Hi guys.
Well today I went ahead and made my batch of Romano and even though things didn’t do as originally planned I’m happy with the results so far.
When I started the make things seemed to be going well.
I was somewhat surprised at how much I remembered from last winter and I went into this make feeling very confident.
Well 45 minutes after adding my year old rennet I decided that things might not go as smoothly as I had planned.
I don’t know if it was the age of the rennet OR the fact that I cut the amount of rennet nearly in half, but I did not get a clean break until nearly two hours after adding it to the milk.
My reason for cutting back on the amount was because a couple of my cheeses last year had a somewhat bitter flavor which could be caused by excessive rennet. Well I decided today to cut back drastically and I’m now wondering if I might have to adjust my amount used, in the future.
Well regardless, after waiting for two hours I did get a nice clean break and got a very nice yield on my curd. All in all I’m satisfied.
Only time will tell how this one turns out but man, it really felt good to be making cheese again. I can’t wait for next weekend so I can do it all over again.
Hope everyone has had a nice weekend.

Dave

It could be your culture as well.

I have the same fear of forgetting how to make cheese after such a long break

Neil,
The culture is a possible problem but I’m pretty sure it was the amount of rennet I used…..
For a 4 gallon batch I used 1/4 tsp. of double strength vegetable rennet.
As I said it did eventually make a nice curd but man it was a long wait. I also fear making mistakes after taking time off.
Regardless, I now have a very nice Romano soaking in the brine and plan on pulling it out tomorrow morning.
I honestly can’t wait until next weekend so that I can give Rich’s Manchego recipe a go.
Thanks for the response.

Dave