Titratable Acidity Questions

[farmerpam]

I've been wondering about TA readings.  I just read past post by Gurkan Yeniceri about the TA kit from cheesemaking.com.  Wondering how many of you test for TA, or do you all just use ph readings?  What would be a"normal" reading for raw milk and do different breeds of cows have different acidity levels?  Would a high acidity reading at the beginning be an indication of a problem with the milk?  What kinds of problems would cause a high reading,ie poor animal health, mastitis etc?  I did try using that kit and followed the directions that came with it and thought something wasn't right, as my base reading seemed too high.  This was just today, and i'm sort of in a panic as I know my cow is well, no mastitis, I am very clean in the barn and neurotic about getting milk chilled quickly.  I will retest tomorrow using info from Gurkan, as i'm now hoping that was the high reading, anyway just wondering how many do TA checks.

[wharris]

I measure Titratable acid extensively with winemaking.  Have not yet applied this to Cheesemaking

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Hi FarmerPam, I hope you downloaded the Linuxboy's version after my entry on that post.

TA is a must I think, if you:

• Have a cow and/or source of fresh milk
• You want consistent results/cheese in different seasons
• You don't know how your starter is reproducing

As the diet of your cow changes, the acidity of the fresh milk will differ. From seasons to season, they may get different things to eat. I am not sure why your readings are high. The other thing is rather than phenolphytalein indicator, you can use a pH meter to be exact. pink color may not be read with bare eye or if you do not have any experience on that pink color.

I am buying the milk from shops and it is consistent anyway and pH is enough for me at the moment. But I do experiment with TA and note the readings.