I made a stirred curd cheddar a couple weeks ago using Rick’s instructions from his #14. Everything went well, I waxed it and now its aging. I’ve noticed, however, that it feels like it might be getting soft and it’s worrying me. Should I open it up? If I open it up and its fine, can I just re-wax it.

Sal

U could, but i would wait unless u see some water collecting under the wax or mold. patience.

I can wait, but I used black wax so it’s near impossible to see through.

Note to self: buy yellow cheese wax.

LOL, cut in half then rewax.

good solution Neil

Well, I cut it open, and immediately I could see the liquid. It wasn’t a lot but there were some pockets of whey in the center. A bit crumbly but its only a few weeks old.
Was this a pressing problem? What are my options? Can it be saved?

The good news is it tastes like a cheddar, albeit a strong cheddar.
Sal

i think u have pressing problem, it looks so loose for cheddar, plus did u cheddar ur cheese?

Now i am getting more convinced about homo milk is a disaster

I did not cheddar it, I may have to try that next.

I followed Rick’s Stirred curd cheddar recipe.
http://www.rickandlynne.com/rick/go/forums/viewthread/31/

Sal, i’ve been thinking , gradual pressing is the mechanical way to remove whey from in between the curds…
how did u press ur cheese ??

I have a basic cheese press. I followed Rick’s procedure:

Pressing: 15# for 10 minutes, redress. 30# for 10 minutes, redress. 40# for 2 hours, redress. 50# for 24 hours

Your curds may have been a bit tight and wasn’t flexible enough to properly press. How salty is it? if theirs a salt taste then it might survive any mold problems. Take the wax off, let the surface dry and Rewax the whole thing real good would be what I would do. Dif to say really.

Ive got it out of the wax, drying some more, its pretty crumbly. Is that because it was cooked to long, or pressed too much/little?  What causes the curds to be too tight? Where did I go wrong?

Hard to tell unless u documented everything (times temps) cooking too long maybe or also too much salt. Realy hard to tell with out knowing what u exactly did.
My swiss turned out wrong because it was over cooked and too much salt leaked into it from the brine solution (was crumbly and didnt stick together well)