Cheese Lab Conclusion

In this lab, we questioned what are the optimal conditions and curdling agents for making cheese and our hypothesis was that the optimal conditions for curdling would be warm and acidic. We have found that the optimal conditions for curdling agents are an acidic and hot environment. We came to this conclusion through the fact that in the hot environment and acidic environment, the milk began to curdle within five minutes. We also observed that in the cold environment, curdling did not occur at all. This data supports our hypothesis because the milk curdled quicker in the hot and acidic environments.

While our hypothesis was supported through our data, there could have been errors due to the fact that we checked the curdling process every five minutes, and so there could have been some timing issues. The milk could have curdled within two minutes but we do not know for sure. There could have also been inconsistencies in the amount of curdling agent that we added due to the fact that not everyone was experienced with the tools. This could have affected the results of the experiment. In future experiments, I recommend that the process is observed at all times and also timed, and that the measurements of all the agents are very accurate.

This lab was done to demonstrate the best of cheese-curdling enzymes and to demonstrate a chemical reaction. From this lab, I have learned that the optimal conditions for cheese making are a hot environment and an acidic environment, such as a calf’s stomach where rennin comes from. Based on my experiences from this lab, I can now explain the science behind cheese making and the curdling process.

	Time to Curdle (minutes)
Curdling Agent:	Chymosin	Rennin	Buttermilk	Milk (control)
Acid	5	5	5
Base	20
pH control	15	10
Cold
Hot	5	5
Temp Control	10	10