[Cheese] Watery curds

[Erica Cooksey]

Hi all,

Sorry for all the posts; if you can't tell, I'm mid-cheese!

Anyway, I'm currently pressing a Monterey Jack with chipotles, fire-roasted
jalapenos, and roasted garlic. I seem to have run into a potential issue:
the curds are very watery. I've been pressing the cheese at 15 lbs for about
12 hours and it is still not solid enough for air drying.

I used 1/2 tsp of rennet for a gallon of milk, so I don't think it's that. I
bought the rennet in September, maybe it's too old? I have a could of
theories, please let me know what you think.

1- The temperature of the curds cooled down a bit in the last 30 minutes of
cooking. It was still over 90 but less than 100
2- I know that salt draws out moisture. This is the first cheese I've ever
made (other than mozz) where the curds are directly salted rather than
brined. Perhaps this is the norm?
3- There could be extra liquid from the peppers and garlic
4- Should I have hung the curds before pressing? In the recipe I am using
(Ricki's), she says to put the curds in a cheesecloth-lined colander and
"let drain". She did not specify a length of time or a desired texture, so I
assumed that this step is just to get rid of excess whey. Did I interpret
this wrong?

In her recipe, she only presses the cheese at 4lbs for 12 hours. There is NO
WAY that I would have a solid cheese in that time! I'm just going to keep
pressing at 15 lbs til it holds together. I guess I'm just trying to
understand if I've seriously screwed up my cheese or if this is normal.

--Erica
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