PH start to move.  So maybe I have that figured out but once the PH was at 5.25, why wouldnt it melt or stretch?  I think it may have something to do with the whey I had reserved and heated to 175f ... I think this may have spoiled since I had it on the heat so long.  It had a terrible sour smell to it.  Maybe if I would have used fresh water heated to 175f once I hit 5.25, I would have had better results. 

[awakephd]

Ken, as you have discovered, there is a very narrow "sweet spot" for the pH of mozzarella. Just a little less acid than required, and it won't stretch; just a little too much acid, and it turns to a grainy, crumbly mess. From your description, I wonder if you got a bit too much acid; I'd start testing a little bit in some hot water once the pH reaches 5.4 to be sure you don't get too acidic.

[ksk2175]

Ken, as you have discovered, there is a very narrow "sweet spot" for the pH of mozzarella. Just a little less acid than required, and it won't stretch; just a little too much acid, and it turns to a grainy, crumbly mess. From your description, I wonder if you got a bit too much acid; I'd start testing a little bit in some hot water once the pH reaches 5.4 to be sure you don't get too acidic.

Damn finicky cheese ....    I may give it another go when I have a day to kill and will start testing earlier for sure ... 

[reg]

I have had exactly the same problems and at the same time in the make so you are not the only one struggling with mozz or provolone. Four batches this year alone but I think I'm getting closer each time ...... ya right

On the other hand I have had great results with my other cheeses so I guess that makes me feel somewhat better

[AnnDee]

This culture ripen mozzarella tend to act up when I am making in front of other people as a demo or when I am making for guests!  Seriously.
But, I have made mozzarella with yogurt as culture with high success rate. No PH meter, no gadget.
Just 8 tbs of yogurt to 1 gallon of raw milk and ripen for 4 hours before rennet. It worked almost everytime. I think I will do this again soon.