I am new to cheese making since Sept. this year. I have only made a few cheeses so far (mostly cheddar) but all of my cheese tastes very acrid. I made some milder cheeses such as Monterey Jack and Gouda but they turned out the same way. I am using a mesophilic (C1) Mother culture. Should I be using a different culture? I have watched a few video's on Youtube and read several articles and some books on cheese making but Im not sure why there are so many different variations of Mesophilic and thermophilic cultures. Also, Im am terrible on wasting things so I have saved all my whey. Is there a good use for it? Im running out of room in my freezer. I tried using it as a soup base but it makes everything taste a little sour.
Thanks
Acidic or sour tasting cheese can be caused by several things.
Too much starter bacteria, ripening too long, too much whey left in the cheese after pressing.....
Make Ricotta from the whey.
The recipe calls for 1 ounce (ice cube) of mother culture per quart, and 45 minutes to ripen. I will adjust them both and see what happens. Appreciate the advice.
Thanks Sailor,
How concentrated are the bacteria in a "cube"? THAT'S the problem. You should try using a direct vat (direct set) culture instead of a mother culture until you get a better feel for things. With direct vat you simply measure out 1/8 teaspoon without the guesswork.
dillon777, there is a good thread here (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2006.0.html) on non cheese making uses for whey.
On acid tasting cheese, it sounds like your starter culture is over acidifying your cheese, normally this is reduced by the addition of salt. It could be that your pH is too low when add salt or that not enough salt is added to arrest the starter culture. Some info here (https://cheeseforum.org/Making/Making.htm) on Salt's function.
As Sailor says, most members use Manufactured freeze dried direct set starter cultures, some use buttemilk or yogurt as starter cultures, I think member Tea is the only one that uses Mother Cultures.
I'm a convert. I only use mother culture now and I'm never going back. It's so much better for my style of making.