Hi All!

Last week I made something somewhere between Munster and Epoisses. I used raw milk. I inoculated the milk with B. Linens and have been washing them with salt brine every other day or every third day. Question is, it’s developing small spots of yellow and blue mold. Maybe it’s too humid in my cave? Could there be excess moisture sitting on the cheese? I’m not sure how much is too much as this is my first attempt at this style of cheese.

We don’t talk a lot about washed rind cheeses but I could use some help. Should the surface look wet? Should it be kind of sticky too? I know blue is bad but how about yellow mold? 

Heather

When I did the washed rind I made sure it was dry, well almost. maybe the concentration of the brine, type of salt, inconsistent density of the surface of the cheese. I dont recall blue mold appearing just yellow/red/rusty, have to look back at my pics. I never used B Linens, I suggest continue and see what develops. Post pics if u can

Thanks Neil.

I reduced the humidity a bit. I think what happened is that my cheeses first dried on bamboo mats and this left crevices where moisture got trapped when I wiped the cheeses (the top coat of skin gets smoothed over the crevices). Next time I’ll use a smoother mat.

The yellow is weird though…check your pics if you could and let me know. This feels somewhat like when I made Stilton for the first time (and only time so far!)...what colors of the rainbow should I expect to see…

I’ll try to get pics.

Heather

By the way, I would soak the bamboo mats in salt to help protect against mold when I used to use them.

I boil mine. Do you boil yours too?

I purchase some crafting mats that have a checkerboard to them and use them for draining.  I soak them in a mixture of bleach and water prior to using them, making sure that they are rinsed really really well and air dried first.  (Learned that from my home brewing days)  I thought that I saw something similar at Neils website.

Have a wonderful day all.

I used boiling water to sterilize them and use the salt to kind of inoculate them to hinder the mold. If mold impregnates the bamboo then it will transfer to the cheese. I used to also spray them with bleach. I would highly recomend getting proper cheese mats, easy to clean and safe and well worth it to reduce contamination etc.

Neil, so you would recommend the bamboo?  I was worried about using wood due to contamination.

no I dont, too porous and easy to contaminate, unless u soak it in bleach or use it for one kind of cheese only.

i boil mines and let them dry in sun

So about this cheese…I don’t have a good humid 60F spot for my nine washed rind cheeses so they’re in my 48-50F cave. Most recipes that utilyze B. Linens require a 60 F aging for 2 weeks before going to 50F for the longer aging period. I wonder if anyone knows if B. Linens need the warmer temps to grow of if I can just expect a slower growth of the red rind in my cooler cave. They’re almost too weeks old and just barely pink in color.

By the way, I cut a small one open yesterday (I’m so incredibly impatient, why did I choose this hobby, why!) and it was so interesting and good. Yeasty, tasted kind of like like dough, texture like kneeded dough. I thnk these babies have good potential. Looking forward to seeing what 3-4 weeks of aging brings.

Because it tastes Soooooo good

Good to know.  My cheese matt’s are a white plastic that should hold up indefinitely.  I will certainly soak them in a chlorine bleach solution prior to using, making sure that I rinse them completely and air dry.  They do look kind of like yours Neil.

Cheers.

yup it not worth gambling with your cheese when u have to wait so long for the results.

After reading a number of articles today, I hope that I did not press my first cheddar to hard.  I think that I may have pressed too much whey out of it, but won’t know till I crack it in June.  I do know that I will not be pressing so intently in the future.  I prefer a moister cheese.

9mmruger - 09 April 2008 09:05 PM

After reading a number of articles today, I hope that I did not press my first cheddar to hard.  I think that I may have pressed too much whey out of it, but won’t know till I crack it in June.  I do know that I will not be pressing so intently in the future.  I prefer a moister cheese.

when you press it, NO white (milky) whey should run out of the cheese, if it does, this means u press it to much at the beginning ...

i do not think any of us , using home press could ended up with final over press in cheddar cheese.. as i said it should be a gradual pressing , so no white whey.

white whey means rapid loose of fat