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Like Mike says when refrigerated olive oil sets up. Once warmed again it will flow. Find a place outside the fridge that is cool but not cold so the oil stays liquid. Or make brine from whey and calcium chloride to store the cheese in in the fridge
Starting pH of milk varies with animal diet/ health and how old the milk is (older milk will drop in pH as bactera start to digest it). Somewhere around 6.7 is normal. It is the bacterial action of the starter bacteria that you add (and the native bacreria of them milk to some extent) that lowers the pH towards the acidic side. pH curve varies with the type of starter you use and the temperature you hold the milk at. Typically if you are using pH meters you should see a pH drop of around .1 before adding rennet and then it will continue downward from there as you follow the recipie. As for water it should be around pH 7 (neutral). Test strips usually aren’t very helpfully unless you have some that are designed for the pH you are measuring (7-4.6) or somewhere in there.
They are different sources and as such you will have different acid stregths. They can be used in the same way but you will have to fiddle with each some to get the right amounts figgured out. Even with two different citric acid sources I had to mess with a recepie for a while to get the right amount figgured out to make mozza
Welcome Lindsay. You are lucky to have access to such nice milk! Jersy milk can get a little tricky later in lactation and during winter due to the butter fat increasing during that time (less milk and lots of long stemmed hay = more butterfat to milk solids). Nothing you can’t work around but when talking cammemberts they get stiffer (like double cream brie) and Cheddar’s can start to ooze fat to the sturface during aging. Just something to be aware of and just skim some cream off and make butter or cream cheese along side your regular cheeses!
If brine is balanced in pH and has calcium then the cheese must be at fault. Have you been using floc (floating bowl) test to make sure the rennet is doing it’s job in the desired time? Also have you tested your milk for possible problems such as antibiotic residues or poor calcium levels? Is brine storage your only option or could you freeze the mozza instead?
If you haven’t already check this forum out too: http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php it’s a lot more active and has lots of info on it. Just use the search function.
Leave it a few days and if the mold isn’t starting up spray again. Is it in a ripening box? If so leave the lid open a little to let some of the moisture escape.
Hi Roxanne. Welcome. Sounds like your cheddar didn’t quite knit right in the outside. Follow the pressing schedule (flipping and adding weight) carefully and if it still doesn’t come together you can try and put the cheese and mold into a hot sink of water to warm it for a bit then press with lots of weight again. As for the mold culture yes you can keep it in the fridge for a while. You could likely even freeze it and still use it again later but results may vary with that approach. Adding the mold to the milk directly can help the mold to spread thru the cheese faster resulting in faster ripening but spraying is fine also.
Welcome Jenny. My wife and I have 4 kids, the youngest is almost 10 months now. We have 150 acres and 6 cows and a whole bunch of other animals. What breed is Rosie?
Yes it should be fine after the warmup/ swelling stage but I would keep it cooler while it is rinded in the first place. I would probably cool the fridge down for the parm and romano while (it won’t hurt them for that long) and then take the Swiss out and bring temp back to 55 for the rest of the aging on all the cheeses (put Swiss in at 55 after the swelling stage)
What kind of Swiss? Emmental? If so you will probably need to keep it cooler while you rind it before you put it thru its warmup cycle. If you try to rind it too warm it may start to puff up prematurely, crack and not turn out how you hope. Any other Swiss style you will probably be ok using the wrong temp it will just change the cheese a little bit but not too major.
I don’t use a wine fridge but have seen a lot of them used on line. Most people use a small humidifier that sits in a cup of water this is then hooked up to a humidity controller. Both can be found on Amazon for fairly cheap. Your cheese should be dry on the surface but shouldnt crack if the humidity is close to right. Sounds like you are a little low.
