Hi everyone!
We have been making cheeses since 2007, and we made many Sainte-Maure cheeses without any problem in all seasons, using homogenized Paul's goat milk in Australia.
However in the last 3 months the curd has been very weak for some reason and very difficult to work with.
Basically we have to let the renneted curd stand overnight forming a mass, then strain it into a triple layer of muslin, then put it in the Sainte-Maure tube. And even though it is still super moist.
We use calcium chloride, of course, and 17 drops of 200 IMCU rennet for 2 Liters of milk.
Any advice would be welcome.
For the last 2 Sainte-Maure, we had to unmold the cheese by pushing it horizontally onto a sushi mat, since the cheese is too fragile to be handled, and brining is out of the question, salting by hand is a must. And the sushi mat ¨moves¨ the cheese.
Different goat herds? Or different food for the goat? Mystery! Adding more rennet may make the cheese bitter, they say...
In advance, thank you for your good advice! Have a great weekend!