# Soft Goat Cheese....HELP!!!



## Island Creek Farm (Jun 16, 2010)

I have no idea what's going on...Pav you there?

I've been making a super soft, spreadable cheese by request, and have made tons of it...all of a sudden it stopped working! Can anyone help?

Here's what I normally do...

1. take approx 3qts warm from goat milk (that's the size of my "cheese bowl")
2. Add the barest pinch of the farmhouse culture (MA4000)
3. Wait one hour or so and add 1/5-1/2 drop dissolved liquid rennet and leave overnight
4 cut and drain
5. run through food processor with herbs and put in containers

Normally it turns out like soft cream cheese, VERY smooth, unlike what I get with FD (which almost always is grainy)

The other night, my cheese bowl (5 lb antique glass...holds heat well) was in the dishwasher. I figured since my milk was still warm from milking it would be fine. Put in the cultures and milk and forgot it...oops. The next morning, it was thick like melted ice cream and had the lovliest aroma, so I added the rennet and waited until afternoon. The top had clean break, so I cut it and put it in the cloth...it ran straight through it...ALL of it.

Since the aroma was so pleasing, I repeated the process again, thinking maybe I just needed more rennet ...it didn't work either, so instead of dumping the whole thing (it smelled SO nice), I added a full drop of dissolved rennet (which normally leads to rubber)...nothing, at all. Anyone have a clue what went wrong? 

Can rennet go bad? I shake the bottle, not sure if it settles....?????

:help


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## Island Creek Farm (Jun 16, 2010)

I should add that my Great Pyrenees are thrilled to death that this cheese keeps failing...think they're the culprits? 

:rofl


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

Rennet can go bad, but typically not an issue. If you had a clean break at the top, do you mean that the first 1-2" set, but the rest didn't? 

Did you stir the milk after adding cultures and rennet to incorporate everything?

Typically, if a part of the milk sets but not the rest, there's a temp gradient. Like the bottom is sitting on a counter and the counter is drawing heat away, but the top is warm enough to set.

My guess is temp. You you were to wait long enough, you'd likely have lactic coagulation from the culture alone.


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## Island Creek Farm (Jun 16, 2010)

Yes, it gets stirred after each addition. Normally I don't leave the culture overnight....so I'm guessing the melted ice cream consistency is lactic coagulation?

Why would the rennet not thicken beyond that? Is it because now the whole bowl of milk/culture is room temperature? If this might be the case, I can heat it slightly before I add rennet. The aroma is incredible...it just smells so creamy!


thanks so much!


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## Island Creek Farm (Jun 16, 2010)

Let me add another question to this...why when I use FD does it end up grainy? Not to the palate, but you can see it...it's just NOT smooth. Not to mention I (personally) don't like the flavor...

It does not matter how it's made...36 hour milk, heat+culture+ rennet (even tried varied amounts) vs fresh from goat, it always looks grainy, even after meeting the food processor. Is this the culture itself and how it reacts with the milk?


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

> I'm guessing the melted ice cream consistency is lactic coagulation?


Correct. Rennet has specificity for when it is most active. Above and below that ideal, it has decreasing activity. That point for rennet is something like a pH of 5.3 at 95F. Meaning it is most active at about the conditions of the body, as found in the abomasum. If your milk is thick, but not solid, then my guess is that it has acidified to below 5.0. And the culture doesn't have enough body to make the curd thick just from the lactic coagulation alone.



> I can heat it slightly before I add rennet.


Ideally, the temp should stay consistent.



> .why when I use FD does it end up grainy?


Not the culture, this has to do with your make. Semi-lactic curd, like you find in chevre is pretty particular about how it acts. Meaning it is very sensitive to time and acidity levels. The ideal make is to acidify milk to about 6.1, add rennet, wait for it to set, and then drain at ~4.6. This should happen either in 8-12 hours using the fast method, or 16-24 hours using the slow method (methods differ based on amount and acidification property of cultures). If you drain before the right acidity, or after it, the curd goes from being evenly clumped together, to over-aggregating into these dense, tight protein structures. End result is grainyness.

You have to match the culture to the make style. Suggest if you use FD to try a traditional 18-24 hour make. Also helps to drain in the fridge to arrest acidification.


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