Why won't my goat cheese melt?

[Westphal]

I looked through the forum and didn't see the answer. I might have missed it, sorry if I did. Now I know that "fresh goat cheese" ones made with acid i.e. Vinegar or lemon juice won't melt. But my question is about other cheeses made with rennet. I've made several batches of things like cheddar, Colby, jack, feta etc. and none of them melt. I even aged a jack for 2 months and still no melt. I've looked everywhere for the answer and most refer to "fresh goat cheese". But I want to know if it's something about goat milk verse cow milk since that is the only difference.

Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[bernardsmith]

I am definitely no expert but I think the pH of the curds is something that inhibits or enhances a cheese's ability to melt. I believe that the pH needs to be somewhere between 5 and 5.5 and if your cheese has too low a pH or too high a reading it may be because of the amount of time you have allowed it to cure. It's not the aging but the curing is when and where the pH is determined.

 

[slickfish]

Usually caused by high pH. Too much calcium is retained within the protein matrix causing strong cross linking of the proteins and restricting the melt.

 

[Staestc]

So how do you control the pH to avoid the problem?

 

[slickfish]

With conventional cheese making, the starter culture is allowed a longer time to produce lactic acid thus lowering the ph. This will cause more calcium to be released with the whey and allowing a better melting cheese. I have no experience with goat milk, it may have higher calcium and be more difficult to deal with. With cows milk, a ph of 5.2 should produce a pretty good melting cheese.