Doubling cheese recipes??

[RockyToggRanch]

I'm struggling to keep up with all of this milk and they haven't even weaned their kids yet. I stopped bottle feeding the 2 orphans this week. I'm getting about 1 1/3 gallons a day milking one doe once a day and the other twice. I don't milk them anywhere near empty. (and sshhhhhh....I'm getting a first freshener this weekend:/

I made cheese last weekend and everyday after work. A gallon recipe for feta...quick and easy. I was wondering if I double the recipe to catch up, do I need to adjust the times as well? An hour for the culture to ripen and an hour to coagulate is what it calls for for the 1 gallon.

I'll double the rennet and culture.

I have to empty some 1/2 gal jars or I won't have anywhere to put milk tonight...lol

 

[patandchickens]

No, DO NOT double any times. Times and temperatures all stay exactly the same, no matter what the size of the batch.

For your first try at doubling, yes, double the culture and rennet; you may find with experience that a small correction is needed, e.g. not *quite* doubling the rennet.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[freemotion]

I make four gallon batches in my five gallon stock pot. You will be happy to have all the aged cheeses when all your does are dry!

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Where did you find your recipe for 4 gallons? I just drained the 2 gallon batch. It looks like it worked out just fine. I'm learning to time the batches around evening chores. I brought in another gallon of milk tonight I need to learn something other than feta...although I'm looking fwd to the marinated feta in the same book. It doesn't need to be refrigerated

also looking fwd to some frozen yogurt.

 

[freemotion]

I just multiply the recipes in the book or the online recipe I am using and have had great success...mostly!

The biggest challenge was heating the milk in such large batches. I learned to put my jars in a sink of hot water, taking care not to let it get as high as the caps on the jars or it would contaminate the milk. Then I would go do my chores, and change the water as soon as I got in. Then change it another time or two, then transfer it to the pot. I mostly make mesophilic cheeses to preserve the enzymes and keep the cheese raw, so I can use a waterbath in my sink with the pot, too, and never use the stove except to sterilize my pot and skimmer before starting (before going out for chores.)

 

[RockyToggRanch]

The most fun for me is in the coordination of it all. What a challenge.

 

[chandasue]

I have the opposite problem with not quite enough milk to make full batches of cheese. So far I've stuck to soft cheeses and I cut recipes in half. I don't change the time on the culturing part of the process but I find that I don't need to drain as long. So maybe with doubling batch, you'd have to drain longer.