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

[Derek Bradford]

> > Can you offer any advice?
>
> Ponder my basic cheese process and see how it varies from what you did.
> Try it and if that does not work, get back to us.
>

I just finished a batch of cheese.  I got a clean break this time.  I
was truly unscientific, however, and have not technically pinpointed
the problem I was having.

I combined yours (Jack) and David's recipes for a basic pound of
cheese from a gallon of milk.  I did that because I'd already bought
the gallon of milk and had no other pressing use for it.  Jack's
recipe called for pasteurizing and then cooling to 86 degrees; I
skipped the pasteurization and warmed my milk to 86.  David's called
for an overnight inoculation rest; Jack's called for an hour.  I went
with an hour, following the suggestion that perhaps my ph was off; if
so, a shorter rest might fix that problem.  I also added calcium
chloride to the warmed milk.  Following inoculation (yogurt), I added
the rennet, and after 3 hours I had a clean break (due to the
thermophylic instead of mesophylic starter).

Thanks for the help!
--Derek