Week 2 Group F Lab Data: Cheesemaking

This week in the lab, we made cheese. My group in particular made a Fast Mozzarella Curd. From placing our milk on the fire to pitching the whey, the process took 71 minutes. Further, the curd was allowed to sit and drain for ~24 hours. What follows is relevant data about those 71 minutes and the final product.

Process

The lab manual our group followed can be found here. Of note, the pot we used was previously used to make paneer. We cleaned the pot with sea salt, but a few burnt patches remained along with some unburnt remnants of the paneer.

Timeline

The temperature of our cheesemaking liquid as measured by a liquid thermometer over the course of the process can be found below. Important landmarks in the process are as follows:

0 minutes: Lemon juice mixed with milk; pot goes over fire

5 1/2 minutes: Pot is pulled from fire; rennet mixture added

30 minutes: Pot back over fire

33 1/2 minutes: Pot removed from fire

37 1/2 mintues: Cut curds and stirred

41 minutes: Pot back on fire

71 minutes: Pitched whey and begin draining curds

23 hours later: Final weighing of curd

The spike in temperature at 33 1/2 mintues happened shortly after returning our pot to the fire to warm. We removed the pot immediately and it cooled rapidly.

Yield

We began the cheesemaking process with 1 gallon of milk, approximately 3.9 kg, and were left with 0.48 kg of cheese curd and 3.9 kg of whey.

In grams, the following chart represents the product and byproduct of each step. After the inital pitching of the curd, the product was allowed to drain for additional 23 hours. Not all liquid was converted to whey or curd, a discrepency that can be attributed to evaportation or spilled product.