Thermophilic Starter Culture & pH Profile

[stinkycheeseandmore]

help...I have made the jump from using the generic "thermo" cultures that I have purchased at cheesemaking.com to more specific cultures (MAII, MA400 etc). Since the change it's harder to tell if the cheese is ripening correctly. I have made the assumption that the new cultures are all direct set. Is that true? If not how do I prepare them?

I also think I may have made too many chnages at once, I have changed the cultures, I went to raw milk, and I am trying to use a PH meter for the first time.

oh, and yes, my friends do say I lack culture 

[linuxboy]

All freeze dried cultures can be added directly to the vat. Some are multi-strain stable and can be recultured or made specifically for bulk culture propagation.

What makes it harder to tell if maturation is on target?

[stinkycheeseandmore]

I am not seeing the drop in PH that i was expecting to see (could be a ph meter issue) and not seeing the cheese growing the molds (camembert and blue) as expected. Obviously there are a lot of factors in play but I wanted to eliminate the cultures being used incorrectly. I am following the recommended amounts on the culture packages and not the amounts in the recipe.

[linuxboy]

With the DVI cultures, you need to wait 30-60 minutes after adding them so they wake up. After that, they should start working. You're right, with cam and blues, the cheeses need to acidify completely down to 4.6-4.8 for the molds to grow. What pH are you seeing 1 day after ladling curds?

[Boofer]

I am not seeing the drop in PH that i was expecting to see (could be a ph meter issue)

Can you characterize what you're seeing or not seeing a little more? What are your readings and what do you expect? What type of pH meter do you have?

I too am not seeing the pH drops I expect and am questioning my technique and the meter itself.

-Boofer-

[stinkycheeseandmore]

I am at a starting ph of 6.7 and it really only gets down to 5.7 or 5.8. I am afraid of adding too much starter.

Based on what I am hearing is that I am not giving the starter enough time to get going and bring the ph down.

I found that my PH meter's temperature was off by quite a bit, so have calibrated that. I have a Oakton phtestr 30. I had problems calibrating it correctly the first time I used thatm I think I have solved that issue. Then when I used it a second time it would take forever to settle into a reading. I believe it would not settle down because the temp calibration was so off. Have both temp and ph calibrated correctly now.

Will try another batch this weekend as my previous batches just never developed like I expected. disappointing. I regret changing som many variables at once. However, I am pleased with the tabletop warmer I purchased to heat the milk.

[Boofer]

At what point are you seeing the 5.7 or 5.8? Seems like your readings should be good. In contrast, mine don't seem to budge from around 6.60 to 6.80.

-Boofer-