Author Topic: Swelling, Tiny Bubbles In Paste & Yeasty Smell - From Buttermilk Starter?  (Read 2153 times)

Offline SayCheese!

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I had some buttermilk in the fridge (left over from churning sweet cream butter) about a week old.  When I made mozzarella this week I decided to do the same procedure at the same time with my buttermilk - so I added the lactic acid starter, then an hour later the proper amount of rennet.  40 minutes later I had clean break so I cut the curd.  I use Mrs. KK's recipe for Mozzarella so I left it to acidify overnight.  It was a little cool in the house, so all my cheese took longer to acidify - about 24 hours.  I stretched the regular batches of Mozz but the buttermilk batch seemed a little as if I had added yeast...it smelled slightly yeasty and had little air bubbles.  I put it in the fridge because I didn't know if it was safe to eat....  Any ideas on what might be going on?  (Thanks for any replies!)  ???  BJ
BJ

Alison

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Hi BJ

If you are still wondering about you "yeasty" buttermilk starter moz - I don't know if you are aware that you can expect a yeasty smell on other cheeses (I get it after 3 days on a drying reblochon, but I don't see bubbles as it is a semi-hard by that stage). I doubt it will be dangerous, though you may not intend to repeat the buttermilk experiment. But since my moz is sometimes slimy and I'm not dead yet, I venture to guess that some bacteria (gas producing ones) get over productive when you left the milk, I think that a similar problem arises when I don't stir my moz enough (at the curd in whey stage). Still since my sterilization protocol is pretty strict except for using good raw milk, I think the bacteria should be friendly ones.. I hope

Regards
Alison