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HI, just joined and wanted to intro self and ask a question.  I live in Spokane Washington, have 7 cheese loving children and my own dairy goats.  My first cheese attempt was chevre.  The recipe I used was 1/8 tsp MM culture, 2/5 drop double strength veg. rennet (diluted), 1 gallon milk.   I added the culture and rennet at 85 degrees and then let it sit as instructed.  I never got a clean break.  It did coagulate but it was very soft so it took absolutely FOREVER to strain it to a reasonable stiffness.  It tastes good.  My room temperatures were on the low side (unseasonably cold spring).
I made more today after calling Diary Connection...they said use the amount called for on the bottle which was 1/2 tsp in 1/4 cup water per 2 gallons milk.   In comparison to 2/5 a drop for a gallon that seemed insane.....?  Anyway...I compromised and used 1 drop diluted for 1 gallon milk.  I also increased my culture to 1/4 tsp based on looking at another recipe.  We'll see how it goes.
2 questions....What recipe do you experienced chevre makers use?   If I used too much rennet what will the result be?....will it just get to a clean break too fast and the culture won't develop as well....or what?
Glad to be here!

Hi and welcome.
How long did you leave the milk to coagulate? I let mine set for 10-12 hours before putting into molds. The whey kind of floats on the curd; I wouldn't really call it a "clean break" per se, but it is firm enough to ladle.
My recipe only calls for the milk to be heated to 76F, otherwise very similar to yours. 2/5 drop of rennet is plenty for 1 gallon of milk.
Let us know how it goes.
Pam

As Pam noted, she let hers sit for 10-12 hours.  We used to let ours sit for 22-24 hours.  Chevre is an acid coagulated cheese.  It's the cultures coagulating the milk by converting the lactose into lactic acid, thereby dropping the pH, causing the solids to precipitate out of the liquid and coagulating.  The rennet just sort of helps the bond.  It's a slow cheese to make, but pretty darn easy, and is pretty tasty.  Good luck!

There are about a dozen or more ways to make chevre. The almost-completely-lactic method where you add a tiny bit of rennet and then culture in a warm room is the cheating easy approach because you dump everything in and go away for a day. The other classic approaches are the fast set and the slow set. In both of those, you ripen the milk with a starter for 2-5 hours (more for slow set), and then add rennet. It's not that amount of rennet, though, they gave you the dose for hard cheese. For classic chevre frais technology in either slow or fast set, it is 3-4 ml single strength per 100 liters. Meaning a little less than half of the dose for hard cheese.

If you do use that much rennet, please preripen the milk for several hours. If you don't you will get a sliceable cheese that is too firm

difference in slow set and fast set is culture amount. Fast set is if you want to save time and speed everything up.

Thanks for the info.  Yes...the amount of rennet I used this time was way too much...the cheese tastes good but it is firm.  I was able to cut the curds (good practice, I guess) and it is not nearly as creamy as the runny batch I made.    After reading some info on the wiki about rennet, I think I know what must have happened the first time.  I diluted my rennet and it sat for a bit before I put it in.  According to what I read, this will make it lose strength.  So, for my third batch I'll go back to 2/5 of a drop but make sure I don't dilute it until ready to add. 
What is the benefit of letting the milk culture for awhile before adding the rennet??

Again, thank you.  I am so, so excited to be making cheese.   

Quote
What is the benefit of letting the milk culture for awhile before adding the rennet??

You are letting the acid work on the protein for a while before it sets. Also, rennet works much faster when the pH is lower. You need about half the amount if you wait a few hours to have the same set.

The 2/5 drop thing, that's mostly a modern conversion from an older French technique (the kid farmstead rennet isn't quite as strong as modern ones). It may be a bother to be that exact. Chevre is supposed to be easy. If you add a drop diluted in water, and add it in, it turns out about the same. If you let it culture first and then add rennet you will achieve a chevre that is more like the commercial chevres out there... like the ones Mary Keehn, Laura Chenel, etc make.

Quote from: linuxboy on June 17, 2011, 08:55:33 AM
There are about a dozen or more ways to make chevre. The almost-completely-lactic method where you add a tiny bit of rennet and then culture in a warm room is the cheating easy approach because you dump everything in and go away for a day. The other classic approaches are the fast set and the slow set. In both of those, you ripen the milk with a starter for 2-5 hours (more for slow set), and then add rennet. It's not that amount of rennet, though, they gave you the dose for hard cheese. For classic chevre frais technology in either slow or fast set, it is 3-4 ml single strength per 100 liters. Meaning a little less than half of the dose for hard cheese.

If you do use that much rennet, please preripen the milk for several hours. If you don't you will get a sliceable cheese that is too firm

difference in slow set and fast set is culture amount. Fast set is if you want to save time and speed everything up.

i'm finding a lot of classic approaches on the net   

is there a particular recipe that anyone uses with great results (using raw goat milk)?

Quotei'm finding a lot of classic approaches on the net   

is there a particular recipe that anyone uses with great results

All of them. If you let me know a commercial variety that you like, I will tell you how to make it. It's hard to make a bad chevre so long as you pay attention to details. The rest of the variables are about tradeoffs for flavor and texture.

thanks, LB 

i've never purchased it, i've only had it once and a relative made it.

so, i don't really know what i'm looking for.  i'll just have pull the trigger and try one