CheeseForum.org » Forum

Today I tried to make Mozzarella but something went wrong.

Ingredients
1 gallon Value Corner P&H whole milk
1.5 tsp citric acid
1 tsp cheese salt
1/2 rennet tablet
1/8th tsp lipase (calf)
1/4 tsp CaCl

Steps

• Heated milk to about 90 degrees on accident, then added lipase, CaCl, and citric acid
• Waited 5 minutes, added rennet, stirred for 1 minute. Temp is ~98 at this point
• Waited 5 minutes, noticed that something was super wrong with the curd (it looked like ricotta), heated to 108 degrees
• Strained through cheese cloth, waited for whey to almost stop dripping, moved curd mass to a bowl to be microwaved in
• Microwaved 1 minute, gently kneaded the curds to expel whey
• Added salt
• Microwaved another minute, kneaded the curds then formed them in to balls and placed the balls in cold water

Result
The end product was a about as hard as cheese curds and does not melt even if heated to be very hot. It tastes like mozzarella normally does and feels kinda like mozzarella in your mouth.

Help
The only deviation from the recipe I followed off of Youtube is that I accidentally heated the milk to ~90 degrees before adding the citric acid rather than the 50 degrees that the recipe told me to. Would that temperature mistake have caused my cheese to not be stretchy? The amount of rennet it asked for seems like a ton for only 1 gallon of milk as well but I wanted to just follow the recipe. Any suggestions (or a recommendation for a different recipe) would be appreciated. ;D

I normally make cultured mozzarella, but did the citric acid version when teaching cheesemaking classes.  What I learned is that the colder the milk when the CA is added, the better.  If I added it after the milk was warmed, the milk curdled.

So I always put the milk in the freezer when I got to the school so that it would be very cold when we started making the cheese.

Another note:  adding lipase will not do anything for the flavor of your mozzarella, as it takes aging time to utilize the lipase.  Save it for cow's milk feta or other aged cheeses that you want good sharp flavor in.

Greetings Doctor, Just read your post. I have been making Mozzarella, well, Armenian String Cheese for years and had some acclaim for it's perfection. Last year I began having a terrible time with my cheese not stretching, not this, not that, too dry or what ever. I had to stop making the cheese I was known for and began making other cheeses so as not to go crazy, even failed cheese is cheese, good and tasty but not just right.

The girls dried out our milk cow as she is with calf, but I will, I may began using a ph meter. I'll try to check in on your solving this problem as it may help with my own.

The best of luck to you.

We, our family is counting down the 12 days to Christmas January 6th. We celebrate Western Christmas with gift giving and began counting, receiving a small give each day. I wish you and those you love the very best and Holy Christmas!

Richard

Quote from: MrsKK on January 03, 2017, 04:28:59 PM
So I always put the milk in the freezer when I got to the school so that it would be very cold when we started making the cheese.

Another note:  adding lipase will not do anything for the flavor of your mozzarella.

Thank you so much for the advice of when to put in the citric acid and to use cold milk. The recipe I followed said that the lipase would start to add flavor after 24 hours but you say that it will not and I am curious if you know how long it takes lipase to change the flavor of cheese?

I do add lipase to my (attempts at making) mozzarella. I have had better luck with the cultured approach rather than the acid-added approach, but still have never really gotten it to the right texture. Nonetheless, I do feel that the lipase adds a bit of additional flavor, especially after a day or two. It isn't much at all compared to what it would do if aged for a few months, and maybe it is just a psychological / placebo effect of knowing it is there ... but I've got the lipase on hand, so might as well!

So, it looks like I am wrong about Lipase only needing age to have an affect on the flavor.  Sorry about that!

There's a good tip at the end of the description of Lipase on the Cheemaker.com's web site.  Here's the link. (http://www.thecheesemaker.com/products/Lipase-Powder.html)

Hi all,

I'm quite new in the forum but i had kinda similar issue today.

During stretch time... it had too much grains and breaks apart.

I used Citrid Acid also and noticed a bit of very small curds after adding acid. Milk was about 12 Celsius.


Despite the lipase subject, so far i saw understood, this must be an PH issue right?

I have not attempted this since my last go around. Mozz is too advance for me I guess  :o so now I stick to "easy" cheeses... aka every other cheese it seems.  A)

Quote from: MrsKK on January 03, 2017, 04:28:59 PM
I normally make cultured mozzarella, but did the citric acid version when teaching cheesemaking classes.  What I learned is that the colder the milk when the CA is added, the better.  If I added it after the milk was warmed, the milk curdled.

So I always put the milk in the freezer when I got to the school so that it would be very cold when we started making the cheese.

Another note:  adding lipase will not do anything for the flavor of your mozzarella, as it takes aging time to utilize the lipase.  Save it for cow's milk feta or other aged cheeses that you want good sharp flavor in.

Very useful information. Here's a cheese for you! Thank you!