Last saturday I made my first two wheels of what is supposed to become Brie. Both are about 9 1/2 inch wide and about 1 1/2 inch high now.
I used the recipe from Tim Smiths book and followed it exactly, but I noticed that one side of both wheels is almost completely flat and one is not.
According to the recipe I turned the cheeses for the first time after 4 hours.
Was that too long?

Look great. I would recommend going thicker, 3” min so u get more gooey wonder in the middle instead of thick crust and potential drying out.

Hmm, I bought the original moulds for Brie. These are 2 3/4 inch high (7 cm) and I filled them completely. Well, they look good, smell deliciously (sweet and creamy), so now it’s waiting for the mold…
What about turning them? In the recipe I used was nothing about flipping them during the time they are in the cave?

Turn them every other day,othervise the mold will grow into the mat and peel off the rind.

Thanks Alex, will do that as soon as I get home…

yup, watch that the mat does not meld to the cheese so flipping will depend on how fast it grows.

Friday I saw the first white mold appear. It’s spreading nicely now on both cheeses. I will turn them every day now, just to be sure…

I found that doing it frequently creats a nice padding so that it does not have a chance to stick to the mat. Awefull when it sticks, rips up the rug lol.

I also saw a little bit of other mold was starting to grow. Can I just rub that away with a little salt of will that disturb the white mold too much?

What kind of other mold? Can you place a picture of it?
Too much salt may kill the PC.

was still very vague to see, seemed to be darker than the PC. I’m at work now, if it developed today, I will get my macro lens and take a picture…

if its grey or green then dump some fine salt on it and see what happens, or take a sharp knife and cut it of then add a little salt pile, falling off next flip.

It is still very vague but certainly gray. It was not possible to take a good picture.
Since the PC is growing well, I’ll try to cure some with a little salt and remove an other spot with a sharp knife and look what the effect is.
It’s the first time I make a cheese with a natural rind and a mold, it is most certainly something completely different than making pressed cheeses and coating them

It’s evening here now and I justed checked both wheels: To my surprise 2 spots disappeared. Both wheels now only have 1 spot and I treated them both with salt.

Last saturday evening I cut the first one. It had been wrapped in special cheese paper for 4 weeks and because of the way it felt when I softly pressed in the middle I decided it was time to give it a try.
An exciting moment because I didn’t see the surface in these four weeks. It came out bright shining white, without any colored spot.
And it tastes delicious! The second wheel is still in the cave. But this one is certainly a very good result for a first try…

Great to hear, Congrats !! hope it continues.

Finished the second wheel this weekend. Since my wife doesn’t like cheeses with mold and a nine inch wheel is a bit to much for one person, I shared some pieces with neighbors and friends Complements all over… Nevertheless I decided to add a bit of cream and more salt next time.