Cheese Lab

	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

You, my supervisor, wants to know what the optimal conditions and curdling agents for making cheese are and I have the answer for you. I found that warm and acidic (pH control) atmospheres are the optimal conditions for making cheese. As you see in my graph and table, the shortest time that chymosin, rennin, and buttermilk, started having curdles is 5 minutes. The curdling agents only started to curdle by 5 minutes in certain conditions: Acid and Hot. This evidence supports my claim because these are the fastest time that curdling started to occur and these times only occurred in a acidic and hot environment. I also found that the best curdling agent for making cheese is chymosin. Except for “Cold”, chymosin curdled in every kind of condition. This evidence supports my claim because chymosin is the curdling agent that curdled the most which proves that the best curdling agent for making cheese is chymosin.

One error that might’ve slightly messed up the data is the accuracy of the initial time. The initial time wasn’t exactly when the curdling agents was put in its conditions. When we started the time, the curdling agent still wasn’t in its condition yet; therefore, the initial time was a bit earlier than what it should’ve been. This error might have affected our results by not allowing the curdling agents enough time to actually start curdling. Another error that could’ve occur in this lab was the condition of the temperature control. With this condition, someone had to put the curdling agent below their armpit. This would not result accurately because the temperature of each person’s armpit varies widely, therefore giving the curdling agent being tested an advantage of curdling sooner if one’s armpit is hotter than the others . Someone wearing a sweatshirt would cause a hotter temperature for the curdling agent then someone who put it against their bare skin. Someone that just got back from PE would cause a hotter temperature than someone who just got out of a air conditioned room.  This error would’ve affected the accuracy of our results by giving certain curdling agents the advantage to curdle faster because of the hotter temperature of the member’s armpit.

In order to improve the experimental procedure and reduce/minimize errors, I would recommend always keeping track of the time and clearly splitting up who’s doing what at the start of the lab. Always keeping track of time will give you more accurate results and clearly splitting up who’s doing what at the start of the lab will help your group steer clear from any confusion of what’s been done and what hasn’t.

The purpose of this lab was to become more familiar with enzymes and how they’re important and used in everyday life. It was also to become more familiar with what acids, bases, and pH are and how the conditions can be important in everyday life. In this lab, we got to know more about enzymes, which we had already gone over in class. We also got to see how Acids, Bases, and pH, which we’ve already gone through in class, could be applied in real life by having them as the conditions for the curdling agents.

The outcome learned from this lab could be applied to other situations. For example, if someone wants something to turn sour faster than the natural time then they’ll know that an acidic and hot condition would be the best condition to put it in.