I used that annatto coloring for the first time yesterday. I used 2 drops per gallon of milk like the recipe said, and the bottle said. It is just barely got a hint of color to it. How much do other people use? There must be a different theory.

Trial and error LOL. Make sure u shook the bottle in case it separated.

In order to get the right color, I use 45 drops for a 4 gal. batch.  I even checked with the tech guy at New England Cheesemaking Supply and he said that the amount in the recipe is not intended to give a rich deep color, just to yield an off white color.  I don’t know why they want to do that, but there it is.

What GCM said.  It takes at least 45 drops for 3 gallons to get the nice cheddar orange for me anyway.

Thanks, I will increase it considerably.