Recently I tried Caldwell's "cool-water washed curd" recipe which calls for "1/4 MA or MM" for the culture. The guidelines on the MA 11 package are "1/2 teaspoon will set 6 to 12 gallons of milk". I was in a quandary as to which to use, but ultimately decided to follow the recipe as I've had good luck with other recipes in the book.
All I can say is, I'm really glad I have a pH meter! The pH curve turned out to be quite steep in the cooking phase, and once I found that out I was chasing it during the rest of the make, with wayyyy shortened times in each remaining process. I ended up with a pressed version of 5.1, which is much less than the recipe recommendation of 5.4-5.5, but at least is should not end up as a totally inedible sour crumbly mass (I hope not anyway).
I tried again, unfortunately with a different milk, so the comparison could be similar to apples and oranges, but. THIS time I used 1/8 teaspoon MA 11, which are within the package guidelines, and the pH curved hummed right along with the recipe timing guidelines.
So the question to be asked here, is should one always follow package guidance when there is a conflict with the recipe?