first cheese complete fail, help

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Bensiff

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2008
Messages
4,835
Reaction score
411
I attempted my first cheese, mozzarella and failed miserably. Instead of getting a clean break where it looks like a stiff yogurt in the pictures I have seen on the net...mine was pretty chunky and never fully came together.

here's what I did;

used a granite ware pot (from a canning set)
whole pasteurized milk (not ultra) that was a stamped use by August 25, so a little old
did the citric acid thing instead of a culture adding it in at 55 degrees
warmed to 89 and added the rennet that was dissolved in water
I used tap water that had been in the fridge for a few days so I'm thinking chlorine may have play in this
directions said this should have given a clean break in 30 and after 2 hours it remained chunky

I tried to get a separation, however the curds were too fine and just turned into a mush.

So, I know I went wrong a few places, but, what error would have caused the mush?
 
Huh, that's interesting. Doesn't explain why I had the problem, but, worth trying nonetheless...especially since the Mormon's don't mind if non members use their Bishops Storehouse and they have powdered milk in bulk.
 
it happens some times with store bought milk i have had bad batches like that. its the way they pasteurize the milk even if you add calcium chloride you wont get a clean break curd. but if that ever happens don't throw it away just make Panela or basket cheese.
 
Guess cheese making isnt like beer brewing: Its really easy to screw up!

I applaud you Bensiff for taking the leap. A cheese making kit is on my X-Mas list this year. Good luck bud!
 
I gave up mozz making for the same reason. I'm guessing It's the processed milk. Someday I will try again with unprocessed milk from the farmers market...
 
Actually, after watching this video, it's clear I did not get enough whey out:

In the video, they strain the curds after each microwave heat. I just sort of poured some whey off the top of the bowl.

Next time I'll use a strainer, and I'll also knead with my hands like in the video (used a spoon this time)...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've done that exact technique twice. It hasn't worked. It still makes cheese eventually, but the curd sucks from my store bought milk...
 
i have really good luck with the recipe i posted a link to here it is once again
http://schmidling.com/milk.htm
now i have made cheese with fresh milk also and i have to say the method on the link works very well. the one i used was the fat free milk with cream and it tasted almost like fresh milk. am thinking of doing a cheddar with that method.
 
I'll give it one more go with the schmidling site. Do folks have issues getting a curd when using a starter culture (buttermilk) to get their curd? If so, I suppose another avenue of experimentation would be to do that, it kills the idea of making cheese in a few hours, but might be a solution to homogenized milk.
 
Am curious about the buttermilk starter if you give it a try i would love to hear some feed back!!!
 
Here is the method I use . . .

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au3q4SukY4E]Thirty Minute Mozzarella with The Cheese Queen - YouTube[/ame]

I buy a "lightly" pasturized milk cost me about $6 a gallon not counting the $3 a gallon deposit on the bottles . . . I also use fine sea salt instead of "cheese" salt

did you try to do anything past the separation phase?
 
bratrules said:
check out this link http://schmidling.com/milk.htm

ive used this method and the cheese really does come out good!!

Good link here. I've failed like 10 batches of semi hard cheese tweaking researching, and finally made a soft fromage blanc, with skim, and even though it used the least rennet, it's been my best curds stability yet, definitely the homogenized fat screwing things up! Thanks man!

Trying the skim plus separate cream tonight. Wish me luck! Excited I think this will finally work!
 
Good link here. I've failed like 10 batches of semi hard cheese tweaking researching, and finally made a soft fromage blanc, with skim, and even though it used the least rennet, it's been my best curds stability yet, definitely the homogenized fat screwing things up! Thanks man!

Trying the skim plus separate cream tonight. Wish me luck! Excited I think this will finally work!

Your welcome hey am glad it worked out for to and am glad i could help!! the skim and cream really works the best for me i get some great cheese with it. let me know how it goes!!
 
Check out this Mexican style string cheese i made using this method.
IMG_20120127_141139.jpg
 
I did get an excellent break using the skim plus cream. I mishandled the curds, they fell apart. I got about 2.5 lbs of pseudo low fat cream cheese.

I tried again as we speak. I'm raising the curds and whey to 105 for 30 minutes, it is getting me the best curds I have ever achieved! Super excited!! Doing a simple cheddar curds recipe.
 
Good link here. I've failed like 10 batches of semi hard cheese tweaking researching, and finally made a soft fromage blanc, with skim, and even though it used the least rennet, it's been my best curds stability yet, definitely the homogenized fat screwing things up! Thanks man!

Trying the skim plus separate cream tonight. Wish me luck! Excited I think this will finally work!

How did it turn out? I have been considering the skim plus cream method as well.
 
Oh man it was a late night. First attempt at it I mis handled the curds and got 2.5 lbs of basically a 2% whiped cream cheese.

Did another after going to the gym except this time I heated the freshly cut curds to 110 before straining them. Best curds I've gotten ever. I pressed and have my first solid block of cheese! Up till 3am doing all of this lol, I've got the fever! Lol
 
Wow but it worked am glad!!!! hey am also glad you didn't give up!! post up some pics.
 
Back
Top