Hello, I am a pretty new cheese maker but not a total newbie, I have made several Queso Fresco, 3 Manchegos and 1 Gouda. Today I made a couple of cheeses but on the second one i didn't get a "clean break"; curds were soft and didn't cut well at all. The first cheese I made today was ok, but the second had the problem I described above. Ok, I used same animal rennet for both, the only difference was, on the first one I used Meso and on the second (a Bel Paese), recipe asked for thermo. I followed recipe step by step and i was really shocked that I didn't get a good coagulation. Now, since on this second cheese that failed I used a Thermophillic that I had not used before (and purchased recently) I wanted to ask you guys if a bad, spoiled or outdated culture can cause that problem. If it cannot, then I don't understand where I failed. (Rennet is ok , I used same full cream milk I usually do, I used Calcium Chloride, I use distilled water to dilute the CC and the rennet).
If a bad direct set culture wouldn't cause that, then what else could?
Thanks in anticipation!