Expected yield for Cream Cheese?

[DanielCoffey]

I have made my first batch of cream cheese as the first stage of Gavin's "Boursin" herb and garlic cream cheese recipe and wondered what yield I should expect after draining since it looked less to the eye than Gavin obtained.

I used 2L or 3.5 pints of pasteurised, unhomogenised, non-standardised whole milk and 1 cup of creme fraiche I had just made with unthickened cream with Meso Aroma B.

After heating the milk and creme fraiche to 45C and adding 1/3 cup of lemon juice and 1/4 tsp rennet in 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water I let it stand for 40 minutes. The temperature did drop to around 35C during this time.

The curd was extremely fragile as Gavin warned but it did have a small grainy structure. I ladled it carefully into butter muslin but it was very loose.

After 2h30 of draining my final yield of cream cheese was 440g or one pound. The whey which I collected had visible fat on the top, looked pretty milky but did not have any visible solids settled on the bottom so I guess the muslin did catch all solids.

Since it looked like about two thirds of what Gavin obtained I cut back the whipped cream to 2/3, initially reduced the salt to 2tsp then upped it to the full 1tbsp but cut the herbs back to 2/3 and left it there.

What would you expect my cream cheese yield to be at the point where it had drained given that recipe?

For reference his video that I followed is here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Awi6NExCBE

[DanielCoffey]

Is the yield mentioned in the Wiki still considered accurate?

Wiki : http://cheeseforum.org/articles/wiki-milk-cheese-yield/

It suggests that for 3L of milk, 620g is normally expected in which case my 2L + 1 cup of cream giving 440g does seem about right.

It just gave the appearance of a lower yield than Gavin demonstrated. Perhaps the curds were more dense after draining?

[Bantams]

Yield is extremely variable, dependant on the specific animal (protein and butterfat %, kappa casein type, stage of lactation, etc), type of pasteurization, age of milk...
That recipe is not a traditional cream cheese style (which I would expect to be cultured) so I'm not surprised your yield was lower (an acidified cream cheese would produce a more delicate curd that is going to leak hrough the cheesecloth).
Using farm-fresh low-temp pasteurized milk from high component cows will produce a substantially higher yield. I'm getting about 2.5-3#/gallon for soft cheeses from Jerseys. 

[DanielCoffey]

Thank you for the confirmation. Given the recipe I think our yield for a well-drained acidified cream cheese was about expected then.

I have just un-moulded the two cheeses and the final weights were 280g each so 560g total. They are very firm and much less saggy than Gavin showed. I am actually glad I cut the herbs and garlic back because the flavour is more delicate. I will post victory pictures tomorrow in daylight as it is dark and rainy here at the moment.

We are lucky to have a small local farm that sells their own low pasteurised milk from some very high welfare pedigree Ayrshire cows. I have asked for guidance on the fat content of their "Gold" milk which is from their small 100% grass fed and calf at foot herd as well as the more typical Whole and Semi from nearby small organic farms they are supporting and sharing bottling equipment with.

[not_ally]

Daniel, not about the yield, but I tried Gavin's boursin recipe and found the raw garlic much too assertive as well (and I like garlic). Next time I'll poach the cloves in a little milk and cream first.

[DanielCoffey]

Apart from the three cloves in the milk, I ended up using one medium clove minced so fortunately I dodged that one.