Well, as predicted, it didn't end well.
The curds took 42 hours to drop to 5.2, all the while the curd mass got tighter and tighter. A hard rubbery mass.
Tired of the endeavor and highly frustrated, the curd mass was placed in the freezer.
Last Saturday night the curd mass was removed from the freezer and thawed. If it stretches I'll try it on pizza.
Surprise! It stretched easily and beautifully without the loss of butterfat, the hot water remained relatively clear.
The formed balls however did have a rubbery feel to them.
After cooling in cold water, a ball was sliced on a Hobart slicer to nice even slices for the evenings pizza. Optically the texture appeared to be what one would expect of Mozzarella, the feel still indicated a rubbery component.
Put an end piece in my mouth, a definite cheesy flavor most like Swiss cheese though there was an off taste of something unpleasant.
The mozzarella melted nicely on the pizza and didn't brown, the taste could be readily discerned despite a loaded pizza. I didn't particularly like it.
Tried the left over mozzarella cheese slices on crackers, if not for the moderate rubbery, teeth squeaking and the off taste attributes it would have been actually pretty good.
I slavishly followed the recipe on the Washington Cheese Guild by pav.
Furthermore, I scrupulously followed the five things found on this board.
Five factors need to come together for moist mozz: correct curd size/multiplier (2", 15 min heal, then cut to 1/2", 3x floc), fat content (3% min), low cook temp (appropriate for culture type), adequate acid (5.0-5.1), and gentle handling (pull instead of knead). One or more of these is off if it is rubbery.
Perhaps my end result is exactly what authentic Italian made Mozzarella really is. I have no basis to judge my final product.
It reminds me of the time I labored to produce authentic lye dipped New York bagels. The bagels came out perfectly, however they tasted like a big overgrown pretzel. I had no idea of what an authentic bagel would taste like. And, I don't like pretzels. Point is, our foods have been so commercialized and so compromised to appeal to the masses that the real tastes and textures of the product they were based on has been long ago lost.
The wonderful milky cloud like mozzarella sample the man stretching the curd in the authentic Italian store gave to me was not authentic Italian mozzarella but undoubtedly a commercially modified version proven acceptable to the most people's expectations.
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As for the off-taste:
The farmer where I purchased the fresh Jersey cow's milk stated he was feeding haylage.
Haylage is a relatively high moisture hay fermented in a silo. It has a distinctly unpleasant sour odor (to me at least).
The off-taste wasn't exactly comparable to the haylage smell, but could be characterized as in the same class of sour smell.
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I will try this again in the summer months, but for now I'll just chalk this up to a learning experience.
To those of you that are thinking about trying to make your own mozzarella, you are pretty much on your own.
The culture and rennet suppliers don't offer a workable repeatable recipe because they want you to buy their books.
The web mozzarella information is a cacophony of incomplete mumbo jumbo by those mostly seeking community rather than offering a solid provable process.
