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Murphy's law and sticking cheese cloth?

Started by qdog1955, April 14, 2015, 07:45:00 PM

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qdog1955

  I don't know who this Murphy guy was, or why the law has his name----But if I ever catch up to him, I'm gonna kick him in the arse.
In the process of making my third Asiago ( which has been my best, most consistent make ) I ran into a problem on what should have been the final flip in the cheese press.  You got it----the cheese cloth isn't just stuck---it's welded---but for some reason, it's only the bottom, the top and sides are fine.  Try every thing, but end up making a real unsightly mess of the bottom. So the cheese hasn't quite reached proper Ph yet---so I decide while it's still warm, to do a naked press and hope it "heals" some of the scars---I have never done this with this mold----and here comes that darn Murphy------I can't get the cheese out of the mold, not because of nubbins, but because it has formed a super strong vacuum. It takes two people wielding those thin cake icing spatulas around the inside to finally break the seal. Out pops the cheese----upside down on the table-----no problem, I'll check the Ph on the bottom----and Murphy shows up-----the bottom of the cheese is at 4.85 and the top is 5.56-----now I'm looking for 5.2----check 3 more times-----check meter----everything is fine, except the top and bottom are different Ph.
   Has any one ever checked both top and bottom of a cheese for Ph?  Logic tells me they should be the same---but there not---and that makes me wonder if that's the reason the cloth stuck so bad. Give me some thoughts guys. 
   Here's a tip that may come in handy----the cheese cloth had at least an 1/8" thick by 7" piece of curd stuck to it. I soaked the cloth in Purple Cleaner, which is basically lye soap---in about an hour, it just mostly melted away and a hot water rinse, it was like new. So it seems lye soaps work wonders on any cheese making euipment.
Qdog

Mermaid

Good to know about the soap! I've had trouble with cheesecloth sticking. I find it sticks more if the cheese acidified too much . If the cheese room stays cool and humid it comes right off- but dry and or warm? Forget about it!
I've never tried measuring the pH of the top vs bottom of a cheese. Fascinating! How long were you waiting between each flip? Maybe because the warm whey warms the bottom of the cheese more than the top as it slowly expels?

qdog1955

It's a mystery to me-----I've never had a reason to check top and bottom Ph ----but I think I will now, just to see what is normal.
  There have been some good posts on preventing cloth sticking----soaking cloth in vinegar and cal.clor.----never had to much trouble before, so I didn't soak it, 'cause I didn't want the vinegar throwing off my Ph reading.
  I was just going to trash the cheese cloth it was that bad----but the Purple Cleaner just amazed me----I haven't found anything that softened and ate up cheese curd like that.
Qdog