Rennet Quantity Accidentally Double - Remedy & Resultant Cheese

[meganp]

Woke up early this morning and started a goat's-milk cheddar. I wasn't as awake as I thought, and used twice as much rennet as I should have. Realized it when I started getting curds while still stirring in the rennet.

It's been sitting for 20 minutes of a suggested 60-minute rest. Is there anything I can do to rescue this, or am I doomed to bitter cheddar?

I have another half-gallon of goat's milk in the fridge - could I warm that and chuck it in, or would that just be wasting more milk? I saw one suggestion that letting it age 3+ months may minimize the bitterness. Any other suggestions? Thanks all!

Megan in Atlanta, GA, USA

[Threelittlepiggiescheese]

my immediate reaction would be add more milk, but it looks like you posted over an hour ago so its too late for much

[meganp]

Thanks for the reply, TLPC. Last reply I got was within 5 minutes, so was hoping for same this go-round.

I let it go without adding anything (that raw goat's milk is pricey!), but pulled it off the whey in 40 minutes rather than 60. Curds were grainy, matted quickly, and really squeaky on the teeth, but tasted all right. I microwaved some herbes de provence and dried sage in some water for a couple minutes, then heavily salted that and tossed it in the drained curds. It's pressing now, we'll see what it tastes like in a few months.

[DeejayDebi]

Don't panic. The cheese might not be what you were expecting but it might still be very usable. Probably be very dry and crumbly but with luck not to bitter and if it is just eat it with something sweet!

[meganp]

Wanted to post an update now that we've broken out this cheese. After aging for 3 months, I opened it up at the end of July at a family reunion. It tasted like an herby italian hard cheese, almost asiago-ish. The salt seemed to have dried/hardened it significantly, and the herbs were the main flavor, but there was a detectable sharp cheesy-ness to it as well. Best part - there was no detectable bitterness, and the family thought it was fantastic. Thanks for the replies and suggestions - glad I didn't just toss it!