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I rinse because I jury-rigged my recipe from Fankhauser.  I believe that rinsing allows you to leave the curd at room temp overnight without it getting too acidic.  As my fridge space can be limited (between gallon jars of milk and myriad dozens of eggs), that is a bonus to me.

Good job Karen! I often in winter set my pot in the basement near the door or on the kitchen porch if it's not expected to freeze. Sometimes I just put it in a picnic cooler and pack snow around it. I have 6 coolers on my porch all winter long for curing and such.

Quote from: Pavel on March 04, 2010, 03:20:46 PM
From the very beginning of this year i had changed the milk i use for all my cheeses. Now i use the milk pasteurised at 96C. It caused couple of faluers with the citric acid mozz. It forced me to make cultured one and i succeed. But me and most of my friends prefer that citric cheese for it's taste of fresh milk. So i tried several times and the last two attempts showed how i can do it now.
I add 50 g of citric acid dissolved in 600 ml of cold water to 20 l of milk at 14 C (57.2F). This is critical. If the temp is higher the milk starts to curdle immediately and there will be no gel after renneting.
Immediately after adding acid i add rennet. I use microbial rennet from Meito Co. Japan. I double an amount recommended  by manufacture. This rennet don't yields bitter taste even when overdosed.
Than i heat double boiler to 37C and let the milk sit for 1.5 h. After that time i get a clean break at milk with the temp about 24-25C. Than i cut as linuxboy first for stripes and so on.
Than i heat the mixture stirring very gently up to 33 C during 1 h, take the mix out of double boiler leave the curds for 10 min undisturbed and drain. pH at draining 5.3-5.4.
Curds mat at solid block and i stretch it adding hot whey (75-80C).
Pfff... to much english typing at once...
I hope it help, Ben. Don't give up! And ask questions. May be i missed something

Pavel, am I correct in thinking that the finish pH will be the same as it was just after you added the citric acid. there is nothing else that will cause acidity since there is no culture. If this is the case it will make the experiment much easier for me as the new person. I just want to make Mozzarella. Improved flavour/ texture can come after I have actually cracked the basics of making Mozzarella.
Henry

Even without culture, milk will get more acidic over time.  Linux, please correct me if I am wrong.  I know that you will know how to explain this, but I can't.  Thanks!

Unless you use absolutely sterile milk, it will have some bacteria left in it, which will acidify the cheese. It should not be drastic enough to make a difference. At room temp, your mozz will soil faster from yeast and enterococcus than it will from lactic bacteria.

Sterile milk is stable at room temp, should not acidify with time. It actually will have a very tiny increase in acidity, but not from bacteria, from the fat breaking down. FFAs are weak acids.

I can confirm that the pH remained the same right from the point of mixing in the acid until the end of cookinh and also that I have had the immense satisfaction of making my first Mozzarella. The sense of achievement is quite high now that I have actually stretched one with my own hands thanks to the wisdom on this forum.
Yes it was "only" a citric acid one but but it worked and it really doesn't matter that the texture would put an old shoe to shame or that it tasted bland. I made it!
The breakthrough information for me was
1) Pavel giving the citric acid amount in weight.
2) Linuxboy advising to give 10 to 30 second burst in the microwave. I kept to the 10 second end even for stretching.
Now that I know how to get to the finish successfully I can  make modifications to improve the whole process.

Thanks
Henry

If we are using  pasteurized milk from the super market, should we add Calcium Chloride.

I tried this recipe yesterday and had good curd at cutting. At the 3 hour mark I had milk again.

I will try it again today?

Pasturized milk will give you a better curd set and more yield if you do use CaCl. 

I do not use CaCl2 on Moz or pasta filata types. It effects the stretchability.

Any thoughts on the 'learning experience'? The curd didn't shatter it turned back to milk and whey.

Thanks, Sailor.  I did not know that.

Steam - what kind of milk did you use?  If it was high temp pasturized, that could be some of your problem.  It is also best to always use the freshest milk for cheesemaking.  I've had a lot of trouble with milk that is more than 4 days out of the cow.

We used store milk that we usually use for cheese with success. In making other cheeses we add Calcium Chloride though.

I reread Sailor's recipe and will add powdered milk next time.

Linuxboy, thanks a lot for your recipe. I just followed it to the dot, and the outcome was perfect. My best pizza ever 



I used home pasteurized cow's milk (30' @ 63C)  and a starter I cultured from store-bought crème fraîche.
Very proud of this one!