Mozzarella - What went wrong?

[muyongshi]

Hey all!

So, I have started recently on the adventure of making cheeses and for some reason, I am not making much headway.

Basically, the curds take 8 hours to form and when they do, the whey is not clearish yellow but milky white. From everything I've read, I assume that is the symptom that will tell me what's wrong, but I have searched and can't find out the exact reason why that is. I've seen a few posts where other mention the milky white but nothing saying if it is a problem or not, nor what the solution may be...

Any thoughts?

I used raw milk from a local dairy, I've tried with lemon juice and citric acid (not at the same time), and chymosin powder I bought online.

[Stinky]

Do you dilute the rennet in water before adding?

[muyongshi]

Yes, I did. Non-chlorinated water.

[Stinky]

How much did you add? Were you monitoring pH?

[Sailor Con Queso]

8 hours is a HUGE amount of time. You need to at least quadruple your rennet and try again.

[muyongshi]

I do not have a way to monitor pH yet... I was wondering if it was the pH. Is there anyway to "tell" that the pH is off (like milky looking whey, not forming curds, etc) without a pH meter?

In terms of how much I added, the first time, it was 1/4 tsp (apprx 1 gram) for 1 gallon. The second time was about 1 tsp for 1 gallon. The third time was about 1.5 tsp for 1 gallon.

I feel like from your responses you are leaning towards it being either a pH problem or a rennet issue?

Also @Sailor, isn't powdered chymosin supposed to be even more concentrated than liquid rennet?

[Sailor Con Queso]

We need details about your make in order to help solve your problem. FYI Mozzarella is not a beginner cheese. There are many other cheeses that are easier for beginners.

Yes, powdered Chymosin is technically more concentrated, but there are MANY other factors that come into play. You should search the Forum for flocculation method.

[awakephd]

1.5 tsp of rennet for one gallon of milk sounds like WAY too much to me -- maybe the rennet is defective?

How much acid are you adding? If you ware waiting 8 hours, you might as well use culture and get a better taste.