Why cut corners? Understanding the science basically just gives you a toolkit for reasoning using a model. Science isn't reality. Science is a practice of using and validating models that help you predict outcomes.
I don't use a pH meter. A pH meter is very helpful, but it's also a gigantic pain to clean and keep calibrated (I've owned 3 in my life and given them away, because I'm too lazy :-) ). However, the science of cheese making helps you deduce where you are with the pH. Deciding not to use a pH meter is not about "winging it". It's about making a choice to use *other markers* to understand acidity. Deciding not to use a pH meter is not a short cut. It's just a choice -- and it's a choice that requires you to pay *more* attention to what you are doing, not less.
People hundreds of years ago did not understand acidity. There used to be an archive here of old cheese making books (100-200 years old). Sadly, with the loss of the attached files, I think they are gone now. However, it's not as much of a loss as you might imagine. Those books were *terrible*. The people writing them had no idea what they were doing. They made bad cheese. You may think, "But you never tasted it. How do you know it's bad?" You know because you understand the science and you know that the stuff in the books was completely bonkers :-) To be fair, cheese making at the time was women's work. Writing books about cheese making was men's work. I got the impression the men writing the books had more ego than knowledge ;-)
I'm not saying that cheese 200 years ago was all terrible. I'm absolutely sure it wasn't. However, good complex cheese was rare, and the secrets were protected and handed down. That's why there were famous producers of cheese. They *also* did not know what they were doing, but through trial and error and luck, they made good cheese. This isn't to say they cut corners! I'm sure they were incredibly meticulous! Probably they were meticulous to the point of absurdity (only turn the cheese quarter turn on a Tuesday, kind of craziness). Science is about making *simple* models that can be reasoned with. People often make *complex* models when they aren't trained in the scientific process.
Speaking of the history of cheese, we often think that very, very old cheese styles were the same then as they are now. However, take Camembert cheese. The white rind on Camembert wasn't standardised until *1970*! Before that, it was common to have a mixed rind -- often grey, brown, speckled, etc. Our imagination of cheese in times gone by are just that -- imagination. One of my favourite cheeses is Caerphilly. However, it's pretty clear that there isn't a person alive who knows what Caerphilly is supposed to taste like. Caerphilly production was halted in WWII. After that, it's really unclear if anyone *ever* made an authentic Caerphilly. The cheese died out completely in the early 2000's, but was revived by a Cheddar cheese maker in Sommerset. The current artisan form of Caerphilly (a Welsh cheese!) is based on the imagination of an English cheese maker. (I mean, modern Caerphilly is *amazing*... who knows what Caerphilly 100 years ago was like).
This is all to say, don't cut corners :-) There is no need. Just build a good model and use it to reason about what you should do to produce the cheese you want. If the cheese you want only requires a simple process, then go for it. If it requires a complex process... then that's what you need. Use the tools that you want to use and that allow you to produce the cheese you want. Generally, more tools, used intelligently make it easier. With less tools, you need more understanding, experience and practice.
