Loose curd

[DaggerDoggie]

I have had this problem a few times.  Okay, about half the time.  My curd sets up and I (sometimes) get a nice, clean break, cut the curds, let them settle and all looks fine.  Then they fall apart into a consistency of half yogurt and half cottage cheese.  They don't seem to stay together.

I'm making a cheedar and all was going well.  I slowly raised the temperature to 102 degrees...still good...and then the whey starts to turn white and I end up with a mass with very little whey.  The curd is quite runny.

I think I can salvage it into a cheese, but anyone know why this might be happening?

[Cheese Head]

Nice subject line .

My whey doesn't turn white from cut curds coming apart, but I sometimes get very soft curds and thus I think I am not adding enough rennet which may also be your problem. Where did you get your rennet, what brand/type, and how much are you using?

I've also accidentaly raised the heat too fast on this batch which degraded my curds as you can see.

[DaggerDoggie]

I'm using MARSCHALL RENNET TABLETS that I get from Lenners.  For this batch I used one tablet in four gallons of milk, plus a pint of cream.

My curd looks just like the pictures in your Gouda, interesting.

After an initial blowout from putting in the press, it seems to be pressing well.  I'm not turning it yet but adding more weight every 30 minutes to so and I'll turn it once I'm certain it has expressed enough whey or be firm enough to turn it.

[Cheese Head]

www.Leeners.com is a popular and reputable cheese supply store so probably it isn't the rennet itself.

Another problem I had was on this 2 US gallon batch. At the time I only had 1 US gallon stockpots so I made it in two pots, front one set great, back one didn't even aftr waiting ages. Same milk, same warming rate, same starter culture, same calcium chloride, same rennet, same whisking for 2 minutes each. I think what happened is in preparation for adding my liquid rennet I diluted 50 drops in 1/2 cup of water and stirred but then let sit while milk continued to warm. I notice that my liquid is slightly brown-orange and when counting drops into water it sinks to bottom, so need to stir in water to dilute. I then trickled 1/4 cup into back problem gallon while stirring and then 1/4 cup into front stockpot. While sitting, my diluted rennet may have re-settled in the water to bottom somewhat and then the back problem stockpot only got the 1/4 cup off the top with low rennet concentration and the front stockpot got most of the rennet. Thus creating my problem where front pot set great and backone took ages.

Rennet is a very concentrated coagulant that needs to be diluted and stirred in throughly to make an even distribution. Is it possible in your batch that rennet was not thoroughly distributed or that not enough and thus while set, not a strong set? My directions say 20 drops per 1 US gallon and I'm already using 25 . . .

[DaggerDoggie]

You have a good point.  I may try more rennet.  I have been using tablets which does not easily allow adding a few drops more, but I think I may try adding a quarter tablet more next time, depending on the recipe.

I am attempting my first Blue Cheese today so I may try that.  In a few months, I'm going to have more cheese than I'll be able to eat.  Perhaps I should have a party.

The Cheddar cheese I made with the loose curd came out quite nice.  I got less volume than expected, due to the loose of a lot of milky-colored whey that came out with even light pressure at first.  I added pressure slowly, let it sit over night; re-wrapped it this morning and just took it out of the press.  It's fairly solid, after letting it sit for seven hours with an final weight of 64 pounds.

[Cheese Head]

Love to see some records and pictures of your blue cheese in Cheese Making - Records board, hope it works out better than my first try.

Good your Cheddar worked out well, I get nervous when milk / curds out of fridge for too long, more susceptable to airborne bacteria. Want to also post some records and pix with tricks & traps as one day I will have the nerve to try making cheddar.

[DaggerDoggie]

Here's the results of my near disaster.

I'm not too concerned with the bacteria issue, at least not yet.  I keep everything I use as clean and sterilized as possible, and anything that traditionally has been aged in caves cannot be that dangerous.  Besides, like most things, if it is bad, you will smell it...ok, maybe not with cheese.