Hi all, first time on the forum. I'm a novice cheesemaker, only having made chèvre and mozzarella a handful of times. I was making mozzarella last night from a gallon of our goat milk using a traditional method and a kefir culture. The recipe says to let the curds ferment in the whey, let drain for an hour in molds, then submerge back on the whey to ferment for 8-12 hours. Unfortunately when I went to drain in a cheese cloth it was 1am and in my stupor forgot to resubmerge the balls in the whey, so instead they hung in a cloth overnight.
My question: should I put them back in the whey and let ferment another few hours or just move ahead with the stretching and storing?
Any quick hello is appreciated as I ponder my next step.
Thanks!