Whenever I make cheese (and it has only been a handful of times), the time it takes for me to get a clean break after adding the rennet is always significantly longer than the time mentioned in the recipe.
Yesterday I made (hopefully) a Manchego. My rennet bottle suggests 1/2 tsp per 2 gallons. I made a 4 gallon batch and thus used 1 tsp of rennet. The recipe I used says I should get a clean break after 30 minutes. It took over an hour and a half; and even then I wasn't happy with the break. This lag time has happened with three different rennets: junket rennet tablets, vegetable rennet and animal rennet.
What gives?
How long should it take to get a clean break?
Will the cheese be adversely affected by the long lag time?