When I started making cheese, I got some starter powder, made a starter, and froze a load in ice cube trays (as per Ricki Carroll's book). And I've done this ever since. Simple and convenient for my small batch size.
I've now started selling small quantities and even won a small producers prize last week ( ;D), and this has caused me to look more closely at the process. In particular, I've starter plotting the pH during the make. Up till now, I've been adding a cube of (frozen) starter as I heat the milk, but it has occurred to me that I should perhaps be defrosting before using. Acidity development is very slow to start (and in fact pH starts to dip, then rises again before falling in anger), and I was pondering if this was a reason.
Any thoughts on this?
I always thaw my frozen starter cultures before adding them to the milk. Never thought to try them frozen.
I think so. Getting them wake up and start reproducing would take time. I usually taw 2 cubes the night before in milk. I also do the same with DVS cultures too. It is a way of knowing they are alive and the numbers are enough.
Congrats on the prize :)