Cottage Cheese Making Advice Please

[Suzyhomemaker]

New to the forum..my 1st post...
Looking at the recipe section and following the directions for cottage cheese...I did this...

1 gallon whole goat milk   ( fresh from our farm )
1/4 tsp DVI of MA meso
1/4 tsp veal rennet in 1/4 cup water

did the whole mix and let sit for 20 hours...
cut curd and let it sit as directed
raised temp to 110 degrees and stirred
the curd never got toughened

It has always been a difficult thing for me to make cottage cheese for my Hubby as I cannot stand it

Any thoughts or critiques...I'm thinking that I didn't have quite enough rennet...I was combining the recipe procedure from the boards here  ( which are not very clear on amounts of culture or rennet ) and the the recipe from Goats Produce Too

[linuxboy]

Hi Suzie and welcome.

Having some trouble following what you mean. Do you mean American cottage cheese, the curd bits like you get at the store, or what is usually called farmer's cheese in the states?

Could you post the recipe you used?  From those make details, it looks like you made something like a chevre, but with a lot more rennet. 20 hours of culturing will give you a lactic cheese with high acidity. If you cut the curd, those curds won't hold together, there's no calcium "glue" left, and you wind up with something like a thickened, low-fat cream cheese.

If you're going for American style cottage cheese, those directions you posted won't get you there.

[Suzyhomemaker]

was going for the American style cottage cheese

directions listed on the recipe section said this...

http://www.cheeseforum.org/Recipes/Recipe_Cottage.htm

that is the direction I followed...as it didn't give exacts for culture or rennet I pulled form a book that I had at home....it says,

1 gallon whole goat milk
1 cup cultured buttermilk
1/4 tsp liquid rennet
1/4 c cool water

I used culture and rennet amounts from that recipe in lieu of any other recipe I had.

Chevre I can make...been doing it for years...yes just a couple of drops of rennet to make it

farmers cheese in the US is not cottage cheese as you refer to...farmers cheese is a solid sliceable chunk of product. American cottage cheese is the tiny bits of curd with added cream . I am aware that UK and US cheeses are rather different was looking at the lower portion of the recipe that says  ( step 16 ) tablespoons of cream may be added if desired and thought this would be similar...
Can't stand the stuff personally but my husband and son adore it so I want to be able to produce for them.
Does that make things any clearer?

[linuxboy]

Yep, got it. You mostly got it right. That amount of rennet is fine, should be 1/4 tsp single strength per gallon.

When I asked about cottage vs farmer's cheese I meant an either/or. I didn't know if you were trying to make american cottage cheese (curds) or american farmer's cheese (solid). Your temp schedule had me a little confused because american cottage cheese is heated more.

pH is key with cottage cheese. It needs to be cut just as the milk finishes setting, at a pH of 4.7 to 4.8. This shouldn't take 20 hours, more like 8-12 with 1/4 tsp DVI culture.

After you cut, you need to raise the heat slowly to 125-130 F over 60-100 minutes and to 140F over 120-130 minutes. Then when you've done heating everything, you drain off all the whey and get cold water and wash the curd. It should take two washings with water that's about 35-40F. Those washings will make the curd a little sweeter and bring the pH back up to 4.9 or so from 4.5.

At least, that's how commercial cottage cheese is made. You also need to use a culture that produces diacetyl, like flora danica. Regular cheddar culture is not the same.

[Suzyhomemaker]

Guess I need to pick up some Flora Danica...not sure if my local shop has it or if I need to place an order.
Thanks for the advice.

[linuxboy]

That's just for the flavor, you can use any meso culture to make a cottage cheese. The process is more important.

[DeejayDebi]

I just use buttermilk and it comes out great.

[ArnaudForestier]

Old thread - one of the joys I'm discovering is the making of cheese purely for home consumption, without any sense of doing this on a more formal standard.  Not that I'm seeking poor cheese - just enjoying the looseness of pulling a batch of cottage cheese together.

Another data point for me, maybe, on the slowness of Aroma B as an acidifier - 7 hours in, pH is still 5.8.  I had originally planned to do this as a 20-hour set, but the rennet, added at .3 tsp single/3 gallons milk, has already resulted in a set. The Aroma B starter was tossed in quite high, for a starter - I gave it 14 hours (overnight), tested it at 5.5 and simply pitched it.  This primer was inoculated at about 1/128 tsp DVI 8 ounces milk.  I don't yet know enough of Aroma B as to how slow it works; whether this DVI is less than optimally viable, or whether this is to be expected. 

At any rate, will simply take the vat down to 4.7, whether it goes to 12 or 20 hours, and go from there.  If it really is 20 hours, I'll have to reevaluate.

[ArnaudForestier]

Well, re-tooled and tried again, this time with 1.8 ml 2x mucor rennet, 1/2tsp Aroma B, 1/4 tsp MM100, 1 gallon raw milk, 2 gallons Trader Joe's Whole. 

12 hours, down to 4.77.   Cut curd into 1/2" cubes, then began cooking over 100 min. to 130F.  For the second time, my curds just seem exceedingly fragile, and I'm losing a ton to the whey. 

There are only two differences I can see, in inputs, between these last 2, poor makes, and my first, smooth make:  the use of Aroma B, and the use of Trader Joe's whole milk 2 gallons TJ's, 1 gallon raw). 

With this make, especially, I sought a faster acidification than last time, so added in MM100 at the rate of 66% Aroma B, 33% MM100.   Yet I have a curd soup. 

Any ideas, here?  My inclination is that the milk I'm dealing with is ultra-pasteurized, not pasteurized. The TJ's lists itself as pasteurized, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.  I will need to investigate the USDA labeling law, but I did come across one site that said:

Laws were changed somewhat recently so that manufacturers do not have to label ultra pasteurized milk as such...

-and this was from 2007.  I don't think it's something weird with the Aroma B, as it did it's job within 12 hours (admittedly, with the MM100).  The rennet's good, as I got a great cottage cheese from MM100, and 1/2 gallon raw Ayshire, using the same rennet.

That leaves this milk, as far as I can tell, as the only real change.  Anyone know - does TJ ultra their milk, despite their label?

[dthelmers]

I've used milk, that although not ultra pasteurized, was pasteurized quite hot. Sometimes called extended shelf life milk. It produces a fragile curd, but with gentle handling I can make cheese with it. I cut the curd into 1" squares first, no horizontal cuts, and let it rest for 10-15 minutes, then cut my curd to the size required. I stir VERY GENTLY at first, usually with the handle of my ladle, just moving the curd. As it cooks it develops more body, and then behaves more like normal milk. Do you have any of the Shoprite chain in your area? Here in Ct. and also in NJ they have a milk that is pasteurized but apparently not homogenized. They don't call it by any special name, just doesn't say homogenized on the label like the rest of their milk. It sets up a strong curd, and is the one we use for mozzarella.
Dave in CT

[ArnaudForestier]

Thanks, Dave.  I normally used Sassy Cow for my makes, and these last 2 were from TJ's.  I can definitely say it's the milk.  Made another batch, curds came out really well;** The only change was the milk.

**That is, until I slept in past 12 hours - got up at 2:45 a.m., and sure enough, I was a bit overshot on the pH drop, to 4.47. 

Additionally, if I did have beautiful curds to start with, I also beat them up by my own ineptitude with this kind of cheese, a slow ramp up.  I'm at least somewhat used to tommes and Beauforts, now, that have a quicker ramp up to their final temp.  I did what I tend to do with my Beauforts - begin very gingerly, with the whisk, then over the course of 1/2 hour or so, get more vigorous.  The weird thing is that the curds held up until about an hour in, to about 36C; then they started to break down pretty badly.  My suspicion is that with a pH that low, I've leached quite a bit of calcium, and there's some temp-physics thing at play, such that they would hold together, then tend to break apart at higher temperature.  I'd also be interested to see how long a floc I get - and what multiplier I'm effectively using.  (If it flocs in an hour, and I don't achieve a good acidification until 12 hours, and so I've got a 12X floc....can we say moist? - is this all right, Pav?)

Finally, I'm also still getting used to the PID controller on my smaller vat, when I use it (I find I'm using it less and less, now - tend to rely more on fire, and my own feel for the curds, for the most part, in my 6-gallon stockpot). 

The long and the short of it is that I got a beautiful curd, that I messed up by my own unskilled technique, as of yet.  Live and learn, though bummed, as this milk - a Jersey/Holstein cross - is truly phenomenal.