"overnight" pressing

[Priestman]

I've been making raw sheep's milk cheeses using modified versions of the Osso-Iraty recipe in "200 Basic..." 

Until a month or so ago, I pressed overnight, which typically was 10-12 hours.  Recently my schedule has changed so that I'm finishing cheeses in the mid-afternoon, and continuing my habit of pressing "overnight" which has now become 18 hours or so.

Before I start trying to quantify what effect, if any, this is having on the cheese, I'd be interested in any advice/experience/further description of what's going on for that cheese in the waning hours of the pressing?

Best wishes,  Paul

[linuxboy]

what ambient room temp?

[Priestman]

66 F +/- 1-2 degrees.

[smilingcalico]

The issue I foresee is over acidification of the curd.  Texturally the cheese may become drier than you might normally like, or may develop a brittle curd (kind of like a crumbly feta).  Others, am I wrong in thinking this cheese should brine at pH 5.2 to 5.4?  This is not a cheese I have direct experience with, so please don't take my word for it.  Besides, I would also think the usual 90 days ageing (for this cheese) would help ameliorate the acidity problem should it develop.

[linuxboy]

You can go to 5.1. It's usually pretty forgiving. IIRC, that ossau iraty recipe mills the curds and then re-fuses them, right? Like Tim Smith's pyranees?

But, feta-like issue is balance between knit pH and brine pH. Meaning, it's not a foregone conclusion that if you go to 4.9 that cheese will crumble.