Making queso fresco/ricotta/mascarpone with lactic acid

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ebbelwoi

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I make a very simple sous vide queso fresco with 1 liter of milk, 1/2 tsp of salt, and tbsp (60ml) of white vinegar. I'd also like to try making mascarpone with the same method.

I don't notice any off-flavors using that much vinegar, but I wonder if using lactic acid instead would make any difference. My only other acid option is lemon juice.

If I wanted to try the lactic acid, any ideas how much I'd need per liter of milk?
 
When I culture my milk for hard cheese , I generally add the whey from kefir cheese I make from grains. For 4 L of milk (a gallon), 1 /4 cup of whey is fine. BUT the secret is that you need time to allow the culture to work. When you add vinegar or citric acid (lemon juice , for example), the acid itself is what does the work. When you add cultures , the acidity is created by the bacteria and that takes time.
That said, the pH of white vinegar is probably around 2.5 but the AMOUNT of acid is likely to be about 5 or 6% by volume. If you intend to use lactic acid and not bacterial culture, I would use a pH meter to measure both the strength of the acidity and the volume. For volume, if this was the same as TA , you would add Na OH to a sample of the acidic solution until your pH meter read 8.2 . The amount of base you added would signify the percentage of acid in solution.
 
I've used lemon juice without problems. I don't see why lactic acid would be problematic. After all, that's what you get from cheesemaking bacteria. Most home recipes use vinegar or lemon juice, so it may take a little work to figure out the right amount of lactic acid. Not sure how much you need but probably not very much of 88% concentration.
 
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