Curd broke up on my feta effort

[INGrandad]

I pasteurized 2 gallons of goat milk last evening. 1/2 gallon I used this morning to make soft goat cheese out of. 1 gallon of it I was going to make into a feta.

I added the calcium chloride, I added the lipase, and I heated the milk to 86-87 degrees. I added the meso. starter. I let it ripen an hour.

As I added the rennet and was stirring it the curd suddenly broke. I mean the milk literally separated as I stirred it. I treated it as though it hadn't and let it set for an hour. I then drained that goopy looking mess and hung it. I finally did halfways set up and I was able to cut it.

So I had a half gallon of milk left so I repeated the steps with the exception of the calcium chloride.  THis time omitted it. After ripening I added the rennet and this time the adding of it went okay. I checked the temp after about half an hour and the curd was firm enough that it nearly clean broke around the thermometer.

But by the end of the hour that curd had completely separated. I opened the pot and that lovely curd had sunk into the whey that had separated and trying to cut it was more like stirring loose oatmeal. What a mess. Again I strained it and hung it to drain, but it never did set up.

So what the heck went wrong? THe milk worked great for the goat cheese.

[mtncheesemaker]

Good question. The only thing I can come up with is that maybe you needed a bit more rennet. Is your rennet good, do you know? Have you made other cheeses with it successfully?
Maybe someone with a better idea will jump in.
Good luck.
Pam

[DeejayDebi]

Have you calibrated your thermometer? If you made the goat cheese with the same milk and rennet it can't be those.

[INGrandad]

Same rennet, same thermometer, everything else has worked. Speaking of which I just took my first ever traditional cheddar out of the press and oh my but it is a lovely thing.

I don't know, the variables would be lipase and calcium chloride. Although the 2nd batch I didn't go with the calcium chloride and while it behaved differently, it still ending up breaking up. I'll work at it again in a week or two.

[RenaissanceM]

What type of culture did you use (i.e. cup of buttermilk or freeze dried culture)? Did you check the ph before adding the rennet? How long did you Stir the rennet?

The way you described the milk behaving as you stirred the rennet, I would venture to guess that (1) the milk was fairly acidic when you added the rennet, which made the transition form the enzymatic phase of the rennet (i.e. the enzyme "clipping" off the surface of the casein), to the coagulation phase almost immediate. 2) you stirred the rennet too long for that particular condition. The stirring helped the clipped off caseins come together faster.

Normally, depending on the batch of milk, the rennet should not be stirred for more than 20-30 strokes of up and down motion (for 1 gallon milk that should be sufficient to evenly distribute it).

If you did use freeze dried culture, then I would guess that the milk itself was too acidic before you added anything to it.

[ConnieG]

It could also be the milk.  I've been having trouble with my cheese and milk and I've double checked everything from cleanliness of containers to 'fridge temps and I've worked my way back to my cow.  I think she has an infection http://cheeseforum.org/forum/Smileys/default/cry.gif and now I'm going to send a milk sample to the lab on Monday.

[INGrandad]

Pretty sure it's not the milk. I was using goat milk I purchased locally and then pasteurized. But the same batch of milk worked great for the soft goat cheese so I'm guessing-

I would venture to guess that (1) the milk was fairly acidic when you added the rennet, which made the transition form the enzymatic phase of the rennet (i.e. the enzyme "clipping" off the surface of the casein), to the coagulation phase almost immediate. 2) you stirred the rennet too long for that particular condition. The stirring helped the clipped off caseins come together faster.

THat sound like exactly what it did. I hadn't stirred it for more than 30 seconds when it broke.

I'm new to this, don't have the equipment to check the Ph. I used individual packet of meso. starter. Worked well with cow's milk for some cheddars I made, maybe too much for the goats milk? Or the goats milk in conjunction with either the lipase of the calcium? I haven't done enough of this to be sure how everything works together as yet.

[DeejayDebi]

Okay now I think I missed something. You made cheddar with cows milk and feta with goats milk so they were not the same milk that you pasteirized eariler?

[INGrandad]

I had made a cheddar Thursday evening. As I was doing that I was pasteurizing my goats milk, then made the goat's milk Friday morning.

Think I'll get some more goats milk in a week or so and try this again. May go half and half cow/goat.

I want to make a gouda at some point here, too.

[RenaissanceM]

After adding the rennet it is imperative to introduce the least amount of motion to the milk as possible. Incorporating the rennet with an up and down motion (as opposed to round stirring) for no more than 20 or 30 strokes (depending on the size of your batch) should be enough. If the milk is still moving as the casein begins to coagulate, your milk will end up having cracks etc, which in a way is similar to stirring the milk. Even though knowing the ph is a great advantage that will save you a lots of wasted milk/time, knowing now that 30 seconds is too long should help too

If you ever use active buttermilk/yogurt culture as opposed to freeze dried, you should keep in mind that the ph will significantly go down as soon as you add it to the milk. As opposed to the freeze dried cultures which take about an hour to "wake-up" and start acidifying, even though adding them should slightly decrease the ph as well.

[INGrandad]

If you ever use active buttermilk/yogurt culture as opposed to freeze dried, you should keep in mind that the ph will significantly go down as soon as you add it to the milk. As opposed to the freeze dried cultures which take about an hour to "wake-up" and start acidifying, even though adding them should slightly decrease the ph as well.

Haven't used them as yet, but that's some info I hadn't thought about. THank you.