The Cheese Thread

[breakbeer]

Bring 4L of Goat Milk to 37d
Add 2ml Calcium Chloride, 1/64 (drop) tsp starter culture & 2 dissolved rennet tablets while stirring
Keep at 37d for 1.5 hours
Cut curd into cubes (this is where I think I went wrong, didn't really cube up until later & didn't seem firm enough)
Keep at 37d for another hour
Gently stir every 5 mins for 30 mins (this dissolved it into a soupy/yoghurt consistency)
Scoop curds into moulds using a draining spoon


So, should I have left it longer than 1.5 hours in the first step until the milk had set more firmly? Not enough rennet? Not enough starter culture (Mesophilic)?

No idea where I went wrong?

I've lined a collander with cheese cloth & sat it on top of a pot then poured what's left into that, it's draining slowly but I don't reckon it'll be any good

 

[TimT]

1/64 of a teaspoon starter culture???? I suspect your problem is there.

 

[TimT]

If it was a dehydrated culture, you would have got best results by reculturing it overnight in some milk (8-12 hours), and then adding some of the yoghurt to the milk. For my batches - usually 4 L - I add about 2-3 tablespoons of culture/yoghurt.

If it was an active culture - well, see above. Adding 1/64 of a teaspoon would have got the bacteria in there, yes, but there would have been less than usual.

Maybe there was a mistake in the recipe? I've never seen such a direction in a cheese recipe before.

 

[breakbeer]

Have they given me the wrong culture? It says it's for Yoghurt & Cheese, but there's more of an emphasis on Yoghurt. It says Thermophilic & Mesophilic on the back of the sachet



Also, here's a pic of the recipe to confirm the quantity



It does seem like an extremely small amount, I just figured it must be really powerful stuff

 

[TimT]

Yeah, fetta is usually made with a mesophilic culture. I looked up the cultures on the Mad Millie website before and they say each sachet is suitable for a 4 L batch - ie, you'd want to add substantially more than 1 drop. I'd contact the Mad Millie company. It looks like somebody's goofed up.

 

[TimT]

For fetta the cultures you'd be looking at would be the two mesophilic cultures on this website.

Thermophilic culture is typically not used in making fetta. It would just be getting warmed up at 37 Celsius, whereas 37 C is more at the top of a mesophilic culture's range.

To summarise, the instructions look bad and it looks like the culture has been mixed up too.

 

[breakbeer]

Thanks heaps Tim T, I'll give them a call tomorrow for sure

Glad you were able to pinpoint the problem for me. I'll have another go at it with the correct type & amount of starter culture

Cheers!