cheese problems

[hedgerow pete]

how long or what would be classed as normal for 5 litres of milk to turn after being renneted,

i brought 100ml of veggy rennet from goat nutritian, so is it the rennet, any way it says 4 drops and water to add to to the milk, but after three hours still nowt, so i have just done a whole teaspoon in water then the milk which is to me a lot of rennit,

so am i doing it wrong or what?

 

[VEG]

What milk are you using i.e full fat semi...

 

[dudley]

Hi Pete,

The veg type rennet takes much longer than vinegar method up to 24hrs .

This is taken from the Goat Nutrition advice leaflet that I got from Bruce at GN when we started making goats cheese last year and it worked for us.

Heat 5 litres of milk to 90c and cool rapidly to 20-22c
Add two tablespoons of cheese starter culture (that you made earlier) with 4 drops of diluted rennet. Cover and stand in warm place for 24hrs when a curd will have formed.

We found that only 4 drops does not form a firm curd but Bruce said ad more and it will make a stiffer curd in 24 hrs if you want a firmer cheese, so with a teaspoon your probably have concrete tomorrow.

Hope that helps Pete.

Steve.

 

[hedgerow pete]

the milk is full fat unpasterized milk direct from a dairy, which means no cream, flippin cows now dont do cream, just gallons of milk instead,

any way leave it over night, i have never heard that one before.

does none vegi rennet work quicker, i was told half to one hour was normal ?

I have tried with this lot to hang drain over night and i will be gentle pressing this morning, to firm it up

 

[Stephenw]

Lemon juice also can be used.

Steve

 

[Frisbee]

Proper rennet is quicker and better, not so easy to get hold of these days though. A big cheese maker may let you have some.

Milk from black and white cows is about 4% fat, not as high as a Jersy, but okay. If you are getting it direct, at least it won't have been standardised.......watered down to a standard by the processors

Frisbee

 

[hedgerow pete]

thats the reason why i have waited so long to try cheese making and its only my fourth batch, yep the milk is totally straight, not standardised, not pasturised and not defatted /de creamed, just good old fashioned proper milk that i used to remeber as a nipper.

i would love to get hold of some jersey milk for the butter and cream making but thats just being unreasonable, lol

and daft as it sounds are the black and white cows still called fressions or like sheep have they been breed to far from the base parents now to still carry the name

 

[Stephenw]

Hi pete,

The black and white cows can either be Holsteins or friesans.

Steve

 

[The Cumbrian]

Hi pete,

The black and white cows can either be Holsteins or friesans.

Steve

Didn't the British Friesian Society become the Holstein Friesian Society a few years back.

If I remember correctly which I probably don't. Friesians were called Friesians because they descended from the black and white cattle of the Friesian islands (somewhere round the Netherlands I think). Holsteins were from Canadian stock which descended from black and White cattle from Holstein. Guess where Holstein is ...... That's right in the Friesian Islands. So if I remember correctly some bright spark decided they were basically both the same breed so the society changed.

I will now stand back and wait for somebody to tell me I have got the wrong end of the stick.

EDIT: Having had a look it appears they hace separated again.

 

[Stephenw]

Dont worry cumbrian lol Id say there is a slight difference between a friesian and Holstein but yes there was an amalgamation between societies so there is Holstein/friesian cattle. There are different species that come from the friesian island, like the cow aswell as horses and i used to have friesian fowl aswell.

Steve

 

[Luminos]

Surrounded by dairy farmers here, and they call them Friesian Holsteins.
(Apart from the Limousin cattle, which are called...Limousin...)

 

[Stephenw]

I suppose you can just call them Holsteins, lims are nice.

Steve

 

[Frisbee]

There's a lot of difference between a Fresian and a Holstein cow, but yes they began as the same animal and there was confusion over the name. The Fresian mistakenly called Holstein was exported to Canada and America, where by the very size of the country the farms began specializing and improving the breed whereas in little England farms stayed mixed and small. The dairy cows also supplied beef, farms mainly grew food for the workforce....horses. Food for the human population was imported from the Commonwealth. The second world war brought a wake-up call and farms began to produce food for the population and also began specializing. The main obvious differences between a Freisian and an improved Holstein is size and colour. Fresians are smaller, dumpier and generally more black than white, Holsteins are taller, thinner and generally more white than black. A few years ago the trend was towards producing a lower fat milk and Holsteins were bred to produce that. That trend has changed now, but unfortunately breeding for change takes longer but will get there.

Frisbee

 

[Frisbee]

At the point where there was an obvious difference between the Fresian and Holstein........many many years ago, countries which were Fresian based began crossing them using Holstein bulls/semen to increase the milk production, the cross bred female offspring began to be called Fresian/Holstein or vv. I think it's 10 generations before the female can be classed as a Holstein.

Frisbee

 

[Stephenw]

Thanks for reassuring me frisbee that i wasnt wrong and that there were differences between them.

Steve

 

[hedgerow pete]

just had goat nutrition get back to me , yes it is an over night job for the veggie rennit, i have never heard or realised that it was planned to take so long,
back to the drawing boards again then,

 

[Frisbee]

Thanks for reassuring me frisbee that i wasnt wrong and that there were differences between them.

Steve

You're welcome

Another dead easy way of telling the difference is to look at their backs......if you could throw a tabecloth over one and seat 6round it for dinner then it's a Friesian, if all the plates are going to fall off then it's a Holstein

Frisbee

 

[dudley]

just had goat nutrition get back to me , yes it is an over night job for the veggie rennit, i have never heard or realised that it was planned to take so long,
back to the drawing boards again then,

And it works with our goats milk. I have not made a hard cheese yet (I want too) but often doing soft cheese with GN's veg rennet.

 

[hedgerow pete]

just in all the you tube videos and books it seams to be a fairly instant change, but then again katie thear never mentions any detail like time in her books, so its hard to find out whats what, i did get a little printed sheet fron GN but not enough detail on whats happening.

 

[drstitson]

was there any particular reason (other than the obvious) for using vegeterian rennet?????

have just knocked out another couple of cheeses for OH using proper rennet.

the 42C prep was ready for cutting after 15 mins. The 30C preps took nearer 1/2 hour.