Yesterday I had a fridge full of milk, so decided to make some gouda. I realized that the oldest gallon of milk was 9 days old (somehow that one got missed in the rotation of stock!) but decided to use it anyway.
The curds seemed to set up into a fair clean break and held together well when I cut them. However, when it came time to stir the curd, it mostly fell apart. Gentle as I could be, it still looked like curdled milk more than curds and whey.
I decided to go ahead anyway and continue to try to make cheese. It was touchy ladling off whey without disturbing the curds because they were so light, but I finally got it all done. Two hot washings of the curd and it was still very light and almost fluffy, so I decided to take a break for supper and the curd rested in the bottom of the kettle under whey at about 98* F for nearly an hour.
I drained off the whey as best I could without disturbing the curd too much, then heavily salted the curd. Not a typical Gouda step, but I knew this wasn't going to be "real" Gouda anymore anyway and I wanted to stop any further acidification. In tasting the curd for salt, I realized that I had made a really huge batch of really good dry curd cottage cheese, so I scooped out a pint for later eating.
I put the rest in my cheese-cloth lined mold and pressed it at 40 lbs for 20 minutes. I flipped the wheel, redressed it and put 80 lbs on it for overnight. I still need to remove it from the press this morning.
At the first pressing, it was starting to knit fairly well on the bottom, so I have hope that this will turn into an edible cheese. I plan on ripening it in a covered container in the cave at 52* F for about two weeks, then will crack into it, as I don't think it will be a good "keeper".