First Alpine style with raw milk - I'm scared

[borisb2]

Finally found a close by source for fresh raw milk (selling and buying raw milk is highly restricted here in NZ)

So I took 9l of raw milk (1 day old) home and followed an alpine style recipe I did before - leaving out calcium chloride.
(1/8 tsp ST, 1/8 tsp LH, 1/16 tsp Propionic, 1/8 tsp mix of Geo/B-linen)

After pressing I did notice the yield is quite a bit lower on this one, only about 950g for 9l (usually I get around 1.1-1.25kg for 9l depending on recipe).. but more importantly, the pH at wheyOff was about 6.2 but after overnight pressing it didnt come down below 5.8 - so I still started salting it. Now I'm a bit scared that this "dangerous" raw-milk cheese wont be acidic enough.

Any thoughts?

[Aris]

What was your target pH when it gets brined and what was the brine temperature? I think the pH will still drop especially if you brined it at room temperature. Not sure what pH it will have after brining though. You should try cutting a thin slice from the corner/edge of the cheese and check its pH to be sure assuming you have a pH meter for food. I normally salt Alpine style cheese at 5.3.-5.4 and store it in the fridge to halt pH drop.

[borisb2]

yes .. pH of 5.3-5.4 was my target as well .. and I hit that with my last attempt (using pasteurized, non-hom. milk)

I usually dry salt my cheeses - and that was at room temperature indeed .. fingers crossed.

I could cut a slice of the (salted) cheese, dissolve it in a bit of water and then check its pH - but not sure how accurate that reading would be?

[borisb2]

I just checked the last drops of draining whey from the dry salting .. that currently reads pH 4.9-5.0 .. but I dont know what we need to add here to compensate for the salt level

[Aris]

You don't have a food pH meter with a spear tip. What was your room temperature? I only dry salt and I typically use 3% weight of cheese in salt which I apply in 2 stages. 4.9-5.0 pH is pretty low and might result in a crumbly and sour cheese but it is better than 5.8 pH in terms of safety. It might also not melt. You should try cutting a small slice and lightly heat in a pan to see if it stretch.