Mozz Fail

[cheeseinmymouth]

Just today I attempted to make a mozzarella based upon this recipe https://cheeseforum.org/Recipes/Recipe_Mozzarella.htm.  It failed. 

I used whole milk pasteurized at 130c for 2 seconds.  Unfortunately that's all I could decipher from the Korean milk carton.  As far as I could tell it wasn't UHP, nor did it have any additives.

Instead of one gallon I used two liters. 

Instead of thermophilic starter culture I used unflavored, but sweetened, yogurt (couldn't find unsweetened at my local mart).

I carefully monitored the temperatures which never got hotter than 35c and less than 28c.  Maybe that's a large swing but I was doing other things around the house today at the same time.

I added 6 teaspones or 1/6 cup of yogurt (based on MRSKK on this thread https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,5765.0.html) to the warmed milk and let it sit for 60 minutes.  I lack pH paper to tell me when it's at the right pH so I went with the long estimate. 

After 60 minutes I put Junket rennet in, a half tablet.  The recipe says 60 minutes but after  about 4 hours I was running out of time and hucked the whole thing decided to try again another day.  It began to curdle but was extremely soft, more like yogurt than curd. 

Why did it take so long to form even soft curd?  Should I have added more yogurt starter culture?  Should I have had the temperature higher?  Is Junket reputable rennet?  I read somewhere that it is meant for custards and isn't excellent for cheesemaking. 

I know I know, I should buy all the things I need to do it right but I want to have some level of success with what I have available before I jump into it further, at this point.  Investing in something like this while living as a transient in a foreign country shouldn't be done whimsically.

[Cheese Head]

If after a day you had a soft curd then you were/are part way into making a lactic acid coagulated cheese, if you still have it you could continue and make Light Cream Cheese.

I think not getting a good rennet curd set could be from two areas, first your milk while you say not UHP (which doesn't need refrigeration until opened) could quite possible be Ultra Pasteurized making it tougher to rennet coagulate. Second lots of people have problems getting a good rennet curd from tablet style rennet, due to application method, rennets strength (age and storage), and dosage rate. Suggest searching forum on key word Tablet and or Rennet and you'll get lots of hits, there is also a Wiki: Coagulation Defects article with some ideas.

[Sailor Con Queso]

130C = 266F That's beyond boiling and definitely UHP. Worthless for cheese, especially Mozzarella.

[cheeseinmymouth]

I found milk that says "low heat pasteurization" at 68c.  Is this an acceptable pasteurization temperature for rennet curdling?

[MrsKK]

That would be about 155 degress Fahrenheit.  I would think that would be okay for cheesemaking.  You may want to invest in some calcium chloride if you want to make hard cheeses, though.