Rennet, Tablets - Do They Ever Really Dissolve?

[chilipepper]

The ones that come with the kits from Cheesemaking.com??  When I add them to a 1/4 cup of water they break up nicely but never dissolve.  Just for kicks I put one in a cup of water on my magnetic stir plate and let it run all night and when I shut it off this morning it still quickly settled out to a white film on the bottom.   Is this normal and should I just use it when it has broken down into the fine particles?

From a purely technical point it doesn't seem like it would work that well since it obviously wouldn't dissolve into the milk either?  Luckily I have some of the Malaka liquid vegetarian stuff and so I've been using that with good results but as Cheese Head points out it is a fairly expensive alternative. 

Thanks for any advice!
Ryan

[bundy]

Hi Ryan i crush my tablet between two spoons before adding to the water,this helps to dissolve.
Bundy

[Tea]

When I used to use junket tablets, I found that this also happened.  I also used to wonder if it was all dissolved or whether some was lost, especially when I could see some white flecks sitting on the milk curd.
In the end I chose to use liquid rennet, as I am not really certain that the tablet do all get utilized and dissolve.
Sorry I can't be of any further help.  Maybe someone else knows the answer.

[chilipepper]

Thanks for the thoughts... I'll try and post some pictures of what I'm experiencing and the different 'stages' of the Rennet.   bundy is your rennet - water mixture still cloudy when you add it to your milk or is it clear and totally dissolved?

[bundy]

clear, just a few flex of rennet in the bottom of my mixing jug
Bundy

[Cheese Head]

Maybe what's not dissolving is a filler and not the rennet?

I'm now using commercial CHR Hansen brand powdered Rennet I bought on EBay USA and it 100% dissolves.

[chilipepper]

Cheese Head that is a very good point... maybe just a filler because I'm not sure I'd ever get this to totally dissolve.  Here is a little photo compilation I put together from start to approximately 30 hours of stirring on the plate.  I sacrificed a rennet tablet for the pictures since I had the one on the stir plate since yesterday.


Tablets and water before adding.


Here is the tablet after about 30 seconds - very quickly breaks up and looks like it will work like a charm.  (definately should have taken this picture against a less busy background!)


Stir bar added and on the stir plate - still some larger chunks


Here is the product of about 30 hours of stirring - still cloudy and will easily seperate to a clear liquid and chalky film on the bottom of cup.

[chilipepper]

Cheese Head - Do you know of any other sources for that Hansen Rennet?  I've checked the user you brought from on Ebay and he must not be a regular seller of Rennet or at least is not listing anything now.  It looks very interesting and certainly could be worth the trouble. I wonder the advantages versus liquid?  Shelf life maybe?

[Cheese Head]

Chili, I guess if it works then good, just that unwanted non-disolving powder.

Nope sorry don't know where else to get it. It looks like it was a semi-commercial product as 1 package was good for 75 liters. Liquid with eyedropper is definitely easier to measure, concentrated powder is very difficult to measure tiny quantities for 1-3 US gallon / 4-10 liter milk batches.

I initially used Malaki brand liquid I found in Whole Foods Grocery store chain. Maybe it's time to order bunch of stuff from an on line cheese supply store?

[chilipepper]

Just a quick update on this thread.... I had the rennet on the stir plate for 72 hours and it never did dissolve into the distilled water. Couple of nuggets of knowledge I gained...

1. The rennet never does dissolve totally intot he liquid.  After about 30 minutes on the stir plate the suspended particles became very fine and at which time I would conclude the rennet table was 'usable'.

2. Liquid rennet is easier! :D

3. I will try these on a future batch and see how well they work on the milk and see if there are any comparible difference to the current liquid rennet I'm using.