My Swiss cheese swelled up when I took it out of the brine. I looked this up in my 200 cheese recipes book and it says that the brine may not have had enough salt in it and that made the cheese absorb moisture, or there was some kind of bacteria in the brine that got in the cheese. I boiled the brine the night before I used it, so I wouldn’t think it was bacteria, and the brine has so much salt in it that there is a cloud on the bottom. I thought that it meant that it was saturated and could not absorb any more salt.

Since I don’t know what happened I guess it doesn’t make any sense that I keep thinking it can’t be what my book says it is.

Next time I will make a new brine the night before, and not use any left over brine. I had made some new brine, but added the old brine that I had left to it when I boiled it.

28$ for raw milk and it has a possible infection, or it’s absorbed moisture.

The swelling appears to be going down but it could be wishful thinking.

be careful or the cheese could be very salty. That would be unfortunate.

The swelling went down. I am going to make another of the same recipe this weekend and start with a new brine. The cost of the salt to make a new brine is a lot less than the cost of the milk.

To check the level of salt in my brine I use a “salt meter”, see the picture. Is that something that you also use in the States?

I don’t have one. I didn’t even know that they had one. I was using the recipe that said 1 gallon of water 2lbs of salt and some calcium chloride. I looked up salt meter and everything I found was digital and expensive. I will keep looking for one like Herman’s.

I made some new brine and added some of my old brine. Maybe my old brine had already had too much salt absorbed out of it and therefore I screwed it up.

On a different note, the Swiss that I had made out of store bought milk smells so good! I scrubbed the mold off with salt like Neil said, and it looks good and smells good. It’s been sitting out for 2 weeks now, waiting for it to swell up so I can put it back in the cave.

So no one thinks that it could be the bacteria? Since I never used raw milk I thought that might be logical. Also since I’m not good about always putting the brine back in the refrigerator. I didn’t realize salt water could grow bacteria.

I have 4 gallons of raw milk to try again Saturday. I will be extra careful with the sanitizing and use a new brine to make sure. If it happens again I’m going to be upset, like that will do anything for me.

That thing is a hydrometer! I have one of those. You use it to measure the gravity in your beer. How do you read the hydrometer for salt? If I want an 18% saturated brine how do I know what that should read on the hydrometer? Which line do you use Herman?

it would be specific to saline solution, u cant use a hydrometer for beer making. Visit a an aquarium pet shop and ask how to measure. Theirs a gizmo thats like a kaleidoscope to measure salt.
U can always cook the brine then cool it for later use, store it in mason jars sealed for storage.

http://www.aquatichouse.com/Test Kits_files/hydrometer.asp

Yes, it’s a kind of hydrometer. I used to have something like that to “measure” the percentage of sugar in fruit juice before making wine. The one for the sugar has of course an other scale than the one for salt. Best I can advise is to make a fresh brine, put the hydrometer in it and put a mark on the “fluid line”. When you have used the brine, warm it and dissolve salt in it until the fluid and the mark are on the same level again. Or go to http://www.brouwland.com/en, look for measuring instruments and brinometer.
By the way, I make the brine from whey, because it has the right PH and already contains calcium chloride.

I had the same theory about checking the salt content of the brine. Make one that you know is right and go from there. I didn’t ever add salt to my old brine, I just kept using it. I understand why my salt content was low.

I could make my brine from the whey after I make the cheese tomorrow.

All beer recipes report what the gravity should be after the boil, and you use the hydrometer to check that. Here’s a link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_(alcoholic_beverage)

If the gravity is not right, then you know that you did something wrong earlier in the process. You have to take a sample and cool it down to 70 degrees and then check the gravity.

When I was searching for ways to measure salt content the hydrometer came up so I thought that was good because I have one.

Making Swiss from raw milk again tomorrow. I had the cheese making process down pat, I was surprised to find out that I screwed up the brine.

I took this cheese out of the cave to sit out for 2 to 3 weeks so that the holes can form, and as soon as it set it out it swelled right up again. It’s almost round. I think I will trash it in the end, but I’m going to wait a while longer and cut into it first. I checked the salt content in my brine with my hydrometer after I found out how to do it, and it was way low. I probably have a cheese full of water and bacteria.

It would be cool if it explodes. We have had beer blow out the air lock on the carboy and spew all over the ceiling, but we’ve never had the cheese explode.

LOL. Never waste a cheese unless its totaly awefull taste, try it in cooking (soups etc..)

Could it be that the swelling is the formation of eyes within?  If so, that is what you are trying to accomplish.

I don’t think so. It happened an hour after I took it out of the cave. It’s supposed to take 2 to 3 weeks to do that. Of course I did not cut into it to see.

Sniff, is it sweet or sour?

where did u put ur cheese after u remove from brine? will u plz post pictures

i guess it is high temp, and cheese kind of melted