I’m a newbie at cheesemaking.  I was making a muenster cheese and the curds and everything looked great.  When I “gently” stirred in the salt the way the recipe said, my curds broke down and look like squishy yogurt.  What happened?  The kitchen was kind of cool while the curds set.  Could that have affected it?  Help.

I would suggest you write out the method, as the amount of information you gave just promotes more questions.

1. Brought gallon of milk to 88 degrees
2. added 1/4 tablet of rennet (the recipe didn’t call for a culture?)
3.  Stirred, then let rest for a hour.
4.  After an hour curd still hadn’t set, so I let it sit another 1/2 hour.
5.  Curds looked great.
6.  Cut the curds, still looking normal
7.  GENTLY Stirred in 2 teaspoons of salt and heated to 88 degrees.
8.  Curds broke into a squishy mess.

I have since drained and pressed it, when I flipped it it is holding form, but I don’t think its going to stay together real well.  Might be crumbly like feta.  Don’t know.  Thanks for any help.

My friend was having the same or similar problem until he started adding calcium chloride.
He was using fresh milk from a local dairy but he was pasturizing it.

Dang, I have some and I’ve added it to all the cheese I make.  I just forgot because it wasn’t in the recipe book.  Thanks,  I’m sure it will be good, just maybe not the texture I hoped for.

Drain it and use it like a cream cheese etc..

In the recipe as posted there was no mention of a starter culture, surely you need that to lower the acidity, otherwise your just making a yogurt?

True, at the very least people use buttermilk.

I don’t know about that.  I tried a shortcut Muenster recipe that also required no starter.  It made a pretty good cheese.

I’ve tried the same recipe as Rich and I agree….it really wasn’t a bad cheese and had a VERY short aging time.
As for the curd breaking down, are you certain your milk is not ultra pasteurized?
Also, the fact that you forgot the calcium chloride could have been a large part of the problem. This I can’t say for sure since I have used it on every batch of cheese I’ve made, so I don’t know what would/could happen without it.
I also wonder about the length of time it took for your curd to set. Over an hour seems like a long time to me.
I usually get a clean break within 40 minutes unless I’ve made a mistake somewhere along the line. Of course this could be due to no starter being used in the cheese but I don’t remember a long set time on the one Muenster I tried.
What type of tablet rennet are you using and are you sure it is still good, i.e. not too old?
I’m just grasping at straws here to try and figure out what went wrong for you.
I know it can be upsetting to have problems with a batch of cheese but just don’t give up. Keep reading everything you can find on the subject and keep making cheese. I’d say that most people on here will tell you that they’ve had their fair share of either outright failures or at least some miscues but we’ve all also hit some home runs along the way.
Those home runs are what makes it all worth it.
Take care and hope you figure out what caused the problem.

Dave

Dave you brought up a good point.  The rennet may be old and weak.  I haven’t used the tablets either - for a very long time.  I have come to prefer liquid animal rennet. 

Also, above it was mentioned that you cooked the curd at 88 deg.  Could that be a misprint?  Seems like you ripened it at 88; cooking should be somewhat warmer.

it looks like UHT milk been used

Sorry to get in on this late.  I’ve made the short-cut muenster quite a bit.  And no, it doesn’t use a starter culture.  And yes, the curd does break down if you don’t use the calcium chloride.  My advice is to go ahead and let it age a couple of weeks and give it a try.  I doubt it was old rennet or UHT milk.  It will probably be great.  I forget the calcium sometimes too, so I’ve written it on all my recipes to remind myself.  I’ve found it really makes a difference in the firmness and texture of the curd.