Cheese Lab

In this lab, we asked the question of what the optimal conditions and curdling agents for making cheese. My hypothesis was that if renin comes from a calf's stomach, then the optimal conditions to curdle milk would be warm and acidic. We found that curdling agents in a hot and acidic environment would make milk curl faster. We found out that both renin and chymosin in a hot and acidic environment curled within five minutes. This shows that an acidic and hot environment will speed up curdling. I would recommend using chymosin in two pH at a hot temperature to curl as fast as possible.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to the measurement of the acid, base, curdling agent, and the milk. Putting too much curdling agent and acid could have decreased the time it took to curdle the milk. Putting too much base or milk could have slowed down the time to curdle. This could have been fixed by using a small graduated cylinder to measure. There also could have been differences in the time that we took the test tube out to check for curdling. Some were taken out for longer amounts of time, and others shorter. This could have been fixed if we put a set amount of time, like fifteen seconds, to inspect the test tube.

This lab was done to demonstrate how different pH and temperatures affect the different types of enzymes. From this lab, I learned how enzymes react to different environments, which helps me understand more of how enzymes work. In class, I’ve learned about how enzymes denature when the pH and temperature aren’t optimal, and this lab showed that. Based on my experience from this lab, I understand how milk spoils, and what I can do to prevent it from spoiling.

	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