narelle - 22 March 2009 03:35 AM
today i’m making a cheshire cheese and i thought i would test the ph at the stages it says in my recipe book but at the final cooking stage the ph was too high how could i lower the ph in future and what influences ph levels in making cheese 
Narelle,
The pH is lowered as the acidity of the cheese increases. The acidity increases as a result of the cultures converting lactose into lactic acid. If the pH is not as low as you expected, it means that the bacteria have not converted enough lactose to lactic acid. Causes of this might be not enough culture to start, a culture that is old and not as active as it was when it was fresh, a temperature that slows the culture down, or simply not waiting long enough to reach the proper pH.
