Newbie fighting against the rennet!

[GemF]

Hi,

I'm absolutly new doing cheese but after reading several information, I suspect that many of my actual "cheese disasters" are because the cuantity of the rennet and the time that takes to make the curd. Any of them develop a good cheese taste and always has a bit strange taste that I can't identify exactly is not sour but is similar.

My problem is that for example for a fresh cheese all the recipes that I find says to put a ridiculous amount of rennet. If I do that my milk can take minimum 12 hours to reach some kind of soft curd and I don't dare to left more time.
The few information that I found in Spanish webs (here the homemade cheese is not an extended hobby) is to put for all kind of cheese 2ml of calcium and 2ml of rennet for 1l. With this amounts for me it takes 3h (controlling Tº).

With this big difference of info, now I'm so confused of what to do. What instructions are the best to follow or what I need to take in mind when I use rennet?

One last info. One of the main problem and that is imposible to solve is the milk that we have in the stores in Spain. This is not the best and all is pasteurized and homogenized and there isn't another easy options to get milk.

[paulabob]

What kind of rennet are you using?  The vegetable rennets tend to leave more of an aftertaste.   Also, sounds like yours is very weak. 

[Aris]

It should not take long for the milk to set if you use the recommended dose of your rennet. I use a really old calf rennet powder (10+years old) and I still use the recommended dose. Milk sets in less than an hour. Your rennet might be already near expiration. Maybe you should try facebook marketplace to look for raw milk close to you.  That's where I found my source of raw water buffalo milk. From experience, Pasteurized and homogenized milk is fine for cheese making. You just have to be very gentle when handling the curds. You can't really stir it to firm it up. You have to ladle it on a colander lined with cheese cloth.

[GemF]

The rennet is from animal and has 1:10000 strengh (is the standart I found). The rennet also expires at Jan '22 and if I use the correct dosification I can wait, and wait, and wait and anything happens in a reasonable time.
I suspect that the guilty here is the rennet itself and I need to purchase another one to see if that is the real problem.

Thanks!

[Mornduk]

The rennet is from animal and has 1:10000 strengh (is the standart I found).

That's what's called single strength in the US, and what most books refer to in the recipes.
European UHT milk is going to give you a hard time, but you should still get curds in an hour or less. My guess would be that either

• The rennet went bad at some time (e.g., exposed to heat, contaminated while you were using it, etc.)
• You are deactivating the rennet when trying to use it (e.g., you're mixing it with water in the same bowl you used to mix annatto)

[Aris]

The rennet is from animal and has 1:10000 strengh (is the standart I found). The rennet also expires at Jan '22 and if I use the correct dosification I can wait, and wait, and wait and anything happens in a reasonable time.
I suspect that the guilty here is the rennet itself and I need to purchase another one to see if that is the real problem.

Thanks!

Buy animal rennet powder if available because it has a really long shelf life and highly concentrated, you only need a little for the milk to set. Store in the freezer when not in use.

[bansidhe]

You probably already know this but you cannot use ultra pasteurized milk.  That is No milk that comes in a box. When I lived in Italy, many people used parmalat for milk.  That won't work.  I don't know if that sort of milk is as common in Spain but if that's the kind o milk you are using, that would be the problem.  Of course, I suspect you already know all of this but I thought I would throw it out there.