# chevre spongy with bubbles? HELP!



## HonestOmnivore (Feb 26, 2013)

I made chevre (fresh goat cheese) with a direct set culture last night and after leaving it overnight I found it about 1/2 inch ABOVE the whey the to was almost like you might find on yogurt, thick and almost dry. When I scooped out some it smelled ok, and the whey looks normal but the curd has barley sized holes throughout!

Here is what I did:
· used approx 2.5 gallons goat milk (oldest milk was 1 week old)
· all the milk was raw
· stirred milk and slowly heated it to 86 ish degrees (might have over shot by a coulee defers?) 
· added two packets of chevre culture (New England cheese making- C20G) left on surface a few minutes to rehydrate, then stirred it in.
· left it over night as usual

One thing that was different than "normal" was that I used the broiler while the milk was testing (after I added the culture) which may have heated the milk above 90 degrees? I know that using the broiler makes the stove top surface pretty warm..

So what do I do with it? Should I go ahead and station it and use it? Could I have introduced another wild culture through contamination? (some of the milk I used was from last weekend when my DJ milked for me)


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## FarmerInaDress (Mar 15, 2013)

It sounds like contamination. My first guess would be yeast, which will cause holes throughout. Do you bake?


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## lottsagoats (Dec 10, 2012)

I always pasteurize the milk before I make cheese so I don't end up with the wrong bacteria growing in the cheese.


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## HonestOmnivore (Feb 26, 2013)

We do bake, and I think our home is a magnet for molds... My last batch sat too long and also formed bubbles but tasted fine... I pasteurize the milk I use for yogurt because I make out with low-fat and it takes about ten days before the cream is all at the top... I figure by that time there's bound to be wild gremlins in there!


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## kccjer (Jan 27, 2012)

I found that when I use milk older than a couple days, my cheese doesn't turn out very good. FRESH milk is best....


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