# Another cheese failure



## eam (Jun 5, 2002)

I was once again trying to make Fankhauser's basic hard cheese. I didn't get a clean break after adding the rennet. I think I know why - at a very basic level - but I don't know how to correct it. I heated the milk (appropriately this time!) and added my yogurt starter. Let it sit overnight. Couldn't get to it first thing in the morning so did the next step right after lunch - heated and added rennet. Waited an hour and a half; tested for clean break - not there yet. Ended up waiting overnight - no clean break. What I ended up with is LOTS of really great textured yogurt.

Here are my ideas on what went wrong. At the very basic level, I think my milk had started to clabber overnight. (I wasn't really sure what that meant but now that I've experienced it, I understand better.) What I'm not sure of is why. My two theories are: I didn't get back to it first thing in the morning after sitting overnight and too much lactic acid formed. My second theory is that my yogurt wasn't right. It was homemade goat milk yogurt. When I make my yogurt, I let it go longer than I would with cow's milk yogurt so I get a thicker consistency. It's a bit more tart doing it that way but not too much so.

Ok, so those are my theories. What does anyone else think? Do either of those theories make sense? The milk was very fresh so I don't think that was a problem. Rennet is good and fresh (which wouldn't be the issue anyway if the clabbered milk is the culprit).

As always, any and all leads welcome! I'm going to keep at it until I get a decent hard cheese! (I have a wheel in the frig that I can't try for at least another month.....high hopes for that one!)

Thanks.
Elizabeth


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## Laverne (May 25, 2008)

I am fairly new at cheese. I used to make it in the 1970's but that was a long time ago. Since cheese is so complex, to me anyway, if I have a curd that's not up to par with what I intended it for I make it into another type. If I end up with a whole lot of yogurt I won't use. say I had five gallons of it, I will make a cheese called Shankleesh, shanklish, shunkleesh. It can be googled with several different spellings. It is from the middle east. It is made out of yogurt, drained, formed into balls with cayenne pepper added, to your own taste. Then dried for a week on the counter, covered. I have put it in the food dehydrator since it is supposed to be set in the sun, covered. The arabs store it in hot sand. Then when dry enough it is put in plastic bags or jars covered, the warmer temp the quicker it will ripen. It will grow mold all over it. It can be eaten after a week or 2 years. The more it rots the more of a delicacy it's supposed to be. I keep it in zip lock bags sitting in my kitchen and if I want one I wash the mold off with a tooth brush under cold water to not melt the cheese. Then it is rubbed with olive oil and rolled in zaatar a mixture of herbs. It is the size of a small orange. It is extremely popular. In fact I ended up making more of it than any other on purpose, I find it addicting. You could also make some chevre out of the drained yogurt. I add some dried dill and garlic powder and sea salt.


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## Leo (Feb 7, 2006)

Definitely make lemonade out of lemons.
So given that the rennet was good, milk good, how where the temps?

I checked my books to see if there would be any other possibility and it suggested that other than what you stated, that insufficient amounts of rennet, rennet activity destroyed due to too warm of water mixed in with the rennet, or if the rennet was mixed in the same container as cheese coloring.

When I've made yogurt, and had let it clabber too long, I get cheese. Well, it separates into whey and curds. This generally happens in summer in Fl, with temps in the upper 90s. So cold weather cheesemaking is new to me.
Megan


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Also be sure that the water the rennet was mixed with did not contain any chlorine, or other detrimental chem...

This has happened to plenty of folks, (city water supply)


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## cmharris6002 (Jan 27, 2006)

I have never ripened milk overnight for cheese. I have used yogurt as a culture and keeping the milk between 86F-90F in a hot water bath it took about an hour to ripen. Yogurt belongs to the thermophilic culture family and needs warmer temps to work. 

Fankhauser's theory is, that by leaving the milk cultured with yogurt at room temp, you slow down the growth of bacteria that change the lactose into lactic acid, therefore the need to ripen overnight. This method is unreliable but could still work. Your best bet would be to use very fresh live culture yogurt from the grocery store. Homemade yogurt would be really hit and miss with this method.

If you want to fix this problem using the same recipe and homemade yogurt, try warming the milk to 90F, adding the yogurt, ripen one hour keeping the temp with a water bath. Add the rennet and follow the rest of the directions as the recipe indicates. 

Christy


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## eam (Jun 5, 2002)

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the replies. Our water is well water, untreated, so I don't think that would have made the difference. (It's the same water I use all the time.) Temperatures, for a change, were spot on. That's something I'm not always good with, I'll admit, but this time I paid special attention figuring that the cheese would have to age for 60 days. I hate to have to wait all that time and find out the cheese is bad. The rennet was mixed with cool water in a stainless steel measuring cup sitting on a granite counter. Our kitchen is pretty cool this time of year - 55*F or so - so I don't think the rennet/water mix was warm.

So, I guess I'm coming to the homemade yogurt as the culprit. I think I'll either try another recipe (that doesn't use yogurt) or make sure I use store-bought yogurt.

On the other hand, we had a very nice yogurt cheese spread last night with crackers. And, I'm planning to make a cheesecake and a lasagna. 

Does anyone know if the yogurt will freeze successfully?

Stay tuned for my next cheesemaking fiasco! Thanks for the help.
Elizabeth


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

As I recall you mentioned that getting milk now was a bit of a big deal , so why not go a step further than the Fankhauser recipes and try some real cheese recipes? His recipes while they do work most of the time are so situational. Invest a few dollars and get some cultures and use those instead of yogurt and buttermilk both of which you have no idea of how viable the cultures in them are.
I started playing around with the same recipes, yes they are simple and the pictorials are great. But it seems you have enough experience to take the step into more professional cheese making.


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## eam (Jun 5, 2002)

Suzy, Thanks for the words of encouragement. I actually have lots of starters but was taking the advice I received to try out something simpler - like the Fankhauser site. I'm really looking forward to some of the cultures that I have (I bought thermophilic and mesophilic direct set as well as reculturable, chevre, and farmhouse from Hoeggers). 

I think I'll take your advice and try one of those next! Do you have any suggested recipes? I have Ricki Carroll's Home Cheesemaking book so I can dig something up from there but I'm happy to take suggestions! I do feel like I'm making progress in so far as I know more of what to look for. My cheeses may not come exactly like I expect but at least they're edible! 

Thanks. Waiting for the next batch of milk to come in.....
Elizabeth


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## cmharris6002 (Jan 27, 2006)

Elizabeth, I think you will like Ricki's Queso Fresco (p92) Here is a little tip, use a water bath of 105F to raise the temp from 90F to 95F in 20min.

Christy


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