could someone help me?? i have tried to make a soft cheese and i have followed the recipe to the letter, but the milk doesnt seem to coagulate. it tells me to put in 4 drops of rennet to every 5 litres of milk. is this correct???? it seems a small amount for a large quantity of milk.

hope you can help, fingers crossed.

check to see if u are using UHP milk. Not all rennet is equal so u need to read the instructions that came with it. I would bet its the milk brand your using.
Welcome Aboard !!

I agree that this sounds like a very small amount of rennet for the amount of milk you are using. I have always used 1/4 tsp. rennet for up to three gallons of milk.
Of course you Rennet might be different than mine.
Hopefully someone else will be along to offer advice on this.
As Neil said…..welcome aboard.

Dave

It might help if we were all on the same page here.  What type of cheese are you attempting?  It may be that some of us have made that same cheese and can offer some advise out of personal experience.

And yes, welcome aboard.  Hope your problem will be resolved soon and you can move on to bigger and better cheeses.

thanks everyone!! its only a soft cheese as i am really really new to cheese making.

i bought some new rennet and used more as per instructions on the packet rather than the instructions and it seems to have worked a treat.

if anyone could give me some ideas for cheese to progress to, i would be most grateful. any help is welcome.

Are you looking to make other soft cheeses, or do you want to progress to a hard cheese?  I’d recommend you get a book - Ricki Carroll’s book “Home Cheesemaking” is a good starting place.  It will give you a rundown of all the basics and techniques.  It also has a lot of recipes in it - for soft or hard cheese.  Happy eating, and have fun.

dispic….
First of all, glad you worked out your problem with the curd set. I’ll never forget the first time I witnessed the magic of seeing milk form into cheese.
My first cheese was a cottage variety and it had to set over night. I got up the next morning….gently lifted the lid and couldn’t believe that there was still milk in the pot.
Well of course I was upset and picked up the pot to dump it down the sink and then I noticed that my “milk” was jiggling like jello. I was pretty much on top of the world then.
My first cheese wasn’t all that great, but it did get me hooked on this great hobby. I sincerely hope you get as much enjoyment out of cheesemaking as I do.
As for what cheese to progress to. I’d follow Rich’s advice and get a book. At the very least, scour the internet for any cheesemaking sites you can find. There are a lot of recipes out there and there’s a lot of good information that I still refer to as I try to refine the cheeses I make.
Also, take advantage of this very valuable resource (this forum). Everyone is willing to help each other and most often you will get several good answers to any question you might have.
Good luck and I look forward to hearing more about your progress.

Dave

nice , when i remembered my first curd .... lol

i added huge amount of rennet, huge enough that the milk coagulated in 15 seconds (while i am stirring it)
that was years ago

i have now got the ricki caroll book, i am reading it at work on my lunch. people think im mad!!!! who cares its a good read and i am learning something new.

dispic1 - 02 January 2009 10:46 AM

could someone help me?? i have tried to make a soft cheese and i have followed the recipe to the letter, but the milk doesnt seem to coagulate. it tells me to put in 4 drops of rennet to every 5 litres of milk. is this correct???? it seems a small amount for a large quantity of milk.

hope you can help, fingers crossed.

Welcome!

Looks like the original question got answered. For others with this problem: first look at the milk you are using, if it is ultra-pasteurized, you are never going to get a solid curd. Raw is best, but hard to get. Store-bought usually works okay, but I’ve found that different brands work a little differently, so experiment. If you use store-bought milk, add a bit of calcium chloride to the milk just prior to adding the rennet (dissolve an amount equal to the amount of rennet in the recipe in some cool distilled water and stir it in thoroughly), this helps add some of the elements needed to form a nice curd structure that were destroyed in pasteurization back into the milk. Finally, try to use the minimum amount of rennet that will do the job, but different rennet will perform differently so follow instructions of the rennet, not necessarily the recipe.