My chevre is runny

[Lada]

This is my first time making chevre this year, but I made it last year with no problems. I heated the milk, added the culture and rennet, let it sit...18 hours later it's still just thick milk, really. No separation of curds and whey. What could be the problem? I used the culture from last year, but it's been in the fridge so I thought it would still be good. Any ideas? Can I save it or is it chicken food?

[Alice In TX/MO]

Is your rennet old? Are you using real rennet or Junket?

[Lada]

The rennet's about the same age as the culture, bought about a year ago and kept in the fridge, and it's real liquid rennet, not junket.

[Cannon_Farms]

chickens would love it.
I did this once, my milk was too warm and killed my rennet

[Pony]

I am put in mind of the Monty Python Cheese Shop... Just add "chevre" in place of "Camembert" and...



Owner: Ah! We have chevre, yessir.

Customer: (suprised) You do! Excellent.

Owner: Yessir. It's..ah,.....it's a bit runny...

Customer: Oh, I like it runny.

Owner: Well,.. It's very runny, actually, sir.

Customer: No matter. Fetch hither the fromage de la Belle France! Mmmwah!

Owner: I...think it's a bit runnier than you'll like it, sir.

Customer: I don't care how **** runny it is. Hand it over with all speed.

Owner: Oooooooooohhh........! (pause)

Customer: What now?

Owner: The cat's eaten it.

Guess you should feed it to the cat!

[Lada]

I don't think the milk was too warm, but maybe...I just used it straight from the goat and let it cool to 76*. I'm going to give it another hour or two and see if it sets up, if not, then the chickens will get it.

Pony, that's hilarious!

[Alice In TX/MO]

No that's not too warm. I usually put rennet in at 86 degrees. Tooo cold perhaps?

[HillsideWayCSA]

I would question the culture. You can always buy fresh buttermilk for the culture. It works quite nice then just make new culture with the buttermilk every once in awhile. For all the cool (don't require incubating) dairy products buttermilk is what I use as a starter.

I'm still rather new to the whole thing but what I do is heat the milk and buttermilk together in a crock pot then turn it off and add the rennet and let it sit overnight. Works great.

[steff bugielski]

Could there have been colostrum in the milk?
chances are your rennet was too old.
any where from 76 to 86 should be fine. It should not matter if the milk was cooled first then heated or just cooled unless it took a long time to cool and there was some bacteria in the milk.

[Lada]

No, no colostrum, she's three months fresh, and it didn't cool for very long, so shouldn't be any bacteria. Hmmmm, should the rennet not last a year? It's such a big bottle and you only use a drop, so I was hoping it would last a while. Oh well, I will just have to start over again, I guess.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I drug out my copy of "The Fabrication of Farmstead Goat Cheese" to read about acidity. Found this which may help.

"The speed and quality of rennet coagulation depends on the following principal factors:

* milk acidity: rennet does not function in an alkaline medium, it needs a slightly acid environment"

Then, from Ricki Carrol's webpage about testing acidity:
"When we are trying to convert the lactose in cheese to lactic acid by using a culture, there is no visible way to determine to what extent the culture is working. Tracking acidity development is one of the surest ways to know about the activity of your culture and to tell if it is doing the work it was intended to do."
http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg...g-Acidity.html

I'm thinking your culture didn't make the milk acid enough for the rennet to work.

[suzyhomemaker09]

I'd question your culture...you said it's been stored in the fridge...
Generally when storing for future use ( and I'm not certain of what sort of culture you're using here ) it's frozen.
I've used rennet ( liquid ) that was well over a year old with no ill effects. If the ambient temperature in your home is on the coolish side it may take longer for your cheese curds to set up properly.

[Lada]

Well, I left this batch sitting out overnight again, just for kicks and giggles, and it still is not set. So, it will definitely go to the birds. What you are saying makes sense Alice, especially since I didn't store it in the freezer. Good to know at least my rennet still should be good and I'll just have to maybe get some more culture.

[suzyhomemaker09]

If you're just going small scale and making chevre for yourself buttermilk is just fine as a culture...you can freeze it in ice trays and keep it there for future use.

[saanengirl]

Your milk may have been too fresh. Fresh milk has antiseptic properties that can kill your culture. After the milk has been pasteurized or has been in the fridge a day or so it won't kill your culture. Old culture weakened by really fresh milk combined with old rennet could be the problem.

[suzyhomemaker09]

Originally Posted by saanengirl

Your milk may have been too fresh. Fresh milk has antiseptic properties that can kill your culture. After the milk has been pasteurized or has been in the fridge a day or so it won't kill your culture. Old culture weakened by really fresh milk combined with old rennet could be the problem.

Not to argue the point but I've personally never found this to be true...been making chevre for several years now and I most frequently make it with my morning's milking straight from the tap avoids any need to warm milk as it's already perfect temperature.

[deineria]

ROFL - Pony

[Lada]

Originally Posted by suzyhomemaker09

If you're just going small scale and making chevre for yourself buttermilk is just fine as a culture...you can freeze it in ice trays and keep it there for future use.

How much buttermilk would I use for a gallon of milk?

[suzyhomemaker09]

around 1/2 cup...recipe in Goats Produce Too calls for 1/2 cup in 5 qts of milk