Using a pH meter with curds. Do you take reading of Whey or Curds?

[bmckee561]

I make wine and beer as well as vinegar, laundry detergent and many other neat things at home.  I am now venturing into the world of cheese making and I need a few questions answered, please.

I have 2 different styles of pH meters available and I am uncertain what I am to sample when checking pH.  Do I insert the pH meter into the curd or the whey when sampling?  Is this the same for temperature?  I know I have to take these readings to create good cheese and I want to get it right, so any help or advice here would be appreciated.

To date, I have managed to get 2 batches of home made mozzarella completed and I like the initial results even though it is far from perfect.

I also have a fermentation chamber available which I use for beer, but plan to age my cheese in.  It is controlled by a PID controller, so it is quite accurate as far as temperature control.  I realize it may cause me problems in the future to use it as a beer fermentation chamber after aging cheese in, but I can live with that.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions.

Salute!   

[gianaclis]

As long as the meter will read to the 100ths (as is 0.01) then you can use it.  When reading whey, as opposed to curd, it is usually 0.1-0.2 higher than the curd would be at the same point in processing.  If making cheddar, you check the whey coming off the curd, if making a hard cheese to be brined, then you check the pressed curd. 

[linuxboy]

Hi Gianaclis . Nice to see you here.

My rule of thumb is that when making cheese, you want to know what is happening in the curd so you can make various decisions about what to do next based on that curd. This means measure the temp of the curd, and measure the pH of the curd. Practically, this means measuring the whey that the curd releases as the closest possible point to the curd. So for example, say the curds have settled under whey. You don't check the pH at the top of the vat, but you take a handful of curd, squeeze it, and measure the pH then, the pH of the whey that the curds have released.

Even if you stir well, I find that the whey right above the curds in the vat is more acidic if you let the curds sit. There's this sort of gradient top to bottom, because like Gianaclis said, the curds will be .1-.2 lower.

[bmckee561]

I really appreciate the responses.  I have 2 pH meters and only one of them reads out to a .00 display.  I will use it in the future.

Thanks so much.

Salute!