Swelling, Tiny Bubbles In Paste - Raw Milk Contamination?

[Annie]

Hi,
This is the third time I have tried to make this cheese, but each time I have had trouble with the weights. Each time I end up with something which is very full of little bubbles (little holes like baby Swiss, but more numerous)

The way I make it is from And that's how you make cheese, and I am using 2.5 gallons of raw milk from my cow.

Here's what I do:

Heat milk to 88* or so degrees
remove, rest 5 minutes
Add rennet
allow to sit for 1 hour
Cut
Add salt (2t./gallon)
Heat and stir very gently
Drain for 20 minutes (which may have been 30...)
Put into cheese mold
Apply40 lbs/pressure for 12 hours, then flip, then repeat.

I admit that I have had problems keeping 40 lbs on top of the cheese, so the cheese has spent a fair amount of time with less. After the encyclopedias fell off a few times, I took them off s I could sleep.

But I don't think that should allow the bubbles to form, and I am sort of scared of them because I don't know why they are there or what is causing them.

I think the closest way to describe the smell is sort of fishy-ish, with some sort of blandness added in, maybe chalky?

Thanks for any information

[Boofer]

"And that's how you make cheese"

The author is Shane Sokol and the book is full of errors. I could not believe it when I read through and did double-take after double-take.... I found myself saying "say what?!" a lot.

I would back away from this book. Find ANYTHING else. If you must use it, get a second opinion on recipes, techniques, and everything else.

Just a friendly heads-up.

-Boofer-

[Annie]

"And that's how you make cheese"

The author is Shane Sokol and the book is full of errors. I could not believe it when I read through and did double-take after double-take.... I found myself saying "say what?!" a lot.

I would back away from this book. Find ANYTHING else. If you must use it, get a second opinion on recipes, techniques, and everything else.

Just a friendly heads-up.

-Boofer-

Thanks, Boofer. Yeah.... I found out that what probably happened was that the yeasts grew in the cheese, and this was because I hadn't put any cultured stuff in which would have kept that from happening. I quadruple-checked their instructions and sure enough, no mention of a culture.

Bummer....

And aside from the outright errors, they sometimes leave out info, like they said something like after you finish heating... what?!?!? When did we start heating again? How long, what temp?

So, my copy is full of corrections, notes, and supplementary recipes that I got from online!

Thanks again

[Boofer]

Just a follow-on to my comments:

I'm currently reading/reviewing a new book by James R. Leverentz "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cheese Making". He is president and founder of Leeners. It looks to be a well thought-out, decent text for anyone just getting into cheesemaking. Granted, I am not finished with it yet, but it does look good so far.

I will post it with a pic of the cover in the forum library when I finish reading it.

-Boofer-

[Annie]

Just a follow-on to my comments:

I'm currently reading/reviewing a new book by James R. Leverentz "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cheese Making". He is president and founder of Leeners. It looks to be a well thought-out, decent text for anyone just getting into cheesemaking. Granted, I am not finished with it yet, but it does look good so far.

I will post it with a pic of the cover in the forum library when I finish reading it.

-Boofer-

This looks like just what I need I am not so great in the kitchen to begin with, so I need lots of explanations!