Calcium Chloride - What & Where Buy & What Amount Use & How Well Work?

[Cartierusm]

Sal, how's the austrian getaway?

[Cheese Head]

Yep, my second to last batch when made Camembert I had too good a curd set, was already receeding from wall of stockpot when I went to cut it 75 minutes after adding rennet, see picture.

Last batch was Feta making and again great curd set and nice de-wheying as you can see in pictures, sorry no picture of before cut curd.

Both those batches used 1 US gallon of store bought pasteurized homogenized whole (3.5% I think) cow's milk, 1/2 teaspoon of my diluted CaCl2, ~3 grams manufactured mesophilic culture, and ~3 grams powdered rennet. I stirred both CaCl2 and rennet in for about 1 minute each using a whisk to get full dilution.

I'm not sure if it's the excellent stirring or the excessive CaCl2 that's giving the great curd set.

[Cartierusm]

First off both of those cheeses look excellent. Second, very interesting that you got such a good set from just a little more CA CL. I'll have to find out what it will do to the cheese if I add more.

[Aikage]

So ...I just bought a pound of calcium chloride that is for raising the Ca levels of pool water. 
I feel like an idiot asking this since I'm almost positive of the answer, but.... Can I use this?
What does "Food grade" mean
I figure the chemical formula is the chemical, so buying CaCl2 for a pool is the same as buying CaCl2 from a brewshop.  New England Cheesemaking Company sells a pint for 20 bucks or so and that seems pretty expensive.  I know leener's sells it for 8 but they have a min. 10 dollar order and I'm also impatient and want to get going here making some cheese!  Anyway, I guess I'll hold off on dumping toxic chemicals into milk for the night until I hear from someone.  Thanks in advance.

[Cheese Head]

Hello Aikage and welcome to this forum. I made a small info page on CaCl2 here.

Good question that I have also wondered, see the OP in this thread where I almost ordered high grade salt water aquarium grade CaCl2, but then chickened out and bought from cheese making supply store. To be fair I didn't use any for my first 10-15 cheese making's wher I used store bought past milk and still got good curd sets.

I think the issue is it's purity as I think CaCl2 is a mined and refined product. The concern is not the CaCl2 but the makeup of all the other ingredients.

There is a guide book here from Dow Chemicals.

You use very small amounts of it even in aqueos solution and it lasts for ever. Why not make cheese without it and when order supplies add it to your order . . . good luck in your decision.

[linuxboy]

Hi,

All chemicals are graded according to various grades, as follows:

A.C.S.: A chemical grade of highest purity and meets or exceeds purity standards set by American Chemical Society (ACS).

Reagent: High purity generally equal to A.C.S. grade and suitable for use in many laboratory and analytical applications.

USP Grade (United States Pharmocopeia), NF Grade (National Formulary), or FCC Grade (Food Chemical Codex): chemicals are manufactured in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) standards and that meet the requirements of the USP, NF, or FCC.: A chemical grade of sufficient purity to meet or exceed requirements of the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP); acceptable for food, drug, or medicinal use; may be used for most laboratory purposes.

Lab: A chemical grade of relatively high quality with exact levels of impurities unknown; usually pure enough for educational applications. Not pure enough to be offered for food, drug, or medicinal use of any kind.

Purified: Also called pure or practical grade, and indicates good quality chemicals meeting no official standard; can be used in most cases for educational applications. Not pure enough to be offered for food, drug, or medicinal use of any kind.

Technical:  Good quality chemical grade used for commercial and industrial purposes. Not pure enough to be offered for food, drug, or medicinal use of any kind.

You must use USP grade or above. You can usually find rather cheap USP+ grade CaCl2 on ebay or your local chemical supply store. You don't need very much to make a pint of 30% solution. It's definitely cheaper to make your own, but if you want 30% solution exactly, you need to dehydrate the CaCl2 first, then measure the weight and dissolve.

I'm not sure if the pool chemical you got is USP grade. Most likely, it is not. Then again, it might be, say, graded to technical or above, and actually be higher purity, but the manufacturer doesn't need to certify it as that purity, so doesn't pay for the more expensive tests and certification. I would feel comfortable buying USP CaCl2 from a reputable dealer and making my own solution, but not from a pool supply place.

[wharris]

Thanks Linuxboy.  You never fail to deliver quality info.

[Frumunda]

I got some calcium chloride in the mail today!I'm gonna make me some pepper jack cheese this weekend!

[zenith1]

calcium is essential in the regulation of any coagulation process be it hemostasis (blood clotting) or curd knitting in cheese making. It is used in the covalent(?) bonds that are formed. Too little, and the bonds due not form( or at too weak a strength). Too much, the bonds due not form( or the bonds actually are driven apart). Both things are bad obviously either in hemostasis or cheese making. As has already been documented here on the forum, the pasteruization process in commercial milk production removes some of the naturally occurring calcium, hence the need to supply supplemental calcium when using commercial milk. From what I have read, and through my own experiences in cheese making, the use needs to be ~ 1/4 tsp per two gallons of milk of a 30% cacl solution diluted in cool DI water. With that rate of application I have had very nice curd formation. Now to my question for the forum-next week I am going to make a goat cheese cheddar using fresh milk. I have read in a couple of sources that you should use cacl when using goat milk. Does that mean even fresh goat milk?

[linuxboy]

Hi zenith,

Goat milk for me sets better than cow milk, but it depends on the feed and period in lactation when the milk is gathered. Winter milk is not used by some cheesemakers because of poor quality. But you can use it if you adjust your process.

For raw milk, I don't use additives and it works well as is. I use CaCl is only for pasteurized milk or for cow's milk or winter milk.

[zenith1]

thanks for the info, I think that I will go without the addition of the cacl.

[CBBaron]

the use needs to be ~ 1/4 tsp per two gallons of milk of a 30% cacl solution diluted in cool DI water.

Stupid question.
Why do we need to dilute the CaCl solution in water before adding to the cheese? I understand for the rennet if you don't it can curdle prematurely where the rennet first enters the milk, resulting it poor texture. But CaCl does not cause curdling by itself. So why can't we skip that step and just add it directly?

Thanks
Craig

[linuxboy]

Diluted solutions dissolve better. You can skip that step, but it may take longer or require more stirring to distribute the Ca2+ ions. It's basic osmotic distribution. That is, a more dilute solution will take less time to distribute its dissolved ions.

[zenith1]

cbbaron-no questions are stupid here. We are all here to learn. Keep posting. I agree with linuxboy about dilutions of all additives- they just work better done that way. I always put any additives into solution after diluting them first be it ca cl, rennet, or coloring.

[Tom Turophile]

Is the conclusion that it can't hurt to add the CaCl?