Problems with my Red Leicester #2

[MarkShelton]

I suppose I took it for granted that my first leicester came out beautifully (except for the color!) Yesterday I made another, determined to get the color right, but things went bad and I'm not sure its going to be salvageable...
I think its a problem with my rennet. After ripening with the starter I added 1) 12 drops of annatto per gallon, 2) 1/8tsp CaCl2 per gallon, and 3) 1 BioRen rennet tablet (the whole batch was 4 gallons).
I had been having problems with coagulation with this rennet for a while; it always seems to take 2 - 3 times longer than it should to produce a clean break, but after 1.5 hours after adding the rennet, there was no coagulation at all. I even stirred it to make sure. Completely liquid still. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I added another dose of CaCl2 and rennet, and this time got a floc time of about 10 min. I finished the batch according to the recipe, but not quite the same results. It was quite a bit crumblier during the cheddaring stage, and while it is currently pressing, doesn't seem to have knit well judging by the last time I turned and re-dressed it.
So essentially ripened for quite a bit longer than it should have, and/or has double the dosage of rennet, or, assuming that whatever happened to the rennet may or may not have affected the starter, I have either way too much or too little acid.
Any thoughts?

[Cheese Head]

Mark

Sorry for your troubles, never made a cheddared cheese so no advice there, but your rennet having problems on previous batches is a red flag. Some members have had good luck with tablet rennet, but there are many posts here from many members having problems with tablet style rennet. When you get the chance I'd switch to liquid.

Also, I assume you didn't use the same container that you pre-diluted the annatto in for pre-diluting/dissolving the rennet? Best practice is not to as annatto retards rennet. Also, I think you have the highest dosage rates of annatto here to date , so it could be you need to counter with a little more rennet.

As you say, the extra time probably resulted in higher acid/lower pH.

[MarkShelton]

hahaha, so i keep pushing the envelope on annatto usage? I actually used less than the 16 drop per gallons as stated for Red Leicester in the page on annatto! 12 drops per gallon did give a pretty orange finished cheese, and thats without any ageing too.
True, I diluted the annatto separately from the rennet (actually I had small bowls for each of the coloring, CaCl2, and rennet. Assuming that the annatto is interfering with the rennet even when diluted in the milk means I'll have to do some experimenting on optimum rennet quantity when using that much coloring.
I may be the first to establish such a protocol here on the forum (as I may be the only one interested in making red cheese!)

[Lennie]

I used that much annatto in my last cheese (jalapeno cheddar) and had no problem with the coagulation using my liquid 2x vegetable rennet.  I used a similar amount on a gouda and it too was fine.  So I don't think the problem is the annatto, more likely the rennet is weak.

[MarkShelton]

Here is the color of the finished cheese.

[Cheese Head]

Mark, another beautiful looking cheese, much stronger color than your previous batch with 4 drops/US gallon. Thanks for trailblazing on these high dosage rates.

Good luck with aging!

[DeejayDebi]

By golly I think my glasses tinted!  Afterthat ages about 6 months it will be really dark.

Nice looking cheese Mark!