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I've been trying to made cheddar cheese, and so far I have two pounds of it aging right now. My question is, when I cut the curds everything looks normal. As soon as I stir the curds they break apart into smaller pieces. I thought cheddar curds were supposed to stay together in cubes and have a squeaky texture? I'm not sure how to accomplish this, but I'm completely following the directions. Any ideas?? 

Which recipe are you using? It's hard to tell at what point you are stirring the curds. The point in time could vary from immediately after cutting to after draining and salting. You're supposed to cut, let heal, stir gently while heating, and keep stirring as the curds firm up to encourage whey expulsion.

I cut my curd into nice neet cubes, about 3/8th -5/8th of an inch on edge.

I let mine heal, and i am very careful during the cooking phase not to over-stir or damage them.

But after that, when it comes time to drain off the whey and begin the stirring,  my nice need little cubes no longer look like they did when i cut them, but instead look like scrambled eggs.

I have this problem too, no matter how long or short I leave the curds after I cut them, or how gentle I am with them, they break up.

Could this be related to:

• Type of starter
• Strength/amount of starter
• Amount of rennet
• Acidity at time of adding rennet

These are the conditions I've considered, but I don't know which one it is, maybe more than one, of course.

Also, I'm cutting with a bread knife.....how are you supposed to make the horizontal cuts with any degree of accuracy in a circular pot?

I should have added, also

• I am using home pasteurised cow's milk

What recipe are you using?  Are you sure that you have clean break before you cut your curds?

I also use a bread knife (waiting on delivery of my 14" blade spatula any day).  I have to do diagonal cuts for the horizontal, then I gently stir the larger curds from the bottom and cut them into smaller pieces.

For clean break, it isn't necessarily about time, it is about coagulation.  While the recipe may say 30 or 45 minutes, sometimes it takes longer.  I milk my own cow and each cheesemaking is different, probably because she is at a different stage of lactation, feed differs depending upon how much grass is available and we sometimes end up with different hay.  The starter you use can also affect clean break, therefore affect the curd stability.

If you tell us what your technique is, someone out here may be able to point you in the right direction for solving your problem.

I'm new to cheesemaking and have been trying all sorts of different cheese recipes from different books, using regular starter for some and DVI for others, to get a feel for working with the milk. My soft moulded cheeses (stilton and camembert) have been more successful than the hard and I think this is because of not needing to cook the curd after cutting. One less process to go wrong!

I've been reading up on flocculation today and think the information will help me a lot in getting the acid levels in the right place at the right time. I have ordered some pH strips from my supplier but they are awaiting delivery of new stock, so that's taking longer than I would have liked.

Maybe I haven't been leaving the cut curds long enough to heal before stirring. I'm making a batch of stilton now, and the curds seem firmer than usual, I don't know what I've done different, though. lol 

It is a good idea to take detailed notes while in the midst of your cheesemaking.  That way, you may be able to track down where something went wrong.

The truly upside of it, though, is that when you do something really right and end up with awesome cheese, you are most likely going to be able to duplicate it again.

Good luck and let us know how further batches go.

I have taken some notes, but I need to be able to test the pH as I go along for them to be meaningful, I think.

Yesterday's stiltons were going along fine and would have been good, but I left it too long once the block of curd had been cut into slabs, and in the end I have struggled to get the curds to knit properly, they are a bit chunky and funky, as if they had been made by a child. I will know for the next time what not to do. The texture is more like a hard cheese, and actually tastes quite good, salty and not at all bitter.

Here's what they look like.