Cheese makers - help? did i waste 2 gallons of goat milk?

ohiofarmgirl

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Jan 22, 2009
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sorry if this is mis-posted.... i'm kind of in a pickle as a newby cheesemaker.

today during the 'storm of the century' (until the next one of course)... i was following the directions to make mozzarella and the newscasters screaming about the storm distracted me..... and after i added the citric acid, lipase, heated to the right temp.. then i reached for the thermophillic starter... but grabbed the rennet instead...

so there is no starter and i skipped the ripening part of this...

so do i have just a big pot of nothin' but 'cheese' for the chickens? any way to salvage this into anything??

drats..... its two gallons of milk... help!

ps yes i'm posting on the BYHerds site also hoping for some good news
 
I am definately not a cheese making expert, but will share my thoughts.

First, let me say that I only use cow's milk as we don't have goats, but from what I've read it doesn't make a difference.

I use citric acid and rennet, sometimes lipase, but not the starter. If I'm remembering the recipe correctly, I add the citric acid, heat to temp and then add the rennet. Both citric acid and rennet are mixed in some cool water first.
Do you have curds? If so, I would remove them from the whey and drain as much of it as I could. Then, form into a mass by pushing together - some say kneading. Then, either put into the hot whey or microwave until you reach a stretching point. I'm not sure which method you plan to use.

Anyway, I probably didn't explain this very well.
Good luck. Just remember that cheesemaking is a science (not my best subject) and I think most of us have had some failed attempts (I've had many) - and the chickens love those.
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Let us know how it works out.

prairiegirl
 
thanks!! actually this really helps... i did end up with curds... but i didnt know if i should just dump it or what. it was killing me that it was two gallons.. i'll give it a go
:)

here's what i do when i get whey - i put it in my milk bucket and milk into it, let it set until the next milking and then give the 'chicken cheese' to the hens! they love it

thanks thanks thanks
 
When making mozarella from goat's milk, the recipe I found in my book calls for 1 packet of thermophilic starter per 4 gallons of goat's milk. My recipe says to add lipase, but I don't add lipase to goat's milk.

Ok, then there's the fresh cow milk mozarella, which calls for 2 gallons of farm fresh milk, 1 packet of thermophilic starter, lipase powder, rennet, etc.

But the other recipe for cow's milk says to use 1.5tsp citric acid per gallon of milk.

If I were making mozarella, and I forgot the starter, I'd go ahead and finish it. Because not only will you not know until you see it to the end, but you might come up with something you really like that's a bit different.

And BTW, I've made mozarella with farm fresh mozarella without the starter or lipase. It was still good
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So no, I don't know if I'd waste the four gallons of milk, unless you are exhausted and don't think it's worth the work to come up with a bad product
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But DO let us know how it turns out!
 

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