Epic Mozz Fail

Ok, re-read my mozz directions. It said to heat the milk to 105* AFTER I added the rennet.


...so I did ( i always take off heat @ 88* & add rennet & let sit for 15 minutes)

I had decent curd formation, but after I dipped most curds out, I was left with a gellationus mass of curds & whey. I could NOT get them to seperate.

Normally I don't get that great of curd formation, but I deal with it. This time I couldn't get the whey out of the curds, so I tossed it.


Any tips/help/suggenstion?

zac said:

Ok, re-read my mozz directions. It said to heat the milk to 105* AFTER I added the rennet.


...so I did ( i always take off heat @ 88* & add rennet & let sit for 15 minutes)

I had decent curd formation, but after I dipped most curds out, I was left with a gellationus mass of curds & whey. I could NOT get them to seperate.

Normally I don't get that great of curd formation, but I deal with it. This time I couldn't get the whey out of the curds, so I tossed it.


Any tips/help/suggenstion?

Click to expand...

That's usually a sign of too much chlorine in your water or that your milk is (assuming it isn't ultrapasturized) sitting around too long. Have you gotten good formation with your tap water previously?

zac said:

Ok, re-read my mozz directions. It said to heat the milk to 105* AFTER I added the rennet.


...so I did ( i always take off heat @ 88* & add rennet & let sit for 15 minutes)

I had decent curd formation, but after I dipped most curds out, I was left with a gellationus mass of curds & whey. I could NOT get them to seperate.

Normally I don't get that great of curd formation, but I deal with it. This time I couldn't get the whey out of the curds, so I tossed it.

Any tips/help/suggenstion?

Click to expand...

Probably too much rennet. The curd firmed up to quickly and didn't want to expel whey.

I'm not entirely sure about your process for making mozz. It might help if you clarified your process. I generally make cheese that is acidified through fermentation, but many "beginner kits" make you use chemical acidifiers thus creating an artificially moist curd.

Bunnay,

I don't follow you on the water angle. Only water is enough to add the CaCl, citric acid & to dissolve the rennet. Maybe 1/2 a cup total. It is filtered througha brita pitcher. Milk was about 4 days from the grocery store. My curd formation has been less than stellar, but good enough. I'm still at the stage where good enough is still good enough. This was batch # 8 or so.

Brewmonger, I have the kit from AHS. You slowly heat to 55*, add CaCl & citric acid, heat to 88*, add rennet (then it said to heat to 105* which I had never done before) then sit for 15 minutes covered, drain off whey & start the mircowave process. Salt to taste.

I used my normal 1/2 rennet tablet.

I've got another gallon of milk in stock, I'll give it a whirl again today without the additional heat to 105*.

This would be expected on the first batch, but not on several batches in, just wierd I guess.

zac said:

Bunnay,

I don't follow you on the water angle. Only water is enough to add the CaCl, citric acid & to dissolve the rennet. Maybe 1/2 a cup total. It is filtered througha brita pitcher. Milk was about 4 days from the grocery store. My curd formation has been less than stellar, but good enough. I'm still at the stage where good enough is still good enough. This was batch # 8 or so.

Brewmonger, I have the kit from AHS. You slowly heat to 55*, add CaCl & citric acid, heat to 88*, add rennet (then it said to heat to 105* which I had never done before) then sit for 15 minutes covered, drain off whey & start the mircowave process. Salt to taste.

I used my normal 1/2 rennet tablet.

I've got another gallon of milk in stock, I'll give it a whirl again today without the additional heat to 105*.

This would be expected on the first batch, but not on several batches in, just wierd I guess.

Click to expand...

Chlorine in tap water can inactivate rennet, Brita filters don't necessarily eliminate it. If you have gotten good separation in the past, though, then it is unlikely the problem. As a rule of thumb, the higher the temperature the more moisture is retained in the curds-- I usually won't heat mine past 95* with mozzarella. I don't have experience heating it up as high as 105*, but it's at the cusp of overheating it so that may have been your issue.

Bunnay,

I can definately spare a few ounces of bottled water to emilinate the chlorine idea.

I'm gonna try again this evening, this time I'll go back to only heating to 88* like I have in the past.

I'll update later on this evening. Prolly do this after lunch sometime.

Thanks a bunch!

the bunnay said:

Chlorine in tap water can inactivate rennet, Brita filters don't necessarily eliminate it. If you have gotten good separation in the past, though, then it is unlikely the problem. As a rule of thumb, the higher the temperature the more moisture is retained in the curds-- I usually won't heat mine past 95* with mozzarella. I don't have experience heating it up as high as 105*, but it's at the cusp of overheating it so that may have been your issue.

Click to expand...

Bunnay, not sure what you mean here. Are you referring to the set temperature or the final cook temperature? The hotter you cook the curds the drier they become.

brewmonger said:

Bunnay, not sure what you mean here. Are you referring to the set temperature or the final cook temperature? The hotter you cook the curds the drier they become.

Click to expand...

I was talking about the set temperature, not the cooking. It was my understanding, and this is what I was told as a kid so please correct me if I'm wrong, that the rate of initial coagulation was dependent on enzymatic rate of the rennin and that at higher temperatures with higher rennin activity was best to get larger wetter curds and at lower temperatures the rate of coagulation was slower and better for smaller dryer curds. My experience in cheese making is entirely of the soft mozzarella and farmer's cheese variety so I mostly know what I was taught and has worked for me. I coagulate for mozzarella at 95* and was taught to be careful not to overheat it.

EDIT: Realizing that I was speaking anecdotally, or maybe not anecdotal but folk wisdom based, I looked it up to make sure I wasn't Completely misguided. From Traditional Cheesemaking:

"Rennin is very active and coagulation is rapid at high temperatures: 34 to 36 C. Curd formed at this temperature will be firm and can be cut into large pieces (see p.33) suitable for soft cheese. Within limits, the higher the temperature the more moisture will remain and the softer the cheese. Hard cheese, made from small curds requires a relatively low temperature: 31 to 33 C. At lower temperatures, say 20 to 30 C, milk coagulates very slowly and the subsequent curds will be weak with a lot of fat lost to the whey. In any case, the temperature must remain constant: milk that is allowed to cool during the process will produce irregular curds, have unevenly distributed moisture and lose some casein into the whey. If the milk is either too cold or too hot the rennin will not be active at all."

Ok, I tried another batch.

I "hit temperatures" except for the rennet addition, it was at arbout 90* F

It sit undisturbed for 15 minutes , plus 4 or 5 more.

Took the lid off the pot, a gellatinous mass of hot milk crap. So I said, hell with it, I'll strain it till it dies.

So I did. I finally, after numerous rounds through cheesecloth got something out that is posibally the best tasting mozz I've ever made.

THings turned out just fine, but I'm not getting anywhere near the curd formation some poeple are. My curds kinda look like wet cottage cheese.

Tastes preyy d@mn good tho.

Suggestions?

Im not going back to edit all those spelling mistakes, I just hope Shecky dosn't see it.

zac said:

THings turned out just fine, but I'm not getting anywhere near the curd formation some poeple are.

Click to expand...

By "things turned out just fine" do you mean that you got a nice stretch out of it once you heated the curds?

Well, yes, sorta. Not like across the room like I see in some peoples pictures. Maybe a foot or 3.

It doggone tasty. But, at the same time, I wanna know why I cant replicate some folks efforts.

Well, if you got stretch then your milk is probably fine and hasn't been overheated in processing. Possibly you are stirring too much after adding your rennet, if it is already coagulating then you are cutting the curd by stirring too much. You also may just need to wait a little longer if you aren't getting a clean break right away. After I cut the curd, I let it sit for about ten minutes before I stir to allow the curds time to set a little more, I don't know if this is essential or just voodoo on my part. The acidity level is important, if the acid level is too low you won't get good stretch, but if you are using a kit with citric acid and not a culture, it is probably pretty well regulated. Sometimes it just comes down to differences between milk sources (fat, protein, etc.) and the age of the millk. In Rhode Island I use Rhody Fresh and the closer it gets to the use by date the less robust the results I get.

Someone who is more of a pro at this than me may have more ideas.

So, forgive me if trying to make it sound too simple:

I am getting decent (actually great) mozz using my "old" method, even tho I strain more than I want to.

Should I leave well enough alone & go with it?

Thing is, if I can't form any better curds than this, harder cheeses are out of the question for now.

Why did I undertake another hobby. Ogh yeah, I know.. I don't like paying 28 bucks a pound for good parmesean cheese.

I tried again tonight, and didnt get anywhere near what I was looking for, I think I have some dud chemicals, b/c each time I try, the effort gets worse.

Its not the dud chemicals, I got some fresh raw milk, and didnt even need to strain the curds, I was able to pull all the curds out of the pot when they were attached to my floating thermo.

Awsomeness is raw milk for cheese.