Sourness in final product

[MacGruff]

I am puzzled by what has been happening in my cheese makes over the past few months and I am hoping that some of the wise cheesemakers on this forum may be able to guide me as to what I am doing wrong.

My cheeses have developed a distinct sourness to them.

I noticed this in all of my cheeses recently and was wondering what is happening. I opened up a five week old Monterey Jack last night, and it had a mild sourness - to the point of tasting more like sour cream than a Monterey Jack. I had that happen to a Cabra El Vino (aged for four weeks) a week or two earlier. Then, I saw some seepage on a ten month old Gouda that was in my cheese fridge, so I opened that up, and decided to taste it too. The sourness was so strong, I ended up throwing it away.

Clearly, something I started doing about a year ago is causing this, and it is something very wrong.

Since all these cheeses use different techniques: Gouda, Monterey Jack, Cabra El Vino; and different aging times, it must be something else. The commonalities are that I use store bought pasteurized and homogenized whole milk, and, of course, I am the common element.

Any ideas on what to look far would be appreciated!

[paulabob]

Have you changed any of your salting/brining techniques?  Are you tasting the cheese, or just the whey seeping?

Are you in the warmer months of your climate -> which increases acidification at room temp?  I have to decrease times during warmer months.

[rsterne]

Well, the basics of Chemistry is that acids are sour, so for some reason you are getting excess acid production.... My first few cheeses were like that because I was pressing too hard initially and trapping whey in the cheese, which caused them to be sour, crumbly, and often cracked with irregular voids that are not shiny inside.... I recently had excess acidity in a Monterey Jack which I think is from cooking it too long.... The curds, once compressed in my hand for a grip test, fell apart with the slightest touch of my thumb, instead of having to tease them apart.... showing the pH was too low at that stage....

We only have pasteruized, homogenized milk available here, so rather than using whole milk, we use a blend of 2% P/H and add 18% cream to bring the butterfat content back up.... 8 litres of 2% plus a litre of 18% works out to 3.8% BF with our store bought milk.... I use less cream, or even start with skim milk, if I want a lower butterfat blend....

Bob

[MacGruff]

Thanks Paula and Bob,

I do not think it's temp related as the Gouda was made in December and the Monterey Jack in August so there was quite a temp variation in between. The cheese cave is temperature regulated to a constant 55%.

I like Bob's idea that this might be related to me pressing too hard. The cheeses have been too crumbly. They also are not melting well, so I was wondering about adding some fat to them. Your idea of adding some cream is something I will pursue in my next make.

Thanks.

[Aris]

Maybe you are also pressing the cheeses too long and not paying attention to its acidity. By the time you salt them they are already over acidified. I think it is also possible it continues acidifying in the brine. I have made several unpressed and uncooked high moisture cheeses (lots of trapped whey) but they never developed too much acidity. They were pliable, they melt properly and has the right amount of sourness. I track acidity by smell, taste and heating a reserved curd to see if it melts or stretch. If it smells slightly sour and stretch slightly when heated. I start dry salting and place it in the fridge or cooler to halt acidification.

[MacGruff]

Hmm... Similar idea. Thanks.