Feta, Sheep Milk - Recipe Differences vs Cow Milk Feta?

[dttorun]

Hi,
I've been making pasteurized/homogenized 3.25% cow's milk feta with fairly good success. Now I decided to make sheep milk feta. It is 6% fat pasteurized but not homogenized. Instead of paying $5 per gal for cow's milk, I paid $5 per liter for sheep's milk and drove 3 hours to get it.
So, I don't want to leave any room for failure and discard 10 Lt of precious milk. My question if there is any significant differences in the process. I guess I need to heat up to similar temp but how about pH before renneting? How fat content affects renneting time although the milk is not homogenized? I guess I still need to add CaCl2 but can skip lipase. Sure it will be creamier but how long should I be waiting for draining to press?
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tan

[mtncheesemaker]

I have access to fresh sheep's milk here during the season and I don't pasteurize the milk.
I make feta and other cheeses with it. I never use CaCl2 with it and generally cut back the amount of rennet that I use by about half and heat to 2 degrees less than cow's milk. I use the recipe from Fiasco Farms and don't press the cheese.
Maybe you should do a trial run with 1-2 liters first to see how it behaves. I don't have a pH meter so can't help you with that.
Sheep milk freezes very well so you can use some for a test and save some for later.
Pam

[Tomer1]

Driving 3 hours for milk is really prooving that your a cheesemaking addict :)

[dttorun]

Hi,
My name is Tan and I am a cheese addict :-)
I made sheep milk feta and it is under press now. I did not change anything and obtained densest curds I ever get with 60-70% more yield. I even got at least 1 lb ricotta.
Thanks,

[zion6]

Where the heck can I get sheep's milk? Seems easy in other countries but not USA. I'm in California ans we have cow and goats milk coming out of our ears

[Cheese Head]

zion6 welcome!

www.realmilk.com in US maintains a listing of suppliers by state, you could also try Posting in the Geographic > USA > California Board but I see there is a thread there already that you could bump.