Feta softening

[Zapacat]

Hi all,

I’m having a problem with my feta softening in brine. I’ve done a lot of reading and despite tweaking of the pH and CaCl2 of the brine, it keeps happening. I’ve also tried drying it longer before going into brine. I’m hoping someone might be able to pinpoint my problem. I’ve recently been trying to use pH targets (pH sticks) with no real success and I’m wondering if pH (not getting acidic enough) is the issue. I’m using pH sticks which I know aren’t the greatest but a pH meter is on my wish list.

Recipe is raw cows milk, aroma B, lipase, CaCl2 temp 85F/30C. My cow tends to have soft curd which is why I add CaCl2 and it seems to help.
Ripened 1 hour. Normally I’d just go ahead but since this time I had pH sticks I checked and pH was 7.0. I waited another 10 mins pH 7.0, waited another 10 mins pH still 7.0, gave up and added rennet.
Let set 40 mins, clean break, cut into 3/4” cubes, let stand 15 mins, stirred gently 20 mins
Ladled into Camembert hoops
Let drain flipping every 2 hours til bedtime which was 3 flips, then let sit at room temp overnight
At 24 hours checked pH by shoving a stick into the cheese, pH was 5.0, waited and at 32 hours pH was still 5.0. Since it didn’t seem to be moving, I weighed the cheese, cut it into semi circles which were about 3”/10cm tall, salted at just under 5% (I was concerned the edges of the semicircles were going to be too salty so chickened out of the full 5%) and let it sit in a tub with the lid partially open at room temp another 24 hours draining whey as it accumulated.
I then put it in an 8% brine with CaCl2 added at a rate of 2Tbsp/gallon(4L) and vinegar to bring pH to 4.5 and put it in the fridge.

5 days later the edges are soft (again grrr). I checked the pH of the brine and it was up at 5.3. I cut off the soft stuff, adjusted pH back to 4.5 and put the chunks back in. The soft stuff also tastes extremely salty which I imagine is the soft stuff soaking up the salt?

The only other thing I can think of other than pH is that the CaCl2 solution might be wrong? It’s from Glengarry so I'm assuming its probably right. I did buy some granules so I could make up my own.

Side question, if thoughts are pH is the issue, should I just keep on with the ripening until pH drops even if it takes say 2-3 hours? Same with draining time prior to salting?

Thank you for any thoughts,
Teresa

[Susan38]

Hi Teresa,

I have yet to make feta, but noticed a couple of things on your post I want to comment on:

1.  Your pH sticks may not be very accurate.  I used them too for awhile until I got a pH meter and it wasn't till I started using the more accurate meter that I was able to make sense of what was going on with the pH.  And the reason I mention this, is:

2.  Your pH of 7 seems too high, even for the raw milk.  There are posts in the Ingredients board that talk more about this, but if indeed your milk is measuring 7 or higher before doing anything with it, it could mean you have a high somatic cell count in your milk and if so that could indeed affect the cheesemaking process.  But you may not have this issue, it could be your pH sticks are not reading the pH accurately.

So I would recommend first confirming what the real pH of the milk is before you start making cheese, then if the milk is at the correct pH (I think normally 6.5-6.8? again more info in the other boards on this) you can start sleuthing the steps in the cheesemaking process to see what might be the culprit of your resulting too-soft cheese.

Hope this helps.  --S.

[Zapacat]

Hiya,

I reallly do want a pH meter but just having an issue springing for one (and which one to get) right now. I know you are right about the sticks. I was just hoping to see a trend but maybe I won’t even see that with the sticks. My cow is getting into later lactation so you may be right about a higher somatic cell count right now. Her curd yield has increased dramatically in the last month too.

What pH meter did you end up getting?

I read a post from cheesemaker94 where he upped the culture to counteract the buffering of his milk so I may try that next time. I was also thinking I could go with a more acidifying culture as well although I do love the taste of the Aroma B.

Thanks for your thoughts!
Teresa

[Susan38]

pH meter...I went with Extech Exstik 110, similar to the 100 model.  After a lot of research done on this forum with recommendations by others.  I highly recommend you search the equipment board as there is a lot of great information there.  So from what I gather there's a tradeoff of cost vs. quickness of readings...the Extech model I got was under $100 US but I guess you can spend more to get quicker readings.  I'm quite fine with waiting the 20-30 seconds it sometimes takes for the reading to stabilize.  There's a learning curve to using it as there's no great instruction manual but if I think if you can make cheese you can figure the pH meter out!

You most certainly can play around with culture amount and types...for me and my milk and environment I have found Aroma B to be quite a slow acidifier so that could be the culprit with your current dilemma...but it could be so many different things.  If you are patient and try one thing different in each make you will eventually figure out what you need to tweak to get things the way you want. 

Good luck and hope you will continue to post your progress....

[Zapacat]

Thank you so much! I will tweak more and if I figure it out I’ll report back.

Teresa

[Susan38]

I'm planning a brined cheese soon so thought I'd do a refresher course on how to get my brine ready for next use.  I read up on Caldwell's discussion and did indeed read what you were suspecting the soft rind issue was about:  "As with calcium, if the pH is not balanced, there will be a movement of ions and a softening of the rind".  It seems like you used plenty of calcium chloride in the brine so I'm guessing pH might be the problem.

[Lancer99]

Teresa,
I've done a couple of fetas, followed all the advice, and still they started to get mushy after a couple of weeks.  Maybe this is sour grapes, but the last one, which I took out of the brine after a couple of weeks and has been in the fridge for a month (unbrined, dry) is delicious.  I wonder if maybe we are obsessing more about techniques rather than results.

L

[River Bottom Farm]

I make feta for our household with our whole raw milk. I use this recipe: https://www.fiascofarm.com/dairy/feta.html

I save whey to use in the brine (pH will balance with the pH of the cheese) and add 1tbs per gallon of brine. They key is to wait and ripen way longer than you are. (ripen hanging for 1-2 DAYS. so pH will bottom out before salting. You don't need to check it with a pH meter just wait until it smells and tastes tangy at around 1 to 2 days. I know that probably sounds weird but if you are using raw (not pasteurized) milk that you trust it will be the best fetta you have tasted.

[Zapacat]

Thanks, everyone!

My last batch seems to have worked out. I let it sit on the counter in its moulds until the pH dropped. It took 40 hours which seems a shorter time than Ive waited before with no movement (shrug) but this time it dropped. Into brine and no softening, yay!

Much appreciated, all,
Teresa