Chevre Help

I'm making Riki's Chevre kit with goats milk and after 24 hours I have what can only be described as runny yogurt. This is my first attempt at making cheese and I think I' may have made a big mistake. The instructions don't say anything about adding rennet to the milk, just the quick step culture, but everywhere I look I see people adding rennet. Have I just ruined a gallon of goat's milk? Can I add rennet now or do I even need to?

Thanks!
Terje

Did you use her "chevre" culture? If you did, there isn't any reason to use rennet- there is rennet in it.

Is it now "runny yogurt" still in the pot, or have you hung it?

Do you have a clean break yet?

I used her chevre culture. It's still in the pot and there is no clean break (or unclean break for that matter), just a nearly uniform mix of extremely tiny curds and whey. Should I just wait a while longer? I should have more patience than this from all the brewing, but this is my first cheese and a bit nervous.

Terje

Stratotankard said:

I used her chevre culture. It's still in the pot and there is no clean break (or unclean break for that matter), just a nearly uniform mix of extremely tiny curds and whey. Should I just wait a while longer? I should have more patience than this from all the brewing, but this is my first cheese and a bit nervous.

Terje

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Hmmmm. It definitely should have formed a clean break by now.

Did you happen to use ultra pasteurized milk? If you did, it'll never form a clean break. If you didn't, might as well let it sit a bit longer and see if it does form a clean break.

uh-oh... I'm pretty sure it was ultra pasteurized. Already threw out the carton. It was the only goat milk they had available at Whole Foods here. So given that, should I just hang it and enjoy my yogurt?

Wonder if I can raise a goat on my largish suburban back yard... would save on the mowing. (I kid- I already know the law won't let me have livestock in city limits)

Terje

Stratotankard said:

uh-oh... I'm pretty sure it was ultra pasteurized. Already threw out the carton. It was the only goat milk they had available at Whole Foods here. So given that, should I just hang it and enjoy my yogurt?

Wonder if I can raise a goat on my largish suburban back yard... would save on the mowing. (I kid- I already know the law won't let me have livestock in city limits)

Terje

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Yeah, you can enjoy the goat's milk yogurt. Or, you can use some cheesecloth and have a yogurt cheese. It depends on how "thick" it got. If it's not really formed a curd, you might have buttermilk on your hands.

It's tough to get good milk for cheesemaking. You could try to find a place that has pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) but I've never had good luck with store bought milk.

Thanks for all the help Yoop! I'm hanging the runny yogurt now and I'll let you know what it becomes. It looks like a fair bit of clear-ish whey is draining so there's hope it will be usable for something. If nothing else I have an excuse to go buy a leg of lamb and enjoy some lamb with yogurt mint sauce.

Terje

So after 8 hours of hanging my runny yogurt and then refrigerating the results, I have something resembling cream cheese. I've put it into the little cheese molds that came with Ricki's kit and there is a little yogurt consistency stuff running out of the small holes. I think this looks promising if it doesn't all run out.

Would you recommend putting the molds in the fridge or should they stay room temp?

Thanks,
Terje

Been a few days so I thought I'd update. I ultimately decided to refrigerate the cheese molds. They have drained a bit and the contents shrunk by about 1/4. The cheese is about the consistency of cream cheese, maybe a bit firmer. The directions say this is about right so I guess I'm not a total failure at cheese making. Anybody with experience have a good method of getting the cheese out of the mold without destroying it's shape?

Terje