New to the cheese making thing, and I've been focused on perfecting cheddar curds. Have a source of raw milk from Jersey cows that are currently hay fed (pastured in the summer). They are milked at 4am and I've got the milk cultured by 10am. It is consistently ph 7.1 at this point. I've tried the same recipe and varied one thing at a time to see what changes. Variables changed:
1) 3 different cultures (after 1 hour, ph is 6.9) (1/2 tsp MM100 (old source), 1/2 tsp MM100 (from producer) vs. 1/4 tsp MM100 w/ 1/4 cup Friendship cultured buttermilk) per 2 gallons.
2) with calcium / without calcium
3) 2 different animal rennets
The milk consistently takes around 25-26 minutes to flocculate, and around 90 minutes to achieve a clean break. Guidebooks say that target time is 45 minutes. It's kept at 90F during this period with a sous vide heater in a water bath. Temperature control is +/-1F.
After this the cheddaring and pressing all go straight up by the book, with good target pH and timing. End product is always delicious, and I've picked a culture that has the best flavor. So, the questions is should I care if the end product is consistent, good, and this step is always just slow? Also, what would be causing this delay? Should I try a higher temp during this phase?
Hi Garbetsp,
I see nothing wrong with a good tasting cheese. You have invented a new variant! AC4U. 8)
I had an issue like this a while ago. Normally my raw milk sets quickly, but this time it didn't.
Eventually got a soft set and saved half the batch.
It turned out one of the two girls had an antibiotic shot 10 days prior (withholding recommendation is 3 days) and the residue crippled my culture. A week later everything was fine.
Any chance this might have happened?
Sounds like a possibility, but I doubt it. It's been consistent like this for several months (enough time to do all the batches). I'll ask the farmer just to be sure.
The idea that something might be related to Jersey struck me based on the antibiotic comment. So I searched and there was mention of others (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,16126.msg123549.html#msg123549 (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,16126.msg123549.html#msg123549)) with slow curd setting with raw Jersey milk. I googled further and found this overload of information:
https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/1879/1/EH_kappa_EH.pdf (https://pub.epsilon.slu.se/1879/1/EH_kappa_EH.pdf)
A dissertation and exploration of curd setting in high detail. Jersey's are known to potentially have low A1 protein which directly affects time for flocculation and curd setting. So I suspect making cheese with Jersey milk this is always going to be an issue for me.
It tastes good, so I can't complain, just makes for a longer day.
Raw cows milk needs to be PH 6.7 - 6.5 . Higher fhan 6.7 denotes mastitic milk lower than 6.5 denotes bacterial milk.
Milk from sick cows, cows in late lactation and mastitis infected cows may cause a weak set to occur. The components of the milk including the casein, calcium and phosphorous can become imbalanced and can impair rennet action. The additional albumin and globulin caused by mastitis infection also retards coagulation.
Well that's some disturbing news.
Simple - use more rennet. That's why you test flocculation time.
Rennet source and type..
My of source of rennet did a poor job at informing I should use 2x more for their calf rennet verses their other products.
I think either you pH meter is off or that milk may be coming from a cow with mastitis. Raw Jersey milk pH should not be 7.1 normally--more like 6.7-6.8
Checked the pH meter yesterday. It was spot on with the buffer tested.
The herd is A2/A2 monozygous which is known to slow curd formation. I think this alone results in longer times. The last batch that was going when I posted took even longer. This doesn't explain the pH reading. I am worried about the quality of the milk source at this point. I am blessed in that I have many options for sources, even related siblings to the cows on a different farm.
Lessons learned so far:
(1) Validate pH meter semi-regularly.
(2) Always check milk pH before starting. This is a really simple check that from all I've read is really an excellent screening test for the suitability of the milk for making cheese.
(3) If flocculation times are slow consider upping the rennet. (I've been using "Animal Rennet" that was just purchased from a local shop).
(4) There is some variance in recipe times for this step depending on breed of animal.
Speaking from personal experience with my cows if I start having mastitis problems, even if I have no real flecks in the milk yet, I notice the cream will start to harden up when cold. If I skim it by hand the entire cream portion will be very thick and stand up on the spoon. If i run it thru the seporator while still warm the cream will goo up the seporator disks and look kind of snot like. I have never had a chance to check pH when this is happening. My cows are all either jersy or jersy crosses. This might also help you decide if your milk is trending towards mastitis or not.
Hi garbetsp
I would check your pH meter against 2 buffers, they can often be ok against one and drift against another.
Personally even though I have a reasonably good quality meter ( and probe I clean and calibrate my meter before each cheese make. If I am going to be making decisions based on pH I want to know my readings are correct.
Mathew