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GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => STANDARD METHODS - Making Cheese, Coagulation => Topic started by: Gardenchick on January 21, 2013, 09:03:21 PM

Title: Difference with vegtable rennet amt?
Post by: Gardenchick on January 21, 2013, 09:03:21 PM
I tried for the first time this weekend to make cheese.....tried...... The recipe called for 1/4 tab rennet per 1 gal milk. When I got to this stage I diluted it as it said , added it & NOTHING! The milk set there for an hr. There were a few tiny cottage cheese pieces in the bottom of the pan. SO, my question is do you use the same amt of veg rennet as you do the animal? The recipe just said rennet, nothing about which kind. BTW, I found a good source of local milk & added all of the other goodies, so I am baffled at what happened. Thanks for your help. I am going to give it another try if I can find out what I did wrong.
Title: Re: Difference with vegtable rennet amt?
Post by: H-K-J on January 21, 2013, 09:12:34 PM
what type of tablet rennet (manufacturer) and what does the package instructions say as far as dosage per gallon? :-\
Title: Re: Difference with vegtable rennet amt?
Post by: margaretsmall on January 21, 2013, 09:13:00 PM
It's impossible to know what went wrong without knowing exactly what you did, but it could be that your rennet is old. You will see that everyone here recommends using liquid rennet, not the tablets as its easier to measure the small amounts needed. Liquid rennet comes in single and double strengths (and for all I know, more concentrated than that). The supplier will give you a guideline as to how much to use - my bottle of double strength calf rennet says 1.25ml to 10l. It seems to me that most recipes which don't specify the type of rennet are using single strength rennet, and you can use either vegetarian or calf. Having said that, as you go on you will find that you need to finesse the amount of rennet as it has different effects on different milks. Search the forum on 'flocculation' and you'll find lots of information on how to decide when to cut your curd, how long it should take, etc, etc.
I suggest you detail what you did and that will give us more clues as to how to help you.
Margaret