Melody's Chevre - Room Temperature?

[Melody]

Well, I followed the directions and mixed my raw goat's milk, starter and rennet at 86 deg F and got up this morning at 3:30 a.m. (12 hours later) and it looked good although it was starting to smell a bit sour.  My husband said, "Don't worry...what do you think cheese is?  That's how mom's cheese smelled."  Keeping in mind that his mother is french and shared a recipe for rabbit with me that involved putting the rabbit in a bag and tying it to the fence for a few days...in the summer.   

Since I'm just after a soft spreadable cheese, I put the curd in some butter cloth and hung it over the sink.  It's supposed to hang for 6-12 hours but at 4 hours it's definitely smelling sour.

The directions said to let it sit at 'room temperature'.  My question is...what's room temperature? When I started this whole process yesterday, the house was 77 deg F.  At this point it's 72 deg F.  I'm guessing that by noon, we'll be right back up around 76 deg.

Do I just have a batch of spoiled milk on my hands...or will it be cheese?

Thanks!

.

[Cheese Head]

Melody, my wife says her Dad used to hang meat from a hook until it dropped but rabbit in a bag sounds way worse!

Reading your previous posts, I think you are making Chevre using raw previously frozen goats milk right?

I've only tried making Chevre once and that didn't work out as I didn't get a good curd set, either as I didn't use enough rennet or as I was using store bought Ultra Pasteurized (ie almost microbial dead) goat's milk. Plus I've never used raw milk, so I'm definitely no expert on this type of cheese.

That said, I think Cream Cheese/Neufchatel method but using cow's cream/milk is similar and I've made a few of those. They do smell a bit sour as the milk is acidified from the starter. Few questions:

• What type of milk and it's history, ie frozen, raw, standardize by adding CaCl2 or pasteurizing etc?
• What was your starter culture, ie type, amount per gallon/liter, age, stored in freezer etc?
• With rennet, did you get a good curd set before hanging it in the bag?
• Once in the bag are you getting good whey drainage? I found with Neufchatel I had to periodically scrape off drier curds on cloth "walls" to allow inner moister curds access to cloth to better drain, otherwise I got a filter cake that stopped inner curds from de-wheying.

Hope others will chime in, don't worry, you will get this right, especially with the large amount of milk supply you have! If you get time post a couple of pictures to help diagnose.

[Melody]

Melody, my wife says her Dad used to hang meat from a hook until it dropped but rabbit in a bag sounds way worse!

Most likely.  I couldn't get past the "neighbors could smell it a block away" and the visual of the 'dripping' bag. <shudder>

Reading your previous posts, I think you are making Chevre using raw previously frozen goats milk right?

This is fresh raw goat milk.  I know the lady personally and have no qualms about not pasteurizing the milk.  The milk is about 3 days old and I did not add CaCl2.  I used the starter from New England Cheesemaking which has rennet, starter culture and maltodextrose (?).  I added one packet to 1 gallon of milk at 86 deg F per their directions.  The starter was stored in the freezer.  I did have an excellent curd set before bagging it and the whey was draining off in a steady stream when I first hung the bag.  Four hours later, it was just kind of a drip...not much coming off although the cheese still felt quite wet when I touched the outside of the cloth.

Actually, after reading your post, I think the smell is more akin to an 'acidic' smell because there is an underlying fresh milk smell...not the true nastiness of soured milk that makes you want to lose your lunch.

[MrsKK]

I make Neufchatel from my raw cow's milk in much the same method as you are describing.  Yes, the smell is different from fresh milk, but you do want some flavor in the cheese and I think the smell is associated with the culturing and "flavorizing" of the cheese.

You might want to scrape the cheesecloth, as John suggests.  My last batch ended up grainy, as I hung it overnight and there was a layer on the outside that was quite dry as opposed to the wetter cheese on the inside.  I put it in my food processor to try to make it all the same texture, but got a grainy cheese that is really only fit for cooking with.

[Melody]

Update...I let the cheese hang for 13 hours but after John's observation that the outside of his drained but the inside was still quite wet, I opened up the cloth with some trepidation.  Yep...mine did the same. 

So I mixed it all up (the outside wasn't seriously dried out) and separated into 4 little molds and I'm going to let it dry/drain for 2 days as one recipe suggested because it's still very much curd.  I did taste a bit of it and it has a very clean, tangy aroma and taste to it.  Very similar to the store bought goat cheese I buy, but oh so much better...and it's not even 'soup' yet!

.

[Cheese Head]

Melody, good news, congrats on your great cheese !