Irregularly Sized Holes In Draining Cheese - Raw Milk Contamination?

[Annie]

I am sorry to ask so many questions and really appreciate all the help--i have two of my milk-drinking teens away and am milking 20# day so I am under pressure to make a lot of cheese until they get back!

Anyway, I cut up my feta after it had been hanging for 24 hours and it had quite a few irregularly sized holes which were shaped the way you would expect them to be shaped considering the hanging... I don't know how to put that.

The smell was just fine, not that crummy smell I had earlier, nor any yeasty smell at all. So I tossed it with some salt anyway, Bit thought I would ask.

Thanks so much.

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

What is your starter culture Annie? Do you use raw milk? These may be the gas producing bacteria of some sort.

Can you post a picture?

If the taste and smell is OK, I would eat that cheese after proper aging in brine.

[Annie]

What is your starter culture Annie? Do you use raw milk? These may be the gas producing bacteria of some sort.

Can you post a picture?

If the taste and smell is OK, I would eat that cheese after proper aging in brine.

Oh, thank you Gurkan :)

I used a packed meso starter but yes to the raw milk. I will brine it thoroughly--luckily I have another batch, so we won't go nuts waiting ;)

I can't post pictures right now.

[Cheese Head]

Annie, if you were using cow's milk hope you added some Lipase otherwise your Feta will be very very bland.

When I make Feta I drain unpressed in my Camembert hoops on mats and always get some gaps internally and around perimeter of my disks, I think it is from pockets of whey.

[Annie]

Thanks so much, John, I didn't know that aboit cow's milk :) And luckily since we really like sharp cheese I did put in lipase :D

And I hadn't thought that they might be whey holes!

[Cheese Head]

Welcome, first batch of Feta I made was basically cuddled milk flavour until I learnt about Lipase and bought some.

I'm assuming its pockets of trapped whey, if you look at my pictures you'll see that the two ends have no voids as curds filter caked off nicely against the mats.

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

There is highly salty white cheese in Turkey called Mihalıç and if there are no holes as big as Swiss holes , nobody buys it. So it is sometimes desirable to have wholes in feta like cheeses.

Is your meso Aromatic B or Flora Danica type? If the knit of the curd is good there shouldn't be any air pockets and the whey should just drain without creating any pockets. I usually do gravity drain for a day in a cheesecloth and cut and brine it and there are no holes.

I am guessing your raw milk might have carbondioxide producing bacteria in it.

Make another batch with pasteurisation and see what the result is going to be.

And yes, lipaz or 50/50 goat's and cow's milk helps with the taste of feta.

[george]

basically cuddled milk flavour

I'm with John, I think cheeses come out better when you cuddle the milk first.  It's just another variation of "made with love".

(Sorry, John, couldn't resist)  ;)

[Cheese Head]

Ha, way cute . . . cheese making is a labour of love!

[Annie]

Gurkan,
The culture must be a Flora Danica (as I have never heard of the other type) It's cremoris and something else.

You may be right about the milk, It makes a lot of sense to try pasteurizing, but when the cheese comes put well, it comes out really well, and most of the rest of the time I can see or find out where I went wrong.

Actually, now that I think about it, I think I usually let the feta sit unbagged for a bit before tightening it up. It was late whrn I did that one, I'm thinking maybe I didn't do that.

I think I will learn how to pronoince your wholey Turkish cheese's name and tell people I am making that instead of feta ;)

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Hi Annie,

You've got the most important principle of artisan cheese making right:

When there is a failure, just change the name  ::)

[Boofer]

You've got the most important principle of artisan cheese making right:

When there is a failure, just change the name  ::)

Now I see where I've been going wrong.  ;)

-Boofer-

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Chuckles  ;D