What does DCU mean in this sentence? - "6.25 DCU / 100 Liter of vat milk"

[steve5000]

when referring to culture

[woodsman]

Direct Culture Unit is enough freeze dried culture to inoculate 10 liters of milk. This sentence would mean that for this particular application only 6.25 x amount is sufficient for 100 liters. 

[linuxboy]

That's Danisco's default recommended amount for their DCU usage rate, equal to a 1% bulk starter equivalent.

[smilingcalico]

For those of us who have a hard time trying to look at a bag of culture and figure out how much to use, go here http://www.thecheesemaker.com/cultures.htm to see how many teaspoons of culture or mold to use. 

[linuxboy]

Well, that's one approach, but it can be difficult to be exact. But if at all possible, I try to use gram measurements, as explained here

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,5669.msg41416.html#msg41416

for normal starter cultures, if you over or undershoot, the cheese will should come out OK. Not consistent, but acceptable, especially if you monitor acidity. For mold cultures and specialty cultures that need such a small amount per 100 liters, adding too much or too little can make a big difference.

Using DCUs and gram measurements is a much more consistent approach. If you're using teaspoon measurements and want to be consistent, it's better to use mother starters, as Sailor has posted about in his photoessay thread.