I tried my first batch of chevre recently, with total failure. When I opened the container all I found was room temperature goat's milk. I used the recipe from Fias Co Farm Dairy, but a few things were not exactly to specification...maybe you can tell me which is the most likely culprit for the failure?
1) I used pasteurized goat's milk b/c that's all you can get in Colorado unless you buy a share in a goat.
2) The directions said to heat it to 72 degrees--I walked away, I swear, for a minute, and it was at 118. So I let it cool down before adding culture/rennet.
3) Well, I was a little lazy and added culture (MM 100)/rennet at 75 degrees.
4) I wrapped it up and put it in a cooler to keep the temp consistent, as our house is usually at 68. Well, my husband turned the heat off, we had a cold snap, and the house was at 65 for awhile.
And that's where the story ends: after 24 hrs in the cooler, I opened it up: goat's milk. No curds.
Any thoughts?
Temp too low, MM100 needs a higher temp, or a lot longer than 24 hours at 65F.
edit: might also be that the culture was not evenly distributed through the milk. Did you stir after it was dissolved?
I heat up my pasteurized goat milk to 75 degrees - add the drops of rennet dissolved in water and my culture, which is usually MM100. I use a double boiler type of system with the pot of milk inside of a bigger pot with the warm water. I turn off the heat at 75 degrees and it gets up to 85 degrees on its own and then I just leave it covered on the stove in the water bath for 24 hours. I have never had a problem with this.
How many drops of rennet did you dissolve in the water? I can't see where the temp of your house would affect it - we keep our house at 62 degrees. I know how easy it is to let the temp of the milk get away from you. I do it all the time :-( and it takes forever it seems for it to cool off. But, it sounds like you did everything right. Did you stir everything in well? Were there any type of curds at all? This cheese looks like yogurt when it is set and it takes me a couple of days to drain it before it can be eaten. It actually takes longer to drain it than it does to make it.