Now I think I know what I’m doing about aging cheeses.  (Thanks, Alex and Likesspace!)  And I know that cheddar keeps getting better as you age it, and I think the same is true for gouda.  My colby and jack recipes have max as well as min aging times, and when I’ve kept them past those times they do develop more mold.  However, all my cheesemaking is done in early winter, when the pigs are gone and the goats not yet dried off.
So if I want jack and colby to eat in the fall, should I take them out of the warmer damper aging space and stick them in the regular fridge for longer keeping, or will that adversely affect their flavor or texture?

Joanna,
I’m of the opinion that storing in a regular household refrigerator will effectively stop the aging process or at the very least slow it down so drastically that it might as well have stopped.
I have tried aging cheese in this type of environment and it never seemed to develop the complexity of flavors that I was looking for.
Now having said that, I will say this:
Last winter I had the exact same idea as you concerning halting the aging process due to mold problems. It seems if I keep my colby or gouda cheeses longer than a few months the mold seems to run rampant.
Well I put a wheel of colby in my regular fridge and kept it there, hoping for a 10 month aging period. The result was, when I cut the wax I had some very nasty looking mold on the wheel and ended up giving it a pitch into the trash can.
I really don’t know the cause of this problem, or the solution to the problem either.
I suspect that it has to do with the higher moisture content of both Gouda and Cobly as compared to say a cheddar.
Regardless, I do know that both Gouda and Coby varieties taste REALLY good at the two month mark so from now on I’m going to cut them open at that point instead of taking a chance of losing another wheel of cheese.
Also, this year I’m going to try something new.
I recently purchased a “foodsaver” vacuum system that I want to try on my cheese wheels.
In the past I have always waxed but I get really disgusted with the effort and the mess. So far I have vacuumed one part of a Romano to see how it does aging in a totally sealed environment and plan on comparing it to the unwaxed cheese within the next couple of months.
I have to say that it was SO much easier than waxing and I will certainly prefer this method if the results are good.
I also have a cheddar aging that I plan on cutting in half, within the next couple of weeks, that I will treat the same way. Hopefully I will find that the cheeses mature just fine within the vacuum bags.
I will let you know how this goes since this could help to solve the problems that we are having with mold. I still think the most important step is making sure the cheese is completely dry before any type of bagging or waxing but I also feel that I get some air intrusion under my wax which contributes to this problem.
Hope this information helps and if you have any advice for me, I’d love to hear it.

Dave

I just read that wax needs to be at 225-240 F and the cheese needs to be in it at least 6 seconds to prevent mold.  Probably you already knew this; I had just been heating mine up until it was liquid.

?, no u cant boil the wax or it is destroyed. Ment to be melted in a double boiler.