Author Topic: Pre-heating milk  (Read 1747 times)

Offline Chetty

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Pre-heating milk
« on: March 26, 2017, 04:31:10 AM »
Recently I took an advanced cheese course at the local university it was great and I learned so much but there was something they covered that I had never heard of or have the patience for.  The said if you start with cold milk (refrigerated) you need to heat the milk to 120 or pasteurize, because when the milk is cold the calcium leaves the micell (not sure if I spelled that right)and heating it up to 120 or greater bringers it back in.  I make fairly large batches of cheese and it would take forever to heat it that hot just to cool it back down. 

My question to anyone out there that is also in the dairy trade is this something that people do or is it just a for your information you will lose some calcium if you don't heat your cold milk. 

The picture is of my new 80 gallon vat during my alpine style make today 3 big new cheese born. 

Offline Gregore

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2017, 06:14:28 AM »
Very interesting I will have to look into that. And I am curious if all milk does it or just pre pasteurized

Offline Andrew Marshallsay

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2017, 08:54:50 AM »
Is this, perhaps, an alternative strategy to adding calcium chloride?
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Offline awakephd

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2017, 03:42:37 PM »
Very interesting indeed - I look forward to further information / discussion about this! But you're right, it would certainly add significantly to the time it takes to make cheese.
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Offline Chetty

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2017, 02:07:39 PM »
I'm not sure if it could be used instead of calcium chloride but at the class the just said it would make the calcium that left during cooling go back but I'm not sure if it matters much in my case of using raw milk.  When I make my pasta filata style cheese I always have a problem getting rid of the calcium so that it stretches half way decent.  I paid 500 dollars for this 4 day class and I definitely got my money's worth of learning and was able to play with some big equipment for a few days. 

Offline Gregore

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2017, 02:39:02 AM »
I was just reading recently that the faster the ph drop in pasta filata , the more calcium that is removed into the whey. 

Offline Chetty

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #6 on: March 28, 2017, 01:47:18 PM »
The taught in the class the best way is to direct acidify with vinegar (or some kind of acid but you have to use vinegar in the USA if you want to call it mozzarella).  So that would make sense about the faster the acid the better the calcium is released.  With the vinegar you get to the right pH before you even warm the milk. 

Offline Gregore

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2017, 06:13:56 AM »
The only problem with using a lot of an acidifier like vinager , is that you end up with a bland product . As it is the cultures working that create flavors .

I think when I decide to try it I will try a little more culture and more heat than the recipe calls for , and closely watch the ph .

Offline Chetty

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2017, 01:54:43 PM »
I agree cultures make better flavor but from a business standpoint ( the class was designed around large manufacturers) the vinegar just saves time.  But your right cultures for taste and tradition are the way to go. 

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2017, 10:16:31 PM »
I think when I decide to try it I will try a little more culture and more heat than the recipe calls for...
Why?

Offline Gregore

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2017, 04:11:00 AM »
Sailor

I was reading in cheese problem solved page 321 that a quicker ph drop removes more calcium  into the whey and gives a better  stretch .

Now I understand that everything in good measure and more is not always better , and with all the failures of mozza on this forum , if I am going to error on a side slow or fast , then for my first mozza I wias thinking of error on the side of fast ph drop.

Do you have an opinion on this ? I certainly value your thoughts as you make cheese about 320 times more per year than I do.

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Pre-heating milk
« Reply #11 on: March 30, 2017, 06:41:26 PM »
Making good cheese is about balance and patience and overdoing elements is almost never a good thing. For example, you could use 10 times the rennet (or bacteria) that a recipe calls for. That would coagulate the milk very quickly but the results would be awful.