Problem with my mozzarella

[achik1990]

Hi guys, I bought some buffalo milk from my relative's farm ...
So I tried to make mozzarella ..and it failed miserably ..
I followed the same method to make normal cow's milk mozz ...but it didn't work..
I don't know what went wrong..

Basically I poured 180f water to knead + stretch the curds ..
nothing happened.. it didn't melt/stretch at all..
it went to grainy curd .. when I tried to knead it..it fell apart ..and when I pressed the curd ..the inside was somewhat grainy ..

I figured it wasnt acidic enough but I used my ph meter on the whey (5.2) ..
though to be honest I measured the milk before adding the culture it and it says (7.1) ...
So perhaps I need to re-calibrate my ph meter with ph buffer or something..

What do you guys think? 

[awakephd]

If the whey is 5.2, the curd may be 5.0 -- a bit too acidic, which will give you the grainy results you describe.

[AnnDee]

PH 5.0 curd makes really nice mozzarella for me, higher than that it will be a bit rubbery.
What do you use as acidifier?

[achik1990]

PH 5.0 curd makes really nice mozzarella for me, higher than that it will be a bit rubbery.
What do you use as acidifier?

thermophilic culture..

i guess there is something wrong with my ph meter

[achik1990]

If the whey is 5.2, the curd may be 5.0 -- a bit too acidic, which will give you the grainy results you describe.

that doesnt seem to be the case though
I read a manual for mozzarella factory production and it specifically says that the curd must be matured to ph 4.9.
The article/manual guide is complete from head to toe about mozzarella production/factory setup etc

[awakephd]

Interesting - I've had the best results when it is more like 5.3. Maybe reflects different types of milk?

[AnnDee]

Maybe next time, do a spin test first on a little piece of curd, if it start to melt then it is ready, instead of pouring hot water on the whole batch (oh that glorious buffalo milk!). Sometimes it takes me more than 2 days to get the curds to the right PH, especially because I put it in the fridge.

[achik1990]

Interesting - I've had the best results when it is more like 5.3. Maybe reflects different types of milk?

www.fao.org/ag/againfo/themes/documents/milk/mozzarella.pdf

Here .. you try download the pdf manual guide.. I've been reading it religiously

[achik1990]

Maybe next time, do a spin test first on a little piece of curd, if it start to melt then it is ready, instead of pouring hot water on the whole batch (oh that glorious buffalo milk!). Sometimes it takes me more than 2 days to get the curds to the right PH, especially because I put it in the fridge.

Will do... I wanna do 2 different methods ..
The manual that I read suggests that I should let the curd mature under its whey..

So I bought 10 litre today..
So I'll divide it into 2 batches..

1 maturing under its whey
and the other 1 I'll do the cheddar method

Buffalo milk has higher fat and casein content than cow's so perhaps it needs a special care? I'll follow the instruction of the manual

[Gregore]

That manual seems very complete .....

but it has 1 discrepincy they mention if you are making direct acid cheese then take ph to 5.6  which is near the upper end of ph stretch for cheese at 5.8 ph and for cultured they say to bring it to 4.9 ph which is at the lower end cheese can stretch to at 4.7ph .

I wonder why , any one with the ability to create such a detailed manual would certainly know the above  and yet they run the serious risk of a little inattention and the whole batch  of cheese drops below  4.7 ph and is lost .

Based on the acid curve chart they showed they have a 20 minute window from 4.9 to 4.7

There must be a reason that it is worth the risk .

I think I will spend some time reading that article , thanks for sharing it .

[achik1990]

No problem 

[awakephd]

Yes, an interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

[Gregore]

Found out why they are using a below 5 ph stretch ..... the lower ph you stretch at the more moist the final cheese

But it takes good quality fresh milk to stretch below 5