Huge yield, wheel distortion on a new Beaufort - Stumped. Sort of.

[ArnaudForestier]

Well, I'm stumped.  The milk I use is dropping in pH as the summer comes on; came in at 6.56.  Instant change in pH with primer culture addition was quite a bit, -0.04, to 6.52.  I decided to keep a smaller delta pH for renneting, to ensure elasticity – so, pitched rennet at -0.08, or 6.48.  Main press pH was 6.34. 

Drop in press to terminal pH was, or so I thought, much longer than before.  I don't know whether it's a sampling error – I usually maintain a separate, small sample in a small ramekin, and use that to approximate what the wheel is going through.  I have never gone past 8 hours or so main press, without reaching my desired 5.3-5.4 pH.  Last night, at 11.5 hours, I was showing 5.5.  I decided to test the wheel directly – always a difficult thing, for my Extech, the hard, flat surface seems to pose a difficulty getting a reading.  The meter vacillated between 5.25's and 4.40's, until I was able to get a stable reading of 4.98.  So, I don't know what the true pH is.

The yield was crazy – 6 gallons milk yielded a wheel weighing 6.75 pounds – 13.1%.  I've never gone higher than 10.7%.

The make was normal in every way – hard to describe, something I call “dolphin flipper” effect, which is the ability of the cooked curd, when pressed in the hand, to maintain its “fin” integrity, if light-moderately flipped back and forth (I got this from watching vids of French makers).  With my milk, I find that I get this by 124F, which for me means about a 26 minute scalding period (as opposed to 128F and 30 minutes).

However, on cooling, this morning I noticed the top of the wheel was slightly concave, and the sides, slightly bowed out.  Like a semi-hard tomme.  That is the “sort” of puzzled, as I suspected a moister curd (and more water) explaining the higher yield.  What stumps me is that nothing changed in this make from past makes – my curd truly is rice-grain cut, at a tight 3X multiplier, and I constantly stir the curds (and break them apart as they attempt to gather) during the scald, so wouldn't expect a poor syneresis. 

Any thoughts?

[MrsKK]

I'd guess it is the milk and what the cows are eating right now.  That's the beauty of using raw milk from pastured animals!

[ArnaudForestier]

I think I might have ruled this out, Karen - after talking with Pav, I think it might have been an improper scald.  Difficult, as the calcium in this milk is so good, and the curds so strong, my usual sensory guideline (the “flipper” effect, above), is apparently not going to work, here, with this milk (and yes, it is so nice to work with living, pasture-born milk!).  Pav's interesting point is that it's likely, precisely because of this calcium/casein structure, that the gel that formed very likely entrapped water to a higher degree.  Difficult to judge, but a kind of dance between strong matting, and drying the curds out enough.

[MrsKK]

Well, I'm glad you figured it out, anyway.

[ArnaudForestier]

Thanks, Karen.  Learning, learning, learning, huh?

[Gustav]

I usually get about 13%-13.6% yield on my own jersey milk as well.

[MrsKK]

It's all a learning process.  Which I think is the reason that cheesemaking is so appealing to me.  My daughter commented the other day on how I pick up so many hobbies, just to drop them within a short time (1-2 years, mostly).  It's because I get bored with it once I master it.

I doubt that will happen with dairying, though!  It's like the "end of the Internet" - you never get there.

[ArnaudForestier]

So true, Karen.  The nuances of seasonality alone give me plenty to work on, obviously, and that's just on one style alone.  A really satisfying thing.

Gustav, that's a great yield.  I wish I could conclude mine this time was so, but I do think it was my error, in not drying out the curds enough, given the summer Ca level and curd strength. Live and learn!

Edit:  Interesting note, from a recent exchange with Pav.  I must have forgotten this, as I recall after the fact, discussions on pulling the multiplier back during the summer.  (Just saw Francois's post, re: pulling all the way back to 1.5, on his hard cheeses).  My normal Beaufort multiplier is 3 – I found when I did it at 2.5, that was too much IMO, yielding a wheel more like a parm, by feel (and result, when opened up).  But that was late winter, and this is summer.  This wheel isn't drastically wet, just slightly more (though it's early, time will tell).  So I'm going to try 2.5 on the next make, and see.

btw - anyone else have an issue with posts running off the page, so you can't see your line - pagination is weird in FF?  Ever since doing SP1 for W7, I've had weird issues.....

[Gustav]

I have the same problem when typing.

[ArnaudForestier]

Pam (mtncheesemaker) also said she's getting this, so I guess that eliminates it being an SP1 issue, at least on my end alone.  Thanks, Gustav.

[Boofer]

btw - anyone else have an issue with posts running off the page, so you can't see your line - pagination is weird in FF?  Ever since doing SP1 for W7, I've had weird issues.....

John recently upgraded the Web software. I noticed the lack of auto word-wrap and mentioned it to him. He's on the case.

-Boofer-

[ArnaudForestier]

Ah, OK, thanks, Boof.  Missed the upgrade info.  Thanks, John, as usual, for everything!