Last two times that I made cheese (Gouda and Pepper Jack), I noticed when I was stirring the curd at a temperature of about 87F, that on top of the whey small eyes of a light brown substance was floating. The biggest were about a quarter of an inch. I couldn’t remember that I saw that before. When I got some out with a teaspoon and rubbed it between my fingers, it felt like fat and it melted. It was, at least in that amount, tasteless and odorless. When I raised the temperature further on in the process, they turned indeed into yellowish liqiud eyes of fat.
Anyone familiar with this?
Is it good, it it bad, did I always overlook this, does it tell anything about the quality of the milk?
I have no idea about the PH of the whey and curds at that moment, because I don’t measure that, but the curd tasted fine on both occasions…

I have not seen this myself, so I can’t offer any suggestions as to what causes it.  If you see this again, it might be helpful to get a picture of it to aid in identification.  At least the flavor was not affected.

I would be inclined thinking that it has something to do with a difference in the milk. It could be the time of the year and the diet of the animals at this time of the year. Of course I don’t know what winter is like where you live.

Since I recently started buying raw milk I remember the differences in the raw and pasteurized, and the first thing that I noticed was the yellowish fat that raises to the surface. I would call it butter fat. It smells like butter and it has the color of butter.

So maybe this fat that you are seeing is somehow just a difference in the milk. Especially since you just noticed recently.

Well, winter at the moment is pretty cold, for the first time in 15 year we have an official “cold wave” with night temperatures down to -7F and day temperatures of 23F. Last weekend I skipped making Cabra al Vino and spend most of the weekend skating with the kids…

So THAT’S where Winter went!!!  It’s been unusually mild in my area - I still have radishes and onions growing in the garden.  Thank you Herman.

You’re welcome Rich. But the complete country here is going mad, because the is a change on an “Elfstedentocht”. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht.

LOL, its -7c right now and High for today is -2c. Thats supper warm for us, very unusual warm winter. People dont realize how good they have it when other areas have a normal -20-30c in winter (and colder) LOL.