Alright finally had a fail today. I knew that day was coming as I have been following the recipes for the most part without fully understanding whats going on..

I have made 2 successful mozzarella batches, both had nice stretch but seem to in my opinion lack much in the way of flavor.

So in my readings I had discovered some folks use a mild or sharp lipase to give the cheese a bit of tang and the end or sharpness..

Anyways I got it in my head I wanted to do it in the traditional method using culture (thermo),,I read the destructions several times and figured I got this..

I start by raising the milk temp to 89 while warming up I mix 1/4 lipase (for 2 gallons of milk) in 1/4 cup water,
When the milk hit 89 I reset controller to 90f and added the lipase,, I waited 10 minutes then added the therm let set on top 2 minutes then stirred in and left it for 90 minutes.

AT 10 minutes prior I got 1/4 tsp of rennet ready by mixing with 1/2 cup cool water ….
After 90 minutes had passed I then added the rennet mixed 30 seconds up down method, and let set for 60 minutes,,,

at 45 minutes the clean cut was possible and so I went ahead with the clean cut and cubed to 1 inch cubes, let set 15 minutes, then began raising temp to 100 while occasionally stirring,

At 100 deg and 10 minutes more, I then drained off the whey

and let the pan float in the sink at 90f for 2 hours and squeezing out whey every 15 minutes…

Afterwards I had a nice big chuck of curds that I cut up to drop in the 190f water…

I dropped the cut curd into the hot water,, waited 7 minutes and then kneaded and tried to stretch, it crumbled apart!!!

No matter what I tried it was a fail…

I have been trying to figure out what happened……

I now understand that acid and temp are the important criteria for a good stretch..

I now see why the 30minute fast mozz stretches and it is because you add citric acid straight away to the milk..

I am guessing and maybe someone can confirm… that because I was using a culture that I should have 1 used my ph meter to confirm that it was going acid and should have considered more time prior to dunking into the hot water….

Bottom line I should have allowed more time is my guess……..