Cheesemaking Lab: Group C Data

Group C: Madeline (recorder), Dane, Sally, Phoebe, Beck

BASIC RENNET CHEESE

Initial Measurements

Milk weight (first bottle)	1968g (2888g with bottle)
Milk weight (second bottle)	1967g (2887g with bottle)
Total milk weight	3935g
Milk temperature	13C (55F)
Fire temperature	214C

Timeline

Time	Temperature	Actions/Observations
1:33-35	14C	Addition of 1/4 cup vinegar in 2 cups of water to the milk
1:39	14C	Milk in cast iron pot placed over the flame, on top of a fire grate; meanwhile, the rennet tablet is dissolved in water
1:42	28C
1:45	30C
1:46	32C	Milk taken off heat and rennet water added slowly
1:50	32C	Temperature is holding
1:56	32C	Temperature is holding; fire temperature taken – 345C
2:03	32C	Clean break test done a little early – not perfect, we decided to wait a few more minutes
2:06	32C	Clean break test – achieved!
2:07	30C	Curds cut twice vertically and once horizontally (which was a little haphazard and uneven); temperature began to drop, so we put the pot back on the flame
2:10	34C	Pot taken back off the heat
2:11-12	34C	Curds were stirred gently every so often; we did break up some of the curds, mostly to get their size more even
2:15	38C	Temperature was way too hot – though off the fire, the pot was still warming the milk up
2:23	36C	Squeeze test – decided to wait a few more minutes
2:30		Separated the curds and whey using cheesecloth
2:35		Curd went into the cheese mold

Our cheesecloth stretched out a little too much, so while we strained the curd from the whey, we may not have managed to get them totally separate. At 3:35, an hour from when the curd was put into the mold, we flipped it over.

Final Measurements (rennet cheese process)

Curd weight	1180g
Whey weight (first bottle)	1944g (2864g in bottle)
Whey weight (second bottle)	1182g (2102g in bottle)
Total whey weight	3126g

MYSOST

After our rennet cheese process, we only had about three-quarters of a gallon of whey to work with, so we borrowed whey from Group A in order to complete the gallon of whey we needed for the mysost process.

Time	Temperature	Actions/Observations
2:37		First half of the whey poured into the cast iron pot
2:39		Second half of the whey poured into the cast iron pot (total volume was a gallon; since we had to eyeball the volume reduction to 1/4 of the original, I wrote down that the depth of the whey in the cast iron was about 2-2.5 inches, in case that would help us)
2:40-41	34C	Whey placed over the flame on the fire grate with the lid on to bring it to a boil
2:42	34C	Fire temperature taken – around 380C
2:47	66C
2:49	90C	Whey began to foam over, so we took the lid off; temperature immediately began to drop
2:50	80C	Lid was replaced, covering the pot halfway this time
2:51	95C	Quick rise in whey temperature, but it also stabilized quickly
2:55	95C	Whey came to a rolling boil, and we began to stir periodically (every 2-3 minutes) to scrape sides and bottom – continues until 4:18
2:59	83C	Temperature seems to begin dropping, though it was still at a rolling boil
3:03	75C	Whey not really boiling anymore; the lid went back on halfway to encourage it to boil again
3:05	80C	Back to a rolling boil
3:06	90C	Lid taken off
3:09	66C	Temperature decrease showing on the meat thermometer, though they whey was still at a rolling boil; we also noticed that the temp reading spiked a little when we stirred the whey, likely because it splashed the whey up onto the meat thermometer’s sensor
3:21	58C	Whey stopped boiling; lid went back on halfway
3:35		Volume has reduced by at least half by this point
3:55	60C	Volume has reduced to 1/4 of the original; after this point it was very difficult to keep it at a boil, and the meat thermometer’s readings were very low, likely because its sensor wasn’t really touching the liquid at all
4:02		Not really boiling, just getting foamy at the edges where the fire was hottest; still too light to add the cream (we were looking for a caramel color)
4:11		We finally got some color (but not enough color yet), and it also reached a boil again very briefly as we found stoking and blowing on the fire to help
4:14		After fanning the flames, the reduced whey began foaming
4:16		Back to a rolling boil briefly
4:18		The color was still a little light, but we added the cream at Austin’s cue and began stirring constantly, scraping the sides and bottom of the pot to keep the whey from burning
4:23		Hadn’t thickened much
4:28		Whey reduced a little, was boiling/burbling a bit
4:31		Starting to thicken
4:38		Starting to thicken more; at this point we could see the bottom of the pan when stirring (looked a bit like a blond roux, texture-wise)
4:40		Really began thickening, bubbling, and getting darker
4:45		Out of the cast iron and into the measuring cup! It was thick, but not too thick to pour. We couldn’t quite get all of it in the measuring cup to weigh.

Final Measurements (mysost)

Weight in measuring cup

907g