[Aja-Sammati]

I have had a bad few cheesemaking months, going through way too much liquid rennet, making cheese that doesn't turn out right (I do have happy chickens, though!). When I went to order some more rennet, I saw powdered....has anyone used this with success??

 

[Little Meadows]

I have used the little sachets, the name begins with V..., successfully. I make cheese almost everyday so didn't have much time to lose strength. We dilute the sachet in 30ml's water, use 1ml/1gal milk. Never not had the milk set yet, knock on wood. But I last bought liquid rennet from the Dairy Connection - I think costwise it's better.
happy cheese making,

Liese Sadler
Little Meadows Farm, Fiber Sheep & Dairy Goats

 

[Sondra]

never used it used to use the junket rennet tablets but now just liquid man don't know how you would use up too much guess I need to make more cheese.

 

[Tricia]

I just use liquid, too, easy to dilute and use.

 

[Guest]

I just use liquid too.
You say your cheese didn't turn out right. What kind of cheese were you making and what problems were you having with it?

Christy

 

[Bella Star]

I use the liquid, maby your cheese needed to age some to flavor more.

 

[Aja-Sammati]

Mozzarella- about one in 6 batches is edible. I used to be able to make mozzarella... don't know what happened to me :?

And Feta...I thought I had it figured out. So many batches have been yucky that I quit making it.

I have lost my cheesemaking touch I guess. Even my chevre is sourish. It still makes good cheesecakes though

 

[Guest]

Mozzarella- about one in 6 batches is edible.

Can you describe what exactly is wrong with it? Look at my recipe in the recipe section. It really is no fail Late lactation milk give some people problems with the acidity. You can increase it by 1/8teaspoon. The worse that could happen is that the cheese remains too soft but it should still be good for cooking and eating.

Which Feta recipe do you use?

I suggest trying a culture for your chevre.

The other thing that comes to mine is that you might have a high stomatic cell count in your milk. I'll go through my notes and try to find some more information on that.

Christy

 

[Aja-Sammati]

The mozzarella is getting grainy, it doesn't get shiny & smooth like it should. Sometimes it doesn't get firm enough. I seem to have a hard time adding just the right amount of citric acid. I will look at your recipe

I use the feta recipe from FiasCo Farm. Like I said, it worked great...then it didn't. Of course, I have gotten way too busy, so maybe I just am not dedicating enough time & concentration to the whole process as I used to? A lot of the time I don't get a firm enough curd. Acidity?

The chevre is the same if I use a culture or not...though it may be a late lactation change :? I can't remember if it has always been this way.

I am on milk test- I haven't noticed any really high somatic cell counts, or even really any changes. Every once in a while a doe thows a really high number, but then it is back to normal levels again.

I sure do appreciate the troubleshooting help :biggrin

 

[Guest]

I keep coming back to this because you should not be having this trouble :lol

What kind of culture are you using? How long has it been in the fridge? Do you use rennet in your chevre? Are you making your cheese half way from memory, or do you read the whole recipe each time? Are you cooling your milk before you make cheese or do you start with goat temp milk?

I remember having Mozzarella turn out like you describe when I was making cheese for some people that would bring me the milk. The problem was acidity and I asked my self the same series of questions I asked you. What it ended up being was that they put all the morning milk from 17 does in a 5gal bucket where is sat until they brought it to me on their way to work. Well, the amount of time the milk set out caused me to have no control over Bacteria/acid development.

Your milk and handling is probably fine so I think the first place you need to look is your culture, then the age of your rennet.

Christy