OMG what have I done???

[drumbeat]

Hi I am new here and hail from New Zealand. I work part-time for a paraplegic friend who recently was given the offer of cheap fresh farm milk ( a scarce thing in Auckland city), so we discussed cheese-making to go along with the brewing he already does. Anyway, I did a whole heap of research - including this forum so when he rang and said I have 14 litres of fresh milk let's go - I thought I was ready hahaha. I had decided already to start out trying with some simple cheeses like a feta and halloumi before tackling anything else - so with ingredients and equipment in hand I began.

I think all would have been OK except for one fatal mistake. I had purchased a clip-on stainless steel thermometer - lovely thing. I was feeling rather confident carefully moving the thermometer between my two pots (one for halloumi, one for feta) while being aware of the sheer stupidity of trying two different cheeses at once as a first attempt.

All was going well - lipase organised for feta, rennet dissolving, meso culture all set to go in as I am merrily stirring away watching the temps. PING- the spoon hits the clip-on thermometer and it clangs to the floor 

I thought all was lost but the thermometer seemed to keep working - YAY thought I - lucky. At this point the 4L of milk for the feta was at the desired 32 temp, the 8L for the halloumi had a little way to go. I added the culture to the feta and then noticed the temp seemed to have dropped, so I turned it up a little. The halloumi milk didn't seem to be coming up to temp so I kept stirring and keeping it on the heat. Anyway  to cut a long story short, by the time I realised the thermometer really was broken the culture had been added to both, and at what I thought the appropriate time the rennet.
We then remembered Jon's brewing thermometer and used that - by this stage the milk in both pots was between 40-45C !!!!!

I have just left both pots that after over an hours wait have still not coagulated sitting until I go back tomorrow. I can only assume I have killed the meso culture and that this is a first and absolute disastor. Is there any way I can save this or turn it into something? Please help.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Yes, you pretty much killed the meso cultures at those temperatures. At the time it might have been possible to add some thermo cultures and make something else, but time has passed and that's not a good option. So where are you at now? Is the milk still sitting or did you put it in the refrigerator.

I don't believe in losing milk, so I would try for a Queso Blanco (aka Whole Milk Ricotta) and see what happens. Heat the milk up to 88C (190F). Hold for 15 minutes. This will kill off any contaminants that you have introduced into the milk. Add 1/4 cup of vinegar fr every 4 liters of milk. Stir. Remove from heat and let cool. The cheese will rise to the top. Pour into cheesecloth and drain.

Simple cheese. This is my "go to" cheese when something doesn't work. This is a fresh cheese that doesn't need aging. Use it within a week or 2 or freeze some. Thaw it out slowly in the refrigerator to reduce the impact on the texture.

[Boofer]

Wow, drumbeat...and a hearty welcome to the forum!

Yes, pretty adventuresome taking on two makes simultaneously. I have considered it off and on, but decided to focus on doing a good (and difficult) job on one at a time...until I feel like jumping off into the deep end of the pool. 

You mentioned rennet dissolving...how long before using it did you mix it? That matters. It should also be dissolved in cold water just prior to adding it to the milk.

-Boofer-

[drumbeat]

Thank you both so much for your answers and the welcome I agree it was rather silly to have taken on so much at once, but again I think it would have been under control if not for the thermometer breaking.

Yes, I had dissolved the rennet in cold unchlorinated water. To be honest, I don't remember now exactly when I put it in, but yes it had been dissolved a while before I added it to the milk.

As I was not doing this at home I confess I just put the lid on the pots and went home and cried  I will have a go at the Queso Blanco this morning and hopefully we will at least have something to show for the milk. I have now learned that dropping a thermometer in mid-cheese is not a good idea

Thanks again for your help - will let you know how it goes

[Sailor Con Queso]

Drumbeat - we've all been there.

The nice thing about the Queso Blanco is that you will know pretty quickly if it works. If it doesn't, just feed it to the dingos, hike up your boots, and make some more cheese. Just remember, we're here to help. Since the milk has been sitting, it may have naturally acidified, so only add 2/3 of the vinegar and see what happens. If the curd doesn't float to the top after a few minutes, add the rest. G'day & G'luck.

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Hey Drumbeat welcome to the forum. Although you have some difficulties along the cheesemaking, never give up. I have a friend on Turkish forum and every week he tries with multiple disasters along the way but he didn't give up yet.

I dropped my expensive digital thermometer into the water bath the other day, luckily I did have other thermometers. I dismantled the circuit, removed every screw and dried it quickly with hair drier, I was anxious thinking if it is going to work but it did.

Good luck on your cheesemaking.

[buttner-jenkins]

Welcome Drumbeat, from another new kiwi here. So sorry to read you lost your one and only themometer during your first cheese journey.  I am keeping my fingers crossed for you that you manage to make some ricotta for your troubles  & better luck with your next cheese when you get your next fresh milk supply.

Mo

[drumbeat]

woops - thought I'd better get back with the results. My boss guy (who gets the milk at at whose place I making the cheese) rang in the morning to say it had set. So I thought - maybe there is a god after all, and then proceeded to overcook the halloumi base lol. The curds kind of melted away as I stupidly overstirred concentrating on bringing up to temp slowly. Realizing this was never going to be halloumi I brought the temp up higher, added some vinegar and got a not too bad (at least edible if a little chalky) cheese - not ricotta, not queso blanco but cheese nevertheless  What I got to take home has been used on bread, crackers, in lasange *sp, and in white sauce. The boss's larger amount sits unused in his fridge. All he knows is he likes 'tasty' cheese (meaning tasty cheddar - sigh)

The feta actually held together and I am delighted with it  - looks, feels and tastes like great feta to me - miracles do happen.

More milk arrives tomorrow, so I will have another go at halloumi, keeping the thermometer safe. Wish me luck 

I have a few gripes about how much cheese "I" am actually going to get for my time and labour and what I have put into equipment, but that is another tale. I LOOOOOOOOOOVE cheese

[JeffHamm]

Hi drumbeat,

Sounds like things more or less worked out for you.  Well done.  Have a web search around for some of the people who put on cheesemaking workshops around the country.  I took one last year (I think the webpate is something like makecheese.co.nz) and it was well worth it.  We ended up making 3 cheeses in the day (moz, camembert, and mascopone).  After that, you can find recipies and great instructions here.  Anyway, I've made all my cheeses with store bought milk, and both silver top and "home brand standard" work well. 

- Jeff

[drumbeat]

Hey Jeff (I have a son Jeff btw) - I am glad to hear you have had success with the 'standard home brand'. At the moment I am in a fortunate/unfortunate position. The guy I work for has access to straight off the farm milk but I am essentially doing all the 'work' and I can see it getting awkward timewise with some cheeses having to travel to his place. I might have to start commuting my equipment or doubling up or something   I can't afford to go to any courses for now much as I would love to. Then again, I am one of those - I'll work it out myself people lol.

Where in NZ are you? and butter-jenkins? Great to see our *cough cough* great dairy nation represented here 

[JeffHamm]

Hi drumbeat,

I'm in Auckland, so I don't have easy access to any raw milk.  I suspect you'll find that the farm fresh that you have will spoil you for working with the store bought stuff.  Still, it does produce a decent curd, and I get a good yield, so that's good enough for me.  Where abouts are you?

- Jeff

[drumbeat]

I'm in Auckland too Jeff - too many of us Jaffa's around eh lol. I'm in New Windsor and my friend Jon who I work for is in Mt Roskill - he has a mate further up north who brings the milk - all good

I had another go at halloumi today and am very pleased with the result - it did all the right things and tastes great. My only grouch was that it didn't completely hold together in the frying pan when we tried it, but I think it may simply be that it was too fresh when we tried it and that the pan wasn't hot enough when I threw it in.

Tried my first small batch of mozz too - using cultured method - it came out pretty well but I don't think I put in enough salt - rather on the bland side.

[JeffHamm]

LOL!  So the milk comes from up north.  I was worried that you had some inside track on some city cows! 

Anyway, my last attempt at mozz was a failure as I never got any stretch, but I think I over acidified it.  I've had pretty good luck with some of the pressed cheeses (caerphilly, butterkase, dunlop, etc) though.  I think I need to get more weights and eventually build a dutch press though, as I think I'm not really getting the psi up quite high enough.

If you're looking for stuff, there's a brewing shop just across the street from Gailbraith's pub (on Mt Edan Road) that sells cheesemaking supplies. 

- Jeff

[Felix]

Another Aucklander here!   I endorse the suggestion of the buying supplies at the brewing shop opposite Galbraiths.   They have a connection with Mad Millie and stock all of the Mad Millie cheese-making supplies.

Drumbeat, I have read your sad tales with great sympathy.  I think you will have better results if you follow a recipe exactly.  Cheese-making is part cookery but mostly science-lab.   I'm fairly new to all this but have had fantastic results so far - only one failure out of 12 batches of feta, mozzarella and haloumi.

[drumbeat]

Hi again especially to Felix and Jeff. The brewshop in Mt Eden is where I get my supplies - I help Jon (the paraplegic I work for) with a pretty good working still, so it makes sense to get the cheese stuff there too Peter who works there is a great guy, though we had a couple of small muck-ups with supplies lately lol.

Wonderful success with halloumi last week - it turned out perfectly and oh so yummy. Tried another mozz  All looked as though it was perfect until it came to stretching - just wouldn't stretch - I guess I over acidified it *&^%^%$!!!  Oh well we got a heap of usable cheese from it though - great on crackers, bread, with pasta and I made the most awesome tasting cheese muffins -mmmmmmmm - almost worth the muck up hahaha. Will have another crack at it this week when the milk boy delivers. I know Jon has some litmus papers lying around somewhere, but among all the clutter I don't know if I'll ever find them. Take care all and happy cheesing