Simple question I hope, while making an Edam Monday night according to the recipe on this site I was using a fresh culture made from a mother just 4 days prior....Temp is good... time is right... whole milk store bought fresh...added the culture to a gallon make at 1.5 % per Sailor's table (great table BTW thanks Sailor!) dropped the bowl in to do the floc test at 5 min and it was already set...even left an imprint the surface! So now I'm confused recipe says leave for hour to 2 hour to set the curd but the floc test even with a generous 6x multiplier is saying cut at 30 min?! :o anyway I cut at 45 and it seemed so so surface appeared to be a clean break but overall it seemed a lil weak...curd never seemed to be where I thought it should be ... finally did the press and suddenly it seemed to come back to where i expected it to be... any ideas on that sudden flocculation? Like always I'll ride this horse to the end and then the truth will come out but just never have seen a floc like that!!
Thanks
IP
What kind of milk? Did you use Calcium chloride?
Standard store bought whole milk and yes on the Calcium cloride, 1/2 tsp diluted in 50 ml distilled water...
Quite a few of my makes give me a floc under 10 minutes (several @ 5min). Dry calf rennet of 1/8 tsp or 1/16 tsp. I believe the pH and temperature of the milk are factors here.
-Boofer-
Too much CaCl2 will cause a fast flocculation.
The recipes are a jumping off point for novice makers. While a 5 min flocc time is probably too short for this cheese, you are going about it correctly by using this method. Like Sailor has noted- it could very well be too much cacl2. Try the recipe again varying only the amount of cacl2(use the same types and quantities of everything else). See if that solves your problem.
8 minutes.
4 gallons of milk, 1 tsp CACL2 in distilled water, 1/8 tsp dry calf rennet mixed with distilled water just prior to being used.
This is from last night with my Goutaler #3.
Temp: 89.6F
pH: 6.69
It doesn't appear to be that related to pH. Although my rennet label says 1/8 tsp for 4 gallons, my next make will use 1/16 tsp. My rennet must really be hot.
One item to note: I keep my cultures vacuum-bagged in the freezer (Thank you, FoodSaver). The vacuum-bagging helps to reduce the inherent moisture that might deplete their effectiveness.
-Boofer-
I am not at all a fan of using dry CaCl2 and mixing for each cheese. If you are off a little on your measurements, it can make a huge difference in the strength of the solution. Pre-mixed 30% CaCl2 is relatively cheap and much more accurate and consistent than mixing every time you make cheese. I feel the same way about dry calf rennet. These are so critical to consistent results that it's not worth the risk to me. If you are going to mix your own CaCl2 solution, you should make up a gallon so it will at least be the same from batch to batch.
Boof - in your case the short floc time could be due to inaccurate CaCl2 concentrations or inconsistencies with your rennet make. The rennet label is just a starting point at best. That's what the flocculation method is all about.
Thanks for the feed back guys.... this isn't the first time I've had a faster than expected floc time, this one just threw me because it was like almost instant! I did wonder about that amount of CaCl though...everything seemes to be almost the same on that particular ingredient despite different batch sizes.
I have a good source for raw milk which I like using much better than the store bought. TBH the raw milk seems to be more consistent in quality and character than the store bought whole milk so I think all my future makes are going to be from raw milk. There are enough factors in this puzzle without dealing with milk quality on top of all the little critters you are trying to wrangle int a cheese ;D
Inland - you do not normally need to use CaCl2 with raw milk.
Quote from: Sailor Con Queso on April 24, 2011, 12:46:08 AM
inaccurate CaCl2 concentrations
My CACL2 is premixed but diluted further at the time of make.
Quote from: Sailor Con Queso on April 24, 2011, 12:46:08 AM
inconsistencies with your rennet make.
??? Can you flesh that out for me a little? I mean...beyond my needing to cut it in half in order to stretch out the floc time.
-Boofer-
I just meant that dry measurements can be inconsistent, especially in small volumes. In part it depends on how tightly packed the powder is in your measuring spoon, etc. As you scrape the measuring spoon to get a level measurement, you are packing down the dry ingredient. With a liquid rennet you don't have the variations in packing, but you can still have inconsistencies with how full you fill the measuring spoon. A crowning liquid is no different than a heaping dry measurement. Especially in small volumes, you can be much more accurate if you measure by drops. Of course your drops are different than my drops, but from batch to batch your drop size will be pretty constant.
These inconsistencies and inaccuracies are really magnified on small cheeses. As an example, let's say your make dictates 20 drops of liquid rennet. If you are off by just 1 drop (over or under), that's a 5% deviation. Two drops would be 10%. That's a pretty big error to me. The bigger the volume of milk, the less problem there is with small errors. Obviously in a 40 gallon make a few drops difference is insignificant. The small margin of error is one of many reasons that small cheeses are harder to work with.
So with small cheeses and small volumes of either CaCl2 or rennet, using liquids and drop measurements is going to be way more consistent and accurate.
Sailor - Thanks for that clarification. It helps me understand.
I have tried to maintain a level spoonful (1/8 or 1/16), shaking the content to level it. I guess I had no idea there would be such a significance in the grains of dry rennet. I will have to more keenly measure the dry calf rennet because I can't see using liquid rennet. My number of cheese makes doesn't justify it and I would want to preserve the rennet freshness and viability. I feel better with the dry product and will endeavor to do a better job using it.
-Boofer-