Win some, lose some (Marcia, HELP)

I decided to experiment with making cottage cheese using rennet.  
It should have been good; the milk was all "set" like it should be this morning.  I think I just got in too big a hurry; I should have kept it heating longer.  
Marcia commented on another post that she was making cottage cheese using rennet.  I have questions for you, Marcia.  
Do you use a thermometer to make sure the milk is the right temperature?  
Do you place the pan in hot water? How does your method differ from the recipe in THIS POST, the one on which you commented?  
I already can see that the recipe that comes in the rennet package is different than the one I posted here; I should have followed that one, because I had great success with it.  The only reason I wanted to try using rennet is that I wanted a larger curd.