Author Topic: Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps  (Read 2932 times)

JohnnyBHammerer

  • Guest
Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps
« on: June 28, 2010, 05:47:57 AM »
Finally got a chance to try making mozzarella cheese.  This brought up some questions.  Based on a mix of recipes I started with the following:

1 gallon market whole milk, pasteurized and homogenized
3/8 C yogurt w/live cultures
1/8 tsp CaCl 60% in 1/4C distilled water
20 drops Makala vegetable rennet in 1/4 C distilled water

Warmed milk to 90F.   pH 6.8
Stirred in CaCL

Q1:  How much CaCl should be added?  It seemed like 1/4tsp per gallon for 30% solution and half that for 60%.  What about powder CaCl?

Added ~1 C milk to yogurt to thin.
Stirred into milk.  pH 6.4
Let sit for 30 minutes.  pH 6.38
Stirred in rennet, floated a plastic bowl, started timer.
It took 14 minutes to gel.

Q2: Should the bowl move at all.  At 14 minutes you could push it but it would quickly stop.

pH is 6.50?  As best I can figure my earlier sample contained too much yogurt culture.

Q3: How do you take measurements?  I removed a spoonful for a sample.  I think the culture hadn't stirred in as well as intended.

Using 3x multiplier I waited 28 more minutes.
Tried testing for clean break.  It wasn't as clean as I would have hoped.
Waited a few more minutes and cut curd into 2 inch pieces.
Let heal for 10 minutes.
The next recipe step was to cut or wisk curd into 1/2 pieces.  The curds were falling apart, so I stirred very briefly and gently.

Q4: I know over processed milk (e.g. high temp pasturization) can cause this.  The milk is old.  Can age cause this too?

Let sit for 10 minutes.  Whey is suppose to start to separate.  pH is now 6.45
I start heating the pot heating to 100F over then next 50 minutes stirring briefly and gently at 5,10,10,10,15 intervals. pH 6.40
The pH is suppose to be down to 6.1-6.0 for draining.  Past midnight, I was a little lost and unsure how to proceed.
I left the curds in whey to develop more acid for about 30 more minutes.
My brain was no longer working.  I can't remember the pH reading and didn't get it written down. Time to go to bed so I drain curds and store in glass container in fridge.
Then next morning....
I check the pH.  One curd is 5.8.  One is 5.6.  Not the 5.1-5.2 I was hoping for.  I have a busy day so back in the fridge.
The next morning....
I check the pH.  Now I'm seeing 5.2 and 5.3s.  The bowl goes in the sink with 100F water to get those bacteria busy again.
Some hours later I'm seeing pH 5.15s.  I test some curds in 170-180F water.  Not very stretchy yet.  Cool in the cold brine and taste.  Rubbery but tastes OK like pizza mozzarella.
Refill sink with 125F water.  More waiting.
The sink drained when I wasn't looking.  pH 5.1Xs
I heated one chunk of curds in the water again to try stretching.  Not very stretchy but a little.  Made a ball and into the brine.
Out of time again probably until tomorrow.  Curds back into the fridge.
The little ball spent 4 hours in brine.  Other then being too salty and a little slimy presumably from over brining, it wasn't rubbery and and otherwise tasted fine.
Hope the chillophobic err, thermophillic bacteria go slowly enough in the fridge because I wont test stretch until tomorrow after work.

Answers, comments, and suggestions welcome.

Minamyna

  • Guest
Re: Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2010, 05:10:20 PM »
Linux boy helped me a ton with the very similar problem and while my mozz is not perfected, it was really good last time.

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,4127.0.html

He talks about the 5 things that make cheese rubbery and he suggest things I could do to make it creamier.

MrsKK also told me about how she stretches hers in salty whey, and I still struggling with getting the final salt content correct.

The recipe I was using is here:http://www.wacheese.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48:traditional-mozzarella-howto&catid=43:moderate-cook-temp&Itemid=66

I don't have a working pH meter, so you are a step ahead of me in that department. I got my cultures from The Cheesemaker.

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2010, 06:22:08 PM »
I've been working on that mozz howto for a while and have been tweaking it. I think the issue of acidity has been oversimplified. In previous versions, I've tried using only buttermilk or yogurt, to have a way to make mozz using common ingredients. But it turns out best using either specific yogurt and buttermilks mixed together, or using DVI culture. It's really tough to get it right using either meso or thermo culture because all mozz I know of uses this intermediate bacteria, Streptococcus thermophilus. It's key to a proper tenderness because it works across a wide range of temps, and is very active at the lower range of normal thermophilic L helveticus or bulgaricus.

By acidity oversimplified, I mean there's more to mozz than a straight acidity drop. I've made mozz before using a single variant culture, and let the acidity drop, and it still turned out dry. Curd size was right, fat content was right, temps were right, etc. So something about the culture selection is making the difference. I think that to get the tenderness, those caseins need to be able to retain water. More acidity helps with that, but I think the cultures break down caseins in different ways and at different rates. Cultures produce more than just lactic acid. They also produce byproducts. The combination of byproducts from S thermophilus is like easy fuel for the L helveticus or bulgaricus, and then it grows rapidly and acidifies rapidly even at the low end of thermophilic temps.

End summary point of all that: you need the right ratio of coccus to bacillus bacteria shapes, and the coccus must include S thermophilus.

I also am thinking of completely abandoning the long culture method because I've had excessive moisture loss when letting the acidity build for more than 6 hours. Solution instead is to preacidify and rennet at 6.2-6.3. That way you get the right texture in 3-4 hours.

That howto is still a work in progress, but I'm getting close. Mozz is tricky, hopefully I can finalize the exact steps to make exactly consistent, soft mozz without needing pH meters.

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2010, 06:52:43 PM »
Quote
How much CaCl should be added?  It seemed like 1/4tsp per gallon for 30% solution and half that for 60%.  What about powder CaCl?

that's right, 1/4 tsp solution per gallon of milk, or ~.386 grams of granuar CaCl2 per gallons of milk for a .01% concentration.

Quote
Q2: Should the bowl move at all.  At 14 minutes you could push it but it would quickly stop.

It's the surface gel point. The bottom where it touches the milk shouldn't move when you nudge it... .you shouldn't be able to spin the bowl.
Quote
pH is 6.50?  As best I can figure my earlier sample contained too much yogurt culture.

I'm starting to believe preripening is required and have had better results with 6.3 lately when adding rennet. The curd still comes together but it's a lot softer.
Quote
Q3: How do you take measurements?  I removed a spoonful for a sample.  I think the culture hadn't stirred in as well as intended.

I take a spoonful and put into a sampling container.
Quote
Q4: I know over processed milk (e.g. high temp pasturization) can cause this.  The milk is old.  Can age cause this too?

Yes, mozz requires the freshest milk possible. I've had curd shattering even when I knew the milk was batch pasteurized, but had been sitting at 34 F for 10 days.

Overall, I think you're doing okay. See my notes on culture selection... I think it makes a big difference because it lets you stretch sooner, which helps the curd to be not as dry. Also pH is logarithmic, so that .1 drop is a hundredfold increase in the acidity. It does take time, and it also takes time for that acid to break up the casein.

Minamyna

  • Guest
Re: Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps
« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2010, 06:53:10 PM »
The mozz I made, I used thermo B, from cheesemaker.

    *  Thermophilic Cultures Type B (10 grams )
      (ST) Streptococcus thermophilus
      (LBB) Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus
      (freeze-dried direct set/DVI-Direct Vat Innoculation)

      For the production of Italian style cheeses, such as Mozzarella, Romano, Parmesano, Provolone and Grana (Reggiano). Ten grams to 50 liters(13 gal.) of milk. Use 1/2 tsp.per 12-15 liters (3.4 gallons) of milk.
      This packet will acidify 13 gal. (50 liters of milk).

Is this good?

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2010, 07:03:31 PM »
Yes, that is an appropriate culture selection for mozz, and other Italian cheeses. I assume it's mixed in the appropriate ratio already... I don't know offhand what the ratio is for Thermo B.

I've been investigating the metabolic pathways of various lactic producing bacteria and I am only now realizing the huge difference in final flavor and aroma and texture nuances that both blends and individual strains have on the final cheese. I had thought for years because of anectodal evidence that various strains produced roughly the same product, and similar meso and thermo combinations resulted in similar flavor profiles, but it seems this is only sometimes the case. For example, L helveticus strains and other non-starter lactic bacteria in traditional meso cheeses have huge influences on the final flavor profile. Some are able to bring out more nutty notes, some more sweet. Same story with propionic... some are heavy propionate producers and generate lots of gas, and some favor the acetate more, and are useful as adjuncts to enhance flavor in traditional meso cheeses like cheddars or AOC thermo cheeses like comte and gruyere.

I think I thought this because the culture selections from the major producers, like Danisco and CHR Hansen are very similar and do make a similar product. They're still the ones that were isolated 60+ years ago from bulk culture for phage resistance and general commercial applicability. This is one of the reasons why raw milk or using multiple undefined cultures makes for more interesting cheese.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2010, 07:22:49 PM by linuxboy »

JohnnyBHammerer

  • Guest
Re: Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2010, 05:43:55 AM »
Thanks for the replies.  After watching the you tubes Minamyna referenced in the other thread I tried to follow one of the chefs techniques.  I cut the curds into pieces, added salt, and then hot tap water ~125F.  After a few minutes I drained and added more salt and then ~170 water.  Temp dropped to ~140.  So, I re-heated a cup at a time in the microwave to ~170.  The curd clumped but never really melted together.  It seemed less stretchy then before.  I meant to take a pH measurement after cutting the curd but forgot before I have the curds in the hot brine.  I don't know if the acid never fully developed or overdeveloped.  Because of the texture and a bit of a cottage cheese taste I'm betting too much acid.  Lots learned!

I definitely want to step up to DVI cultures and lipase.  I'll ask about that after I read more.   :)

Amatolman

  • Guest
Re: Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps
« Reply #7 on: June 29, 2010, 01:45:43 PM »
Thanks for the replies.  After watching the you tubes Minamyna referenced in the other thread I tried to follow one of the chefs techniques.  I cut the curds into pieces, added salt, and then hot tap water ~125F.  After a few minutes I drained and added more salt and then ~170 water.  Temp dropped to ~140.  So, I re-heated a cup at a time in the microwave to ~170.  The curd clumped but never really melted together.  It seemed less stretchy then before.  I meant to take a pH measurement after cutting the curd but forgot before I have the curds in the hot brine.  I don't know if the acid never fully developed or overdeveloped.  Because of the texture and a bit of a cottage cheese taste I'm betting too much acid.  Lots learned!

I definitely want to step up to DVI cultures and lipase.  I'll ask about that after I read more.   :)


I haven't near perfected this, the one that was most successful i used this dvi http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/p/139-Thermophilic-DS-5-packets.html
I'm picking up more and more good info from these threads.

JohnnyBHammerer

  • Guest
Re: Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2010, 08:20:49 PM »
I also am thinking of completely abandoning the long culture method because I've had excessive moisture loss when letting the acidity build for more than 6 hours. Solution instead is to preacidify and rennet at 6.2-6.3. That way you get the right texture in 3-4 hours.
If I understand correctly preacidify means letting the bacteria provide their goodness mostly by consuming lactose and making lactic acid until hitting 6.2-6.3 before adding rennet.  In contrast to adding some citric or other acid to 6.2-6.3 and then letting the culture make the further pH reductions.

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Nozzarella Making - Questions, Tricks, and Traps
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2010, 08:41:53 PM »
Yes, right. Perhaps more correctly I should have said pre-ripen.