Serious, I thought this was supposed to be the "entry level" cheese... :/
Generally speaking, I'm a rather accomplished cook. I've made bacon, salami, brew my own beer/wine/cider/mead, am not scared off by tamales to feed 50 even though I'd never made them before.... but this is the 2nd time I've tried cheese and I've failed both times.
The first time was easy to identify, it was an entry kit received Christmas 2016 that I tried to use a year later. The liquid rennet was clearly bad (grrr at no expiration or refrigeration info on the outside of the box, or the label), so down the drain a gallon of milk went.
This time I'm lost though. All fresh/newly purchased ingredients (junket rennet tablets good till 2019, new calcium chloride, new citric acid, milk with a best-by date a week in the future ~ no farm-fresh option so it's store bought whole, pasteurized but not Ultra), decided to cut my losses and go for a Half gallon batch for this very reason. Added the cold milk, 1/8tsp calcium chloride (in distilled water) and 3/4tsp citric acid (again in distilled water), heated to 90f and added the 1/4tablet (in more distilled water) and let rest for upwards of 30 minutes with just kind of a slimy, tiny curd, mess. Added heat to 105 just to see and no change. Heck, I kept heating to 120 just to see, and it got a little stretchy/stringy/gooey, but not like any of the photos/video I've seen.
Soooo.... if someone might be so kind as to help me figure out what went wrong? I see everything from the Junket brand tablets being worthless (and then praised on the next link), to too much acid, to only being able to use raw milk and I'm simply a bit overwhelmed. Sure would like to have DIY mozerella on Friday to put on my DIY neapolitan pizza (since I just found some Italian 00 flour locally).
Thanks