Introduction: How to Make Great Ricotta Cheese From Whey

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This Instructable will show you how to make Ricotta Cheese from the Whey that was left over from the Mozzarella Cheese you already made.
Check out my Instructable for making Great Mozzarella Cheese. You will find it at:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Great-Mozzarella-Cheese/
There are tons of Mozzarella Cheese recipes on the Internet. I checked a lot of them out and perfected my own recipe and made an Instructable for it to make it as easy as possible to make Mozzarella Cheese. It seemed like a lot of the recipes I found either left out a step or didn't explain it very well.

Unlike Mozzarella, Ricotta Cheese seems to be almost 100% foolproof.
There are recipes out there to make Ricotta from milk, but this lets you get everything possible out of that gallon you used for the Mozzarella.

Things you will need:
1. Leftover Whey
2. Large bowl
3. Reusable coffee filter. You can also use a clean cloth.
4. Large Strainer that you used for the Mozzarella
5. Small bowl to put the final product in

Step 1: Heat the Whey

Pour the Whey back into your pot and heat back up to from 200 degrees to boiling. The temperature here is not critical and you don't have to do it slow. Just be VERY careful not to let it boil over. It WILL make a mess.
Some people suggest letting the Whey set out overnight. I have tried that and also started it right away and haven't noticed any difference.
Turn the heat off and let it cool down some. After a little while, if there is stuff floating on top stir it so that it sinks to the bottom. This will help later so you can just strain most of the liquid and it won't clog up the filter so fast.

Step 2: Strain the Whey

Once the Whey has cooled down to 140 degrees or less, either use a ladle or pour your Whey through the coffee filter. NOTE My pot has a lip on it, so it pours fine like the picture. If yours does not have a lip, it might not pour like that.
Most of the Ricotta is at the bottom of the pot so pour slowly and do not shake up the pot and you should be able to pour most of the Whey through. If the filter gets full just transfer it into another bowl for now, rinse the filter and continue pouring the Whey through until finished. Once the Whey is drained it can be thrown out, used in soups, used to feed animals, used to water plants etc. Didn't know you could get so much out of a gallon of Milk did you?
This step can also be done with a clean cloth. When it fills up, just grab up the 4 corners with one hand and squeeze the Whey out with the other hand. Continue to strain.

Step 3: Drain

Once you pour it all back into the filter just let it drain for a while until all the liquid is out of it. It could take a while depending on the size of the holes in the filter.

Step 4: Thats It!

There it is. Told you it was easy. Try it. It should have a slightly sweet taste and boy is it good. As you can see I got about six and a half ounces. it varies ever time.

Enjoy