Cow's milk won't set

[Danbo]

Thanks for checking up on it. :-)

The 0.2 ml pr. liter that is added commercially sound like the amount that I normally add in my own makes.

[Martin]

Thank you for all the calculations, I'll carefully check out the amounts if I can get a scale that accurate. I use tsp. measurements. If too much CaCl stops the gelling, that could be the culprit. But, I haven't tried increasing that until these last few times.

This has been going on for about 2 years and all the goat milk makes good cheese. I have changed cultures, rennet, and even CaCl. I normally use liquid vegetarian rennet but tried some tablets. (I didn't think they really dissolved into the water completely. Left a lot of specs.) They didn't work either.

The one thing I haven't tried, for the reason stated, is raw milk. It seems to be the one thing left to try. If that works, then I know it is the milk. Raw milk is more expensive than goat milk around here, though. If I try this, I add no CaCL. Is that correct? I really had high hopes for the $2.97 milk.

I kind of have the feeling that it is a combination of problems. When I solve one, a different one rears it's head. I can't tell the difference, though.

[Martin]

Now that I think about it, I did switch to liquid calf rennet for a while. Had to tell one of my fans she couldn't consume those cheeses. Also, I normally use Aroma B for a culture. It worked in the past.

[Gregore]

I would normally suggest to use the raw milk with   About 1/8 tsp calcium chloride per 1 gallon . Seeing as how the winter is here the cows milk will not be as good as it is in the spring , summer .

But you have been having so much trouble with your setting that I think it should be as pure as possible so the unnecessary  stuff is left out of the equation .

Hopefully this gets solved soon

[Martin]

1 gallon of cheese or 3.8 litters would be 3.8ml = .77 of a teaspoon

I used a recipe that called for .5 tsp of CaCl, so that, while more than most recipes, shouldn't have been too much.

 "1 gallon of cheese" in your quote, does that translate to "1 gallon of milk?"

[Gregore]

Yes sorry should have been  1 gallon of milk not cheese

And .5tsp is not too much

[Martin]

So, I was at The Beverage People in Santa Rosa today. (Great place, I highly recommend it.) I brought this up with them, again. They said that this is common in our area and that only Strauss Dairy or raw milk seem to work on their own. Some suspicion that Clover (high quality dairy) switched to higher pasteurization temps. some time ago. They recommend adding one tablespoon dry milk powder per gallon. They are even including it in some of the kits.

Has anyone ever heard of this?

It gives me some hope because if I have to use Strauss, that will cut my cheese making in half.

[Gregore]

I have used  1 gallon raw and  2 gallons of pasteurized mixed together with a little calcium chloride

And I get a reasonable set . It's not cheap because it is all organic

Next time I am at the groceries store I can check on the brand if you like.

[Martin]

Gregore, thanks but I'll just use the brands I can get here. You say you get a "reasonable set" with that mixture. Is that a clean break with nice clear whey? I might try that blend for my next cheddar.

I just tried a gallon of organic milk with a tablespoon of dried milk. I got very little separation. This recipe calls for 1/4 tsp. cacl and 1/8 tsp rennet. It's kind of a mess but it is staying in the molds and both solids and whey are draining. I'm thinking it will drain and ripen just fine. Might be closer to cream cheese than fromage blanc but... what the whey? Who cares if it tastes good?

[Gregore]

Yes that mix  gives me a good firm set and fairly clear whey. Nothing compares to all raw.

 I think I read in the first of the 2 PDF books that I linked to recently in the labrary section , that some commercial makers add it but I forget exactly why . I think it might be for yield and not curd firmness , wish I could remember .
I have been reading so much lately that it all blends together.

[Martin]

I was in bind, no goat milk, no raw milk and no Strauss available. So I tried mixing dry milk powder into the organic milk that I bought. It helped but didn't really work. In fact, I think the curd held more liquid than cream cheese. I feel like I'm missing something really basic. Cow's milk is supposed to be easier to work with than goat, no?

[MrsKK]

But is the goat milk raw?  If so, you are comparing apples to oranges when using p/h cow's milk.

I tried using vegetarian rennet in a couple of different forms, just in case I had some vegetarians take my cheesemaking class, but I never had success with it when using storebought milk.  It worked okay with raw milk, but did not result in the same nice firm curd that I get when using calf rennet.

[Martin]

The goat milk I use is not raw and it works just fine. The vegetarian rennet fails just like the calf rennet did in pasteurized cows milk.

[Stella]

Ok first post......not getting a good set from cows milk ( if rennet is ok) is usually due to pateurization temp being too high. For example if using 72C for 12 seconds but the milk mass is relatively large to cooling capabilities you can get set problems. There are companies that pasteurise drinking milk at 76 C which will give a set problem. By the way LPT should be for 1 hour if the temp is 60C 30 min for 63C....
Hope that helps

[Martin]

Very few companies are doing that, apparently.