Brain Cheese - Batch Two

I made my second batch of cheese on 6/4/09 from one gallon of Kemps Vitamin D Whole Milk with an expiration date of 6/10/09. I let the rennet dissolve for over 20 minutes, but there were still some granules in the water. I added the citric acid and started bringing the milk to 90 degrees at 10:00am. It took about 10 minutes to get to 90 degrees and I may have overshot the mark slightly. I removed the pot from the heat, added the rennet and mixed up and down for 30 seconds, covered the pot and let sit for 5 minutes (10:05-10:09 am). After five minutes, there was really no curd to speak of. It was even less than I saw after five minutes for my first batch. But, I decided to wait more and see if it changed. At 10:22, I cut the curd that was there, but it was very soft and not much different than the whey. At 10:30, I ladled the curd mixture into a cheese-cloth lined colander and added 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and folded the curd over a couple of times to get more whey out. I folded it a few times, but could not knead the curd because it broke apart too much. I tried to put the curd ball in hot (170 degree) water, but it still wouldn't stick together to be kneaded. I put it in the microwave for 36 seconds, but still it was just a big chunk of tiny curd chunks. It never got stretchy or smooth or shiny. I formed the curd into as small a curd ball as I could. Then, I put it in cold tap water and added ice. The photo is of the brain cheese ball I made. I tasted a slice of my cheese #2. Thanks to the salt it actually tasted better than cheese #1 did. Some final thoughts: "You can do the right things and it still might not work. Blame the milk!" "The look does NOT determine the taste." "Good cheese has both good taste and good looks. I hope I make some good cheese some day." We did have some of each batch of cheese on a dinner salad tonight. Each batch is edible, but nothing to brag about. Twenty-Eight batches to go.