Brine pH

[wharris]

According to the Brine link to "www.thebeveragepeople.com"  I need to take my brine and "Add enough ripened Whey to lower the pH to below 5, preferably 4.7"

Well,  my whey is at about 5.7 pH.  So that is out.  Hmmm.  So now what?

Should just make sure my brine is at the same pH as my whey?,  or,  should i add something like Citric Acid in the brine to lower the pH to the recommended 4.7 pH?

[Sing_cheese]

Wayne,

I use the following recipe for my brine and it is around PH of 5.3  (any salt will do as long as non iodized - my note from the log

"placed in new 20% brine solution room temp 74f (12 Liters distilled water, 2kg sea salt, .5kg cheese salt, 2 tbs calcium chloride, 2 t tbs white vinegar)  of the brine PH 5.31"

I have been using this one with no problems.  I have read in several places that the addition of Calcium Chloride is important (have not found the science behind it yet though).

[Cartierusm]

I never take measurements of my brine. I just dump in salt until it's saturated. I never use whey as I'm afraid it will start to stink. I just use distilled water. Wayne, if you know why you need to use whey let me know, make sure i'm not doing it wrong.

[wharris]

Well,

I've read about using whey from several sources.    I believe that the reason whey is used is to adjust the pH. And by adjust, i mean lower.  Theoretically, you can lower the pH, and not have to list anything else in the ingrediants in your cheese. 

I do not know why the pH needs to be lower, nor do i know what the proper pH of my whey should be.  There stands a good possibility that the addition of the whey is to more closely match the brine pH to the cheese itself, and that the 4.7 pH reference is the pH of most cheese?  and if that is the case, that matches a post i read earlier in this forum where someone mentioned that the whole brine should be made from the whey.

That being said, there are other ways to lower the pH. My whey was at 6.12,  not low enough to meet the suggestions of "theBeveragePeople"'s suggested 5.0-4.7. 

So, i addded just a pinch of citric acid to my whey. 

It took my pH from 6.12 to 4.7 right away.

So,  my gouda is soaking in it.

But that makes my brine is a lot more acidic than my cheese.  I may be melting my gouda.   I hope not.    If so, this will be a very depressing cheese weekend.

 



Side note;  Gouda is so much less time consuming to make than Cheddar.  10min ripening?  wow.
I finished in only 3 hours and was left wanting.....

[Likesspace]

Wayne,
I nearly always make my brine out of the whey. I figure the whey should be the same PH as the cheese, so why not use it.
This has kept my provolone from melting which always seemed to happen when using salt water brine.
I only use the whey once since salt is cheap and like Carter said....I'm not sure how well it would keep.
Also, I'm pretty sure the PH of say provolone whey would be quite different than the PH of swiss or Gouda whey.
Like I said, it works well for me.

Dave

[wharris]

Well, I am happy to report that after 13 hours in the brine,  my first gouda held together nicely, and is in day 2 of a thre week drying cycle at 50degF  and 75% humidity.

I plan on developing a natural rind on these, so no waxing.

I will take some pics later tonight.

[nilo_669]

That being said, there are other ways to lower the pH. My whey was at 6.12,  not low enough to meet the suggestions of "theBeveragePeople"'s suggested 5.0-4.7. 

So, i addded just a pinch of citric acid to my whey. 

It took my pH from 6.12 to 4.7 right away.

Hi Wayne if you want to achieve a Whey from 6.12 to 5.0 ph let your Whey sit for a while til it reaches the desired Ph .  Do not use Whey that was cook to make  Ricotta because all of the bacteria cultures were dead already  , must be a fresh whey that was drained from cheese curds.

     Ive been packaging my Fresh Mozzarella from Brined Whey and its definitely more attractive looking than brined water.