We tried a Robiola yesterday/today, and everything went perfectly up until cutting the curd.... We were using Ricki's recipe from her book, confirmed by NEC's online recipe, and the coagulation took 14 hours, well within the range of 8-24 hours, and there was a pool of whey on top and the curd was starting to pull away from the pot.... We cut the curd into columns 1.5" square, let rest 5 minutes, and then when we tried to cut the curds smaller (bean sized is called for), they instantly turned to mush....
We tried to remove the whey by ladling out of a sieve, but the whey would not even collect in the seive.... Ladling this slop into the moulds was not possible, so we poured it into a muslin lined collander, gathered up the cloth into a sack and hung it for an hour to get rid of some of the whey.... It was still much too slopply, so we squeezed out some of the whey, which was very milky, until we could get the remaining mush into a basket mould, lined with butter muslin, and are currently pressing it with a gallon of water in a milk jug.... It tastes OK, but I have no idea if it will set so that it can be handled and brined....
Once in the moulds (which should have been at 5 AM our time), it is supposed to sit to acidify for 12-18 hours before brining.... I assume we should use the same total time before we brine this (hopefully) lump?.... Anybody have a guess as to whether it will be more or less acidic after the fail during cutting?.... It actually tastes OK, so if we can consolidate and brine it, we may get something edible....
Does this epic fail qualify us as Cheesemakers, or are more misadventures called for?....
Bob