[Cheese] Clean break/coagulation problem -- Warning -- Long Post

[Derek Bradford]

Hi All,

I've been lurking for a long time, but this is my first post.  It's
long, and for that I apologize.  I want to be specific.  In a
nutshell, I can't get a clean break; my milk won't coagulate.  I don't
know if I should be adding calcium chloride, or if I'm just doing
something else wrong entirely.  My recipes have all come from
Fankhauser's pages.

I've been making yogurt for a long time with excellent results.
My yogurt is 3.5%, made with store-bought homogenized milk, and is
very, very thick, and as smooth as it could ever be.  I make big
batches every week and they all turn out just fine.  I make labneh
with nearly every batch, and it's equally wonderful.

I've tried making two cheeses; once, feta, and it failed to produce a
feta, but did make a cream-type soft cheese that I ate for
weeks, and the second was Fankhauser's basic pound of cheese from a
gallon of milk recipe.

I have utterly failed to achieve a clean break.  I've used the freshest
milk available (it hit the shelf the day before I used it, and it's
the same milk I use for yogurt all the time.

I warmed the milk the night before to 20C, and let it sit, inoculated with
mesophylic starter (and I also added some mild lipase powder for
flavour (just the tiniest amount)), for about 15 hours at 20/21C.  I
used the mesophylic starter from the Grape and Granary
(http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/4,9888.htm).  I used 1/8tsp.
(Side note: when I made feta I used yogurt as a starter, but I believe
my milk had overacidified.  I thought using the powdered starter might
provide for a more stable experiment this time.  Bad science, changing
too many variables...I know...).  The next morning I slowly heated it to
30C, and then added my rennet.  I also use the rennet from the same
site (http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/4,10199.htm), and used about
1/8 of a tab, perhaps more.  I erred on more than less.  I mixed the
rennet thoroughly, but briefly, and let it sit, covered, for 1 hour,
completely undisturbed.  After one hour, I still had a pot of liquid
milk--no evidence of coagulation.

I have some calcium chloride, but I'm not sure when to add it, and
since I've had strong success with yogurt, I decided to wait until I
knew I needed it.  I'm not convinced it's absence is the source of my
problem, though.

A note about my rennet: I find that it fails to dissolve terribly well
in the water; most does, but there is (as with last time) always some
sediment on the bottom of the glass.  Could this be a significant
source of error?

Can you offer any advice?  I have been extremely sterile; I'm also a
beer and wine brewer, and I really can't see what my problem must be.

Thanks all for your help.

Cheers,
--Derek