Author Topic: Fast Flocculation  (Read 1497 times)

cheesewiz

  • Guest
Fast Flocculation
« on: April 28, 2010, 09:28:28 PM »
I made the Edam cheese from the recipe on this site (http://cheeseforum.org/Recipes/Recipe_Edam.htm) and decided I would try the flocculation test I've been reading so much about. I used 1 gal of cream line milk, 1/2 tsp of calcium chloride and 1/4 tsp of rennet.

Instead of waiting 1-2 hours for a clean break, as the recipe suggests, I spun the cup on the top of the milk. To my surprise, within just a few minutes, I could no spin the cup, and when I took it off, there was the cup indentation. Multiply that by 3, it would only come to 6 minutes, compared to the 1-2 hours in the recipe. Just to be safe, I waited 13 minutes before cutting the curd, which definitely gave me a clean break.

I just switched from raw milk, where I added no calcium chloride, to store-bought cream line. I figured I needed to add the calcium to milk that had been pasteurized. Should I have left out the calcium chloride? Why would there be such a huge difference in the set - my 6 or 7 minutes to their 1-2 hours? I did notice that in my first try with cream line milk (this was the 2nd), following the recipe to the letter, the curd seemed sort of rubbery and harder to cut. Should I cut out the calcium chloride, or cut down on the rennet? I followed the suggested amount for one gallon on the bottle.
Thanks for your help!

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Fast Flocculation
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2010, 09:45:08 PM »
You are using too much rennet. Is it double strength? Floc for edam should be 12-15 mins. 10 min minimum.

I rarely use CaCl2 unless I know the milk needs it.

cheesewiz

  • Guest
Re: Fast Flocculation
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2010, 09:54:22 PM »
Will this cheese turn out OK, with the fast time?

I went back to the website where I got the rennet and it does say it is double strength there, but not on the bottle. The bottle label says to use 1/2 tsp for 2 gallons, but the website says to use 1/4 tsp for 2 gallons.  :(

Can this cheese be saved?
« Last Edit: April 28, 2010, 10:00:25 PM by cheesewiz »

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Fast Flocculation
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2010, 09:58:20 PM »
That website is wrong, with double strength, you should be using 4-5 ml per 100 l of milk diluted 1:80 with distilled water. Meaning, even less than 1/8 tsp per gallon. I wish the whole tsp system would go away when measuring rennet, esp with double strength.

Yes, you can save the cheese. It's good that you used floc, otherwise, you would have gotten an ultra moist cheese that would very quickly turn bitter. Follow through with the recipe as usual, but increase your brine time by 10-15%, about 4.2 hrs total, using no more than a 20% brine (do not use saturated), and decrease the aging temp to 50-52. It will take an extra 1-2 months to age. The higher salt and lower temp will help equalize out the peptidolysis.

edit: 22% and 4+ hours is a it much. An 18-20% at 4 hrs would be better. You want to get the salt to the middle as quickly as possible, and at a good concentration, somewhere around 2%
« Last Edit: April 28, 2010, 10:07:08 PM by linuxboy »

cheesewiz

  • Guest
Re: Fast Flocculation
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2010, 10:01:55 PM »
Thanks, I'll mark my bottle for next time. I appreciate the tips for saving the cheese!