flocculation time is too long?

[awakephd]

Sailor, using P&H milk, and single-strength liquid rennet, approximately how much rennet do you use per gallon? I realize that it may depend on which type of cheese, but I'm trying to get an idea of whether I am using way too little. I've always been wary of using way too much, since my understanding is that that can lead to bitterness ... ?

[Viking]

I found the reason for my flocculation time was too long. When doing cheeses, I did dilute the rennet with water too early, meaning I deluted the rennet at the beginning of the making. So, the mix could easily be more than 1 hour old. And I have learned, that doing so, the rennet would be without any effect.
I did mix the water and rennet just before the mix had to be added, and then my flocculation time was 12 minutes.
Learning by doing.

[Sailor Con Queso]

I use around 90 ml of double strength vegetarian (Star Chymax) rennet for 220 gallon makes. But that is subject to change on a regular basis. It's Winter here right now, so the milk is radically different than Summer milk. Used within normal floc guidelines, there is no worry about bitterness. Establishing norms is the whole point of the floc method.

[awakephd]

Hmm ... by my math, this would work out to about 1.6 ml of double strength rennet for a 4-gallon batch; I presume that would be roughly equivalent to 3.2 ml of single strength. That is not too far different from what I typically use - a bit more than 2.5 ml for a 4-gallon batch.

[Sailor Con Queso]

That greatly depends on the type of rennet that you are using. Again, the flocculation method eliminates guesswork. You should use whatever volume of rennet that it takes to hit your floc goals. I shoot for around 15 minutes.