Goat milk would not flocculate after an hour

[WashingtonDCcheese]

I've made lots of hard cows milk cheese my first goats raw milk 2gallon Tomme.  I used just less than 1/4 tsp of liquid animal rennet.  Rennet I used a week ago so it's fine.  At 1hr no flocculation so I stirred in Calcium.  Then it set in about 30 minutes from there.  Any idea the issue??  Nice strong  curd when I cut about hour later.

[B e n]

You said the milk was raw, which means it wasn't processed out, but depending on the stage of lactation and the animals diet the CaCl could still be a necessity. Goats milk is lower in calcium than cows milk to begin with, young grass (early spring) is low in calcium, also possible the animal is fighting an infection, if the milk had been cold stored that can also deplete the calcium some.

CaCl is an easy way to hedge your bets, make sure things go smooth. I am not sure the dosages we use are going to have any negative side effects, even if it is all excess.

Caldwell talks a little bit about this in mastering artisan cheesemaking. Good book.

[WashingtonDCcheese]

Thanks. I hated added calcium but it did set after i used it and the curd was strong. I've used raw Cow milk for years with no problem.