Rheolution's Resources in Agri-Food

Turbidity provides the consumer’s first visual impression of beer quality. Beer turbidity, technically known as haze, can be a desired or an undesired effect. Industrial beer companies normally choose to filter their beer and follow a precise quality control analysis with the aim of reducing the haze. Consumers expect a filtered beer to be a clear, bright and non-hazy product that remains so during its shelf life. On the other hand, artisanal beers normally have higher haze to maintain their unique flavor and appearance, specially for some types of beers such as New-England Indian Pale Ale (NEIPA).

Cheese is obtained from coagulating milk by separating the milk gel into solid curds and liquid whey. The milk gel is cut into small cubes to increase curds surface/volume ratio and allow whey expelling from curds, a phenomenon called syneresis. The objective of any cheesemaker is to optimize the retention of fat and proteins in cheese while the level of moisture is maintained at a controlled level.

Cheese is obtained by coagulation of milk and subsequent separation of the milk gel into liquid (whey) and solid (curd) phases. An essential step of the cheesemaking process involves cutting the formed milk gel into small cubes to allow whey separation by increasing curd surface/volume ratio. Cutting time selection greatly affects the yield, moisture and quality of cheese. Cutting the gel too soon when the curd is not firm enough leads to lower cheese yield through increased curd fines and fat loss, whereas delayed cutting results in higher cheese moisture content due to reduced collapse of the gel.

Parameters such as temperature, pH, coagulant dosage, protein content and calcium chloride influence the way milk coagulates. Real time data provided by CoaguSens™ Flex help understanding and controlling the influence of technological parameters on coagulation kinetics and consequently on yield.

This application note describes a study performed at the cheese pilot plant of the R&D center of the Canadian department of agriculture & agri-food (Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada) in Saint-Hyacinthe (QC, Canada). The study aimed to measure the influence of the curd firmness and coagulation speed at the time of cutting on the retention rates of fat, protein and solids in cheddar cheese. The CoaguSens™ Connect (Rheolution Inc, Canada) was used to conduct this study.