Chevre, Goat Milk, Raw - Tiny Holes/Gas Pockets In Curd, Contamination?

[Vaudevilleorange]

My pH meter is on the fritz...(I have no idea how to calibrate it...which i should post about int he equipment sections...) and thus the past two times I have made my Chevre cheese the curd has turned out strange...here has been my process.

I heat up my fresh raw goats milk to 74 degrees and add in a Mesomophilic culture...either straight buttermilk or a little packet from the store...then I let it sit for 1-2 hours. (this is when I usually take the pH to begin with and wait until it drops .2-.4, except now I can't do this)

Then I heat it back up to 74 degrees if it dropped at all, and add 1/2 a drop of Rennet to 2 gallons of milk...and incubate it for around 6 hours...about, and normally would wait for the pH to get to 4.5ish before I ladle it into molds...but now I can't tell. So what I have been finding now when I check on the curd hours later, is that it is pretty much floating on the surface, and filled with tiny holes/ gas pockets so that when I break into it with a spoon to ladle it out it makes a bubbling popping sounds...it drains Okay in the molds and then turns out kind of grainy and dry...

any ideas??

thanks!

[Oberhasli]

It sounds like to me that you may have some bacteria problems with your milk.   The bacteria in the milk is competing with the culture you are adding and you are getting the gas bubbles.  Does the curd smell odd at all?  Usually if there is a bacteria problem the curd should have a real yeasty odor or just smell off.  I don't use a pH meter when making chevre.  I also don't let the milk sit for two hours before adding the rennet.  I get the milk up to 75 degrees (it will eventually get to 85 after I shut the heat off), I add my MM100 and 6 drops of rennet mixed in water and then let it sit overnight and ladle it out in the morning.  Have you had success in the past with the method you are using?  There are various ways to make chevre and I'm not saying your method is wrong, but if you have made it successfully this way before, you might try it again and see if you get the same results only using a smaller batch so you don't waste your milk.

Bonnie

[Vaudevilleorange]

Thanks for the reply...

It does seem to have a little bit stronger smell, perhaps it could be considered yeasty...I wouldn't be surprised if that was the problem. Yes, I have made several batches of wonderful Chevre this way...super creamy and thick. Seemed to me it was something to do with pH because it started happening once my meter stop reading accurately...but a bacteria problem also seems like a likely answer.