So after 6 years, I’m finally getting around to learning the flocculation method. To those of you who may not know about this, it’s a method of determining with some precision when your curd gel is set and ready to cut. It involves determining the flocculation point, a time from the addition of rennet to the point at which curd starts to set. It’s done by placing a clear plastic bowl on top of the milk and spinning it. When it gets to the point that there is enough resistance to prohibit the bowl from freely spinning - that is the flocculation point. The number of minutes from addition of rennet to this flocculation point is multiplied by a numerical factor - varies depending on the type of cheese you’re making - and this will tell you when the curd is “perfect” for cutting.
At the same time as I was doing this, I also was using reduced culture and rennet for moisture purposes, so I was unsure how long my milk should set. Anyway, I came up with 14 minutes to the flocculation point, and I used a factor of 3 for my Colby. This yielded 42 minutes to the cut point. At 42 minutes I stuck my finger in to check the curd set, and voila - it was indeed perfect. I was pleasantly pleased, needless to say.
I’m not sure exactly what difference this will make in my cheesemaking, but it should give some confidence.
