I recently bought Rocky Mountain supply animal rennet, and it specifically says to use 1/2 a teaspoon for 2 gallons of milk. Should I be following the advice on the bottle, or adjusting for what specific recipes ask for?
By a simple calculation [amount of rennet (ml) = clotting strength (IMCU/l)/Rennet strength (IMCU/ml)] and a simple heuristic of clotting strength around 45 IMCU/L for cows milk, your Rennet is at 145-165 IMCU/ml.
IMCU (international milk clotting units) is the standard measure of rennet strength and traditional single strength mycorrhizal rennet is typically 200 IMCU/ml in the UK and 250 in North America. Animal Rennet is a bit weaker in my experience so yours is typical.
As most recipes traditionally use single strength rennet as the measure unless they say otherwise I would convert and adjust the dose. You’ll typically need to use 1.4x as much.
I tend to adjust volumes from standard recipes so will always convert Rennet dose to IMCU and then scale. It’s frustrating but while using too little rennet will still
Coagulate your milk, just slower, that can make a difference to the acidity, moisture, flavour and consistency of your cheese.
By a simple calculation [amount of rennet (ml) = clotting strength (IMCU/l)/Rennet strength (IMCU/ml)] and a simple heuristic of clotting strength around 45 IMCU/L for cows milk, your Rennet is at 145-165 IMCU/ml.
IMCU (international milk clotting units) is the standard measure of rennet strength and traditional single strength mycorrhizal rennet is typically 200 IMCU/ml in the UK and 250 in North America. Animal Rennet is a bit weaker in my experience so yours is typical.
As most recipes traditionally use single strength rennet as the measure unless they say otherwise I would convert and adjust the dose. You’ll typically need to use 1.4x as much.
I tend to adjust volumes from standard recipes so will always convert Rennet dose to IMCU and then scale. It’s frustrating but while using too little rennet will still Coagulate your milk, just slower, that can make a difference to the acidity, moisture, flavour and consistency of your cheese.
Let us know how you get on.
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