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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => FRESH LACTIC ACID COAGULATED - Normally Whey Removed => Topic started by: Mreams on April 29, 2012, 09:36:03 PM
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Hi, just signed up today and I am having one heck of a time trying to figure out what is wrong with my Chevre Cheese! I have been making it for 2-3 months now and now that summer is here my cheese is nonexistent! I have made about 4 batches of Chevre cheese and the end result is a tough mushroom top with a spongy consistency underneath. I have sterilized EVERYTHING over and over again! I have followed the instructions to a tee and still my cheese is ruined. I normally make a 3 gallon batch and that means 12 gallons milk wasted! Please help! I cant afford to waste anymore milk!
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What kind of milk? Raw or pasteurized? How do you sterilize? How do you milk?
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We milk our goats with a machine. We clean and sterilize the tubes for the machine frequently. After obtaining the milk I pasteurize the milk to 140 degrees for 30 minutes. I sterilize by boiling my instruments for at least 5 minutes.
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If you are pasteurizing and are having contamination issues, it's time for a full audit of your downstream equipment and workflow in the process.
Identify every piece of equipment, and try to identify possible sources of contamination.... for example, are there scratches on any of the handling equipment? How about the vat? Is there any biofilm that has built up? For your air, have you changed the filter and the area around it? Are you possibly bringing this in from the outside? Changing clothes when you come in, wearing protective gear? Probably not the latter if you're doing 3 gal batches, but similar idea applies. Somewhere, you have a failure in equipment, in cleaning and sanitization, or there is something transferred through the air or through contact.
Also look at your sterilization schedule. Yes, technically boiling helps, but I have seen biofilm issues that boiling does not solve. It's more effective to use at least a 150 ppm chlorine rinse to sanitize, after a caustic/detergent wash to clean.
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Thank you very much! We will get that done ASAP!! Should I dump the milk that we have waiting to be made into cheese?
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No, but heat it higher to 165F and hold it there for 10-15 mins. Then try to culture as usual.
When you culture, is there anything setting on the milk from the air? Is it a closed 3 gal container?
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How about the milk itself?