Provolone Cheese Making - Problems Discussion

[Brentsbox]

I decided to break away from my normal method of making Provolone from my mozzarella recipe and tried the recipe here on cheesefourm.org  I did everything just like it reads however im coming up on 3 hours now after removing the curds from the whey and still cant get it to stretch. 

Ive never had this problem with my mozzarella recipe, but then again, my mozz curds are not cooked at 144F.  I used 2 gallons of  2 day old fresh raw whole milk, cream and all.   The question is, do you think if I put it into the refrigerator and let it sit for 24 hours it will make any difference?   I normally leave my mozz curds in the refrigerator 2 to 3 days.

its days like today that I wish I had a PH meter so i could see what might be going on.

[ConnieG]

I hate it when that happens.  I made this the night before last (144 f) and it was fine.  I'm a newbie too but maybe you ought to map out what you did - any variation on the recipe as written?

[DeejayDebi]

Be patient! That is the key to pasta fileta type cheeses. Wait, test, wait, test ... I find it always works perfectly if you go to bed and stretch the next day.

[Brentsbox]

Well, I got impatient after 9 hours of waiting and went ahead and heated the curds to 90 in some salted whey and then packed them into a mold and pressed over night for a mystery cheese. 

Debi, My question is now this,  my mozz recipe works great for making provolone.  I let it sit in the refrigerator 2 or 3 days and stretch and brine to make provolone.   Do you know exactly what it is that i am accomplishing or doing when I follow the provolone recipe and heat the curds to 144F.  I for some reason thought this was going to somehow eliminate the need to let the curds sit in the refrigerator so long before i could proceed.    I still want to try it one more time even if I do have to wait as long as it takes.

[ConnieG]

I recently had 2 provolone failures in a row before it worked like a charm.  I decided it was something wrong with the milk.

[DeejayDebi]

Try Peter Dixons recipe it works well. Waiting pretty much just builds acidity which is important to the cheese. Funny how one recipe works with one person and not another. Different milks, waters, grasses etc. I guess.

http://www.dairyfoodsconsulting.com/recipes_provolone.shtml