Post by barnmama on Jan 12, 2015 20:25:57 GMT -5
I have been making cheese for 10 years and this one has me stumped.... For the last month or so, all my cheese is swelling when its in the drying process, has irregular holes in it, the texture is off, and it sours quickly.
Do I have wild yeast or something else contaminating it?? My process is the same as always, bring the milk in from the morning milking. Leave it in the stainless steel tote with lid while I wash up and change my clothes. Then I get out the cheese pot, add the milk and begin making cheese. I am using my own cultured buttermilk for culture and or yogurt - been doing it this way for over a year and until recently have had excellent results. The yogurt is good, I use it in smoothies too and it keeps a long time and doesn't have an off odor. The buttermilk has that right smell, its thick, but its good and keeps a long time as well. I use the same buttermilk to culture my cream before making butter. My butter has been good too. No sour smell to anything. So I am confident it is not the milk. I scrubbed, boiled, etc... all my equipment to make sure it was clean. Soaked my cheesecloth and molds in vinegar for a whole day, then washed them well again. I am sure (hope) that everything there is clean. I grind my own flour but don't do it on days I make cheese. We use a woodburning stove to heat the house in the winter and my husband has fans running all over to circulate the air. My house is dustier this year than normal for some reason. That is the only thing I can figure out that is different. I press and age the cheese in the basement as it is cooler. At first I thought the cheese was getting too warm. It tasted good, the texture was ok, had a few holes in it and if I didn't use it in a week or so it went sour. It seems to be getting worse and I don't know what I am missing and or doing wrong. I miss my cheese!! we had been eating it and it never bothered us, but I gave the last of it to the dogs
Any help or advice from the veteran cheese makers would be appreciated!
Edited to add that I just tried to stretch some Mozzarella I made yesterday and it just melts in to a big lump, can't even pull or stretch it. I was hoping I could at least make that. Also, my cow is almost a year into her lactation - don't know if that makes a difference or not. It was one of those years, and I just got her bred in October.
Do I have wild yeast or something else contaminating it?? My process is the same as always, bring the milk in from the morning milking. Leave it in the stainless steel tote with lid while I wash up and change my clothes. Then I get out the cheese pot, add the milk and begin making cheese. I am using my own cultured buttermilk for culture and or yogurt - been doing it this way for over a year and until recently have had excellent results. The yogurt is good, I use it in smoothies too and it keeps a long time and doesn't have an off odor. The buttermilk has that right smell, its thick, but its good and keeps a long time as well. I use the same buttermilk to culture my cream before making butter. My butter has been good too. No sour smell to anything. So I am confident it is not the milk. I scrubbed, boiled, etc... all my equipment to make sure it was clean. Soaked my cheesecloth and molds in vinegar for a whole day, then washed them well again. I am sure (hope) that everything there is clean. I grind my own flour but don't do it on days I make cheese. We use a woodburning stove to heat the house in the winter and my husband has fans running all over to circulate the air. My house is dustier this year than normal for some reason. That is the only thing I can figure out that is different. I press and age the cheese in the basement as it is cooler. At first I thought the cheese was getting too warm. It tasted good, the texture was ok, had a few holes in it and if I didn't use it in a week or so it went sour. It seems to be getting worse and I don't know what I am missing and or doing wrong. I miss my cheese!! we had been eating it and it never bothered us, but I gave the last of it to the dogs
Any help or advice from the veteran cheese makers would be appreciated!
Edited to add that I just tried to stretch some Mozzarella I made yesterday and it just melts in to a big lump, can't even pull or stretch it. I was hoping I could at least make that. Also, my cow is almost a year into her lactation - don't know if that makes a difference or not. It was one of those years, and I just got her bred in October.