Well I have taken on board the forum's recommendation of experimenting with one cheese until it works.
Made my second gouda today and things went much more according to plan.
Had invited a friend over who is also interested in trying to make some cheese. I found I learned a lot explaining the process to her.
My recipe is one that belongs I think to Jeffham, put together from other cheese recipes on this forum with my own interpretations from other readings and articles posted by John.
Thanks everyone.
10 litres standard home brand (oops for some reason only used 8 litres
09.40 Warmed to 32C added one sachet of mesophilic starter diluted in 30ml unchlorinated water.
added ½ tsp Calcium Chloride (30% solution)
stirred top to bottom 1 minute
Let stand 10 min maintaining temperature
Visitors arrived, so cultured a little longer
10.10 Temp maintained at 32.5 C added 0.9 ml Vegetarian Rennet (in water)
Aimed for a floc time of 15mins = 14.0 min use 3x, so cut in 42 mins.
10.52 Centre still very soft, give another 5 mins. Good clean break
10.57 cut curds into 1 cm cubes
10.02 Let stand for 10 minutes – temp 32.5 C . Whey is clear, good seperation
10.15 Drained ~ 1.5 litres of Whey
10.30 Added 80 C water until temp ~33.6 C (Did not need a lot)
let rest 10 minutes
10.40 Drained to level of curds,
added 55 C water to reach temp of 37 C
gently stirred with hands to keep curds separate
let rest 10 minutes
10.55 Drained more whey off, finished adding water, placed dinner plate on top of curds with 2 kg weight and rested for 30 minutes
11.30 Drained the rest of the whey
transferred curds to the mold and into the press
11.45 Started 10kg press (20 min press)
12.15 Re-dressed the cheese, flipped it, and started 20 kg press (20 min press)
12.45 Flip and redress started 20 kg press for 8-10 hours.
Hope it turns out well. The cheese appears to have a good consistency, no wrinkles and bumps around the edges this time.
Found putting the plate with weight on in the whey interesting (from John's posting of Gouda making in factory in Europe). Almost like the layering done in Caerphilly when putting into cheesecloth and mold. Drained really well.
Will take a photo when out of press.
Friend is now a convert as well.
Over all a much better day, and I'm sure a better cheese