Cheese Lab Conclusion

At the beginning we were asked the question “what are the optimal conditions and curdling agents for making cheese?” After collecting information and experimenting, we found that curds showed up the fastest and most prominently in the chymosin tube with the most heat and acid. We conclude this because both the acidic chymosin and hot chymosin both only took 5 minutes to curdle. This is the same time as the acidic and hot renin, but in our collection of information we learned that chymosin is simply a more concentrated form of renin and should be faster by default. This shows that the acidic and hot chymosin are the best because it takes the least amount of time to make cheese and less time means less energy to produce cheese.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to lack of attention to detail.

One of our errors was that we forgot to add chymosin and were already 2 minutes into incubation. This major error could have affected the time of formations of the curds because the milk would have already been warm, speeding up the curdling process. To prevent this, next time we should add everything at the same time and follow the directions more carefully. Another error would be the temperature of armpits during incubation. The article of clothing could affect the temperature and rate of curdling. If someone wears a jacket versus a t-shirt then the armpit temperatures would be different.This could have changed the timing of how fast the cheese curdled. In future experiments, I would recommend choosing people in the group with similar shirt materials and everyone who has a jacket should take it off to neutralize the temperatures.

This lab was done to demonstrate how different conditions can affect  enzymes and their chemical reactions.From this lab I learned how enzyme conditions can make a drastic difference on a reaction which helps me understand the concept of how we need to keep our bodies at a certain temperature and pH range. Based on my experience from this lab, I know how to suggest which conditions an enzyme works best in by evaluating where is it naturally found.

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