Hi,
I’ve just started and have made a couple of camemberts that came out ok. I’ve just had my first go at a hard cheese - a Romano.

I pressed it for about 14 hours, starting with couple of kg, and finished up with 18kg. It looked ok when I took it out.

I put it in brine for 4 hours, flipped it over and gave it another 4 hours. After the first 4 hours it looked to be cracking a little, and had gotten worse by the time I took it out. It was very crumbly, and curd sized chunks fell off the edges, and one larger chunk chipped off too. I was just wondering what might have caused this?

My guesses are:
1. Brine was a bit warm at the start, around 15-20C, but I put it in the fridge to cool it down straight away.
2. In the brine for too long
any other ideas?

I’ve read that a lot of people just rub these sorts of cheeses with some olive oil while they are maturing, but the recipe I had used wax, and I felt that was also the only way I was going to be able to hold it together. So I waxed it.
Sam

PS only had a phone to take the photo so I hope it is clear enough

Welcome !!
Yes this has happened to me several times including my last Swiss. My guess the brine was not setup properly, u need to have CaCl in their so it does not leach from the cheese, maybe too much salt concentration. If the cheese looked nice and smooth and pliable before hand then its the brine.

i m still sticked to my idea here: too much acid before and during cooking

Thanks for the ideas. I’ll put a bit of CaCl in the brine next time. To reduce the acid, is that best done by reducing times, or the amount of starter?

I just made a Romano and it was nice and solid- I used CaCl. Just fyi. I figure if I am using storebought milk I should always use it..

TS - looks great.  What did you use for a mold?

And did you use Lipase or lower fat milk to get that tang?

Looks good. I was wondering what you used as a mold too.

Looks nice and homesteade

I used Heavy Cream and 2% Milk.
I used Lipase as well as an Italian Cheese starter.
The mold is the standard one that comes with the Leener’s Deluxe kit.

Talking Seagull - 02 April 2008 12:52 PM

I just made a Romano and it was nice and solid- I used CaCl. Just fyi. I figure if I am using storebought milk I should always use it..

I have decided to use the CaCl2 as well with all my recipes that require store bought milk.  I when to Rickies and looked for a pint and it was 25 buck.  I ordered it from Leeners for about 7 buck a pint.  Much better price.

CaCl is cheap, make sure u shope around, I paid around 12-16$ for 1L