Butttermilk As Mesophillic Starter

[teacupwoozy]

Hi - I'm new here. thanks in advance for any help!
I'm making my first homemade meso. buttermilk starter. I've decided to make an effort to make cheese the way I (mostly) try to eat - organic, local, etc. the only organic/local cultured buttermilk I can find is 1%.
I left the container out last night in my 70 degree apartment and 8+ hours later it's still pretty thin. Smells a bit more sour, but it's only slightly thickened. Is this the result of it being lowfat? thoughts? thanks!

[linuxboy]

Temp was too low and or you didn't stir the buttermilk through (check the bottom with a spoon, is that thickened?), or you didn't use enough of the starter.

Lowfat milk does make for a thinner outcome.

[Cheese Head]

teacup, welcome to the forum!

There is a method here, I've made it with low fat store bought buttermilk as well (although those pictures don't show the consistency). As linuxboy says, maybe temp too low, I'd wait a few more hours as it needs to be nice and strong before using (and freezing excess for future batches).

Also, most "organic" milk type products don't sell as fast as regular so to give them longer shelf life's most manufacturers normally ultra-pasteurize them which means it is very biologically dead. Try looking for any labelling to see if that is true, if true then you probably won't get the normal ripening in ~8 hours.

[teacupwoozy]

thanks to you both for the guidance!
John - that is the method I'm using to make the starter. I checked the carton and it didn't mention how it's pasteurized so I did some googling. Thankfully, the milk is not ultra pasteurized. They just say they do it "the old fashioned way," which I'm guessing is the lower temp and slower method?

I have a feeling that my kitchen wasn't warm enough. Probably just 70 degrees, when maybe I should have kicked up the temp a bit more.
At any rate, I had to go to work this morning, so I put the buttermilk back in the fridge and then took it out when I got home tonight. I'm going to let it sit and and "cook" for a couple more hours. I guess I'll find out how this worked tomorrow when I make my neufchatel.

[Cheese Head]

I'd leave it out longer than a couple hours, as after that time it will still only be half way between fridge and room temp. I'd leave it out overnight and check viscosity in morning, if still thin then leave out tomorrow all day. For me when I did this I was scared but basically you want the buttermilk to rapidly go bad by encouraging the natural bacteria in to rapidly multiply. Go slow just allows a chance for airborne bacteria to gain the upper hand.

If you can't get it to be really ripe and viscous and decide to use it when thin, I'd use lots to help kick start the lactic bacteria into making acid for you when you make your presumably American style Neufchatel (low cal cream cheese).

Also, when making Neuf, don't forget every few hours to scrape the drier cheese off the cloth walls to allow the moister cheese access to drain, otherside it will form a low permeable layer and keep your middle Neuf too moist.

[Tom Turophile]

I'm finally ramping up to try a few cheese for the holidays; is this method foolproof?  Or should I just buy the packaged starter to reduce the chances for error?

[Cheese Head]

Tom, I used to use ripened buttermilk for my meso starter culture without problem and member Alex here makes some gorgeous cheeses and he only used ripened buttermilk.

That said, freeze dried Direct Vat Inoculation (DVS) starter cultures are easier and more quantifiable and thus repeatable.

[Alex]

That's right John, I make cheeses for only two years and never used store bought Meso starter culture, only buttermilk.

[DeejayDebi]

That's right John, I make cheeses for only two years and never used store bought Meso starter culture, only buttermilk.

And you make some very lovely cheeses Alex!

[Alex]

Thanks Debi

[Tom Turophile]

I've actually found a cheesemaking-supply store here in Atlanta, so I was able to acquire a few things.

The milk supply in this town, though, is another question.  I guess I'll find out if Whole Foods was telling me the truth when I try to cut the curd.

[padams]

Should my buttermilk starter separate?  If it has, what do I do?

[linuxboy]

It may separate, depends on the protein content.  Use it like normal, that's just whey.

[padams]

Thank you!