CheeseForum.org ยป Forum

GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => EQUIPMENT - Making Cheese => Topic started by: reg on June 24, 2008, 12:40:11 PM

Title: pH Meter
Post by: reg on June 24, 2008, 12:40:11 PM
we ordered a Milwaukee Digital PH meter yesterday from Amazon. will more than likely get it within a few days or so. it will be interesting to see at what levels the PH is when getting ready to cut the curd and also the levels after pressing when starting to age

will chart the entire event when i do the Pepper Jack next week

reg
Title: Re: pH Meter
Post by: Cheese Head on June 24, 2008, 08:30:36 PM
Congrats for the price that would also be the electronic one I'd have chosen, but do you measure the acidity of the curds or whey or are they even different, expect you'll be able to tell us soon.
Title: Re: pH Meter
Post by: DaggerDoggie on June 25, 2008, 12:12:49 AM
I'm looking forward to seeing how that works out for you.  This may be the missing link to true success.
Title: Re: pH Meter
Post by: reg on June 27, 2008, 10:56:24 AM
yesterday i spent some time studying on the subject of PH and it seems that just about every aspect of cheese making has critical PH requirements. the book American Farmstead Cheese by Paul Kindsted is full of technical info and a good read, confusing to the lay person at times but full of very good info. some sections i had to read more than a few times but i think i'm getting the idea of how important PH is in producing good cheeses.

there are PH parameters that should be followed right from adding the starter to finishing the cheese. also each different cheese has different preferences to PH levels during cheese making. interesting.

reg
Title: Re: pH Meter
Post by: Cheese Head on June 27, 2008, 11:08:15 AM
Morning reg, I agree, basically a cheese needs to reach a certain pH to ensure a process is complete, before proceeding to the next step. How it gets there is not just a function of ingredients, process, and time as per the home Cheese Making Recipes we all use, but also the more subtle type and season of milk; quality, stength, and freshness of cultures; humidity and temperature. Much of which we ignore in our simple recipes.

Welcome to the world of intermediate vs beginner cheese making ;D.