I have been trying to make Mysost with various wheys and getting widely variable results. It's an extra element of adventure to make things when I don't know how they are supposed to turn out :)
1. Recipes for whey cheese almost invariably say the whey must be no older than 3 hours. What happens after that?
2. After heat-only ricotta is made, can the second whey be used for Mysost - or does Mysost need the Albumin protein?
3. Does the amount of rennet / ripening time in the casein cheese effect the albumin cheese? In what ways?
4. Mysost from Cream Cheese (24 hr ferment - 1 drop of rennet in 1/2 gallon cream) did not caramelize whereas Mysost from Haloumi (skimmed) followed by Ricotta (heat only) went very dark and wanted to burn easily. (Both made using Aroma B.) Is this because there was more sugar remaining in the Haloumi whey? or because there wasn't albumin left to coagulate?
I'd appreciate directions to a good source of answers to "why" questions. The more I learn, the more complex I realize cheese is, and the more curious I become.
I've only made it once and can't answer your questions, but I'm hoping to bump this up so you do get some answers.
If you've never had it before, it can be hard to know what result you are trying to get. I was introduced to Gjetost as a teenager, by the brand name of Ski Queen. Very good, but more like caramel than cheese.
The one batch of Mysost that I made turned out to be very salty and slightly grainy but I don't remember much more about it as it has been a couple of years.
I found some answers, and thought I'd share. A big thank you to Jim Wallace at cheesemaking.com.
The 3 hour "rule" for whey freshness is to catch the whey before the pH drops below 5.8. One can heat-treat the whey to slow bacterial growth and maintain pH longer.
For Mysost and Gjetost the caramel flavor requires lactose be left in the whey - caramel = burnt sugar.
The albumin should be left in - don't make Ricotta first.
This cheese can be smoothed with an immersion blender to avoid graininess.