ph went down too fast, cultured mozz attempt

[maryfred3@gmail.com]

This was my second try at making cultured Mozzarella, and I mostly followed Caldwell traditional aging recipe. After cutting the curd and slowly bringing temp up, she says to hold at 118 until ph is down to 6.0, might take 60-90 minutes. I checked with ph strip after 60 minutes and I was already down to 5.0 or less, as best as I could tell with test strip. Why would it get so acidic so fast? It was  noticeably acidic to taste, so I do think the ph test was fairly accurate. I have read that really fresh milk is best, and the milk that I used (homogenized, not ultra from grocery store) had been in my fridge for a few days. Is that likely the culprit? Or, is there another possibility--too much culture or rennet?

Any ideas would be appreciated before I try again, Thanks in advance.

[mikekchar]

Happened to me too :-P  Different milk has different buffering capacity.  The higher the buffering capacity, the slower the pH will go down.  Also different cultures acidify at different speeds.  Definitely older milk has the potential to have a lower buffering capacity.  Whether or not it is "too much" culture, you can cut it back and/or reduce the ripening time.  Rennet doesn't affect pH.  However, if your curd solidifies faster, then you spend less time in the vat which means that the pH will be higher at draining.  So in a way, slightly more rennet can allow you to increase the drain pH.  However, I would start with fiddling with the amount of culture and trying to get the freshest milk you can.  Also, don't feel like you need to follow the instructions exactly.  If the pH is falling too fast, then probably the curds are drying out fast as well.  It's fine to speed things along.

[maryfred3@gmail.com]

Makes sense. Next try, fresher milk and a touch less culture. And, a touch less rigidity (goes against my personality). Thanks.

[Susan38]

This was my second try at making cultured Mozzarella, and I mostly followed Caldwell traditional aging recipe. After cutting the curd and slowly bringing temp up, she says to hold at 118 until ph is down to 6.0, might take 60-90 minutes.

Which Caldwell book are you using?  I have her "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking" book and it says for the traditional cultured mozz, to cook only to 98F.  Which is way too low, and the pH doesn't drop at all in a timely manner.  After several attempts I finally figured out to raise the temp since a thermophilic culture is used, and it does well until about 120F.  Anyway, I'm curious to know if she has a slightly different recipe "out there" from what I have.  And also what the ideal cook temp might be since apparently 98F is not ideal and from your post, 118F is not either.

[mikekchar]

It depends on your specific culture and your milk.  It's absolutely and totally unpredictable.  You've just got to do it a couple of times to figure out how it works for your setup.  This is the problem with quick moz too.  But at least with cultured moz you have the option of trying a stretch test every 30 minutes or so.

[Dedicated to trying]

I have to agree with Mike, you have to get to know your milk
For example, with one place I got my milk in 2018 a recepie worked with 2 day old skim milk at 3 tsp CA (Citric Acid)
Wheras I followed the same recepie, with same 2 days old skim milk from another place in 2020, in spring rather than fall, and I had to cut it down to 2 tsp CA.
The next time I knew to add less, and went slowing increasing until perfect for this milk, season, etc. Ph meter helps cut down on frustration, but if doing every day/week with same circumstances you will get a feel for it.
Several times Ive saved a batch that went too acidic by modifying the stretch water to compensate and wound up with perfect ph mozz....
Keep at it, it will come (says the person who tried and failed for 16 weeks in a row until she got it )

[MarkinFlorida]

I had this same problem. After communicating with Jim Wallace at New England Cheese Co he told me the problem is freeze-dried cultures   They start out very slow but when they begin to lower PH they do it very quickly.  Using the recommended time my ph, measured by my PH meter was 5.1 and the result was grainy   According to Jim once it gets to 5.8 you need to have your hot water ready and begin putting curds in to sample the stretchability  When you get it to stretch stick it in the hot water.