I got a reply from a prof I emailed to about packaging;
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The short answer is that film wrap is ideal for ripening any cheeses that are not surface ripened and for which a rind is not desired. These include Cheddar (unless you really want a traditional 1800’s Cheddar), American varieties (e.g. Colby), and most Latin American varieties such as Panela. Film wrap can also substitute for wax in some cases. Wax is more permeable than film wrap, so you do have more moisture loss and different properties in a waxed Gouda, for example, relative to a film wrapped Gouda. Similarly, some Cheddar is still cloth wrapped or waxed rather than film wrapped. These cheese, especially the cloth wrapped cheese, dehydrates more than the film wrapped cheese and forms a rind. It is also more subject to surface defects and infestation with cheese mites.
Ahhh I see!
Vacuum sealing is probably a bit of a misnomer here.
These vacuum sealers can seal at any point in their evacuation stage.
For cheese, i would think, one would hit the seal button at the point that the plastic has wrapped itself snugly to the cheese, but no more.
On an empirical note .. newbie is aging cheese this way with no noticeable deterioration. It may be that for home cheesies a bit of mold is a small risk, but in industry it would be a terrible imposition on profits.
I believe there are a number of vacuum sealers on the market. This one we have will suck down to zero, as the plastic film is tight around the whole cheese, no possibility of air being left inside.
I will keep you informed of my progress. I have the first ‘Farmer’s cheese’ under seal. It has another 2 weeks to go. As soon as I crack it open I’‘l let you all know.
As I mentioned before, we have sealed bought cheese in the past in the fridge for a considerable length of time with no deterioration of quality, so aging should be similar.
Thanks Neil for the info from the Prof. That’s good stuff to know.
And I guess wax is also better because it flows into all the nooks and crannies of the cheese and prevents air pockets.
What I still don’t know is what would happen if you put your natural rind cheese in a vacuum bag to finish. Prolly end up with slimey gunk. Or what would happen if you removed the rind first? Assuming you’d got as much work out of the rind organisms as you were going to get and then you just going to let chemical decomposition take its course?
Well I’m just thinking out loud here. Just ignore me!
Thanks newbie too. Also good stuff to know. My sealer sucks down to -800mbar. !! Not so good for christmas cookies, but cheese must be less malleable than I thought!
if u remove the rind then I thingk u loose part of the cheese character. Remember also that their is cheese paper that u can wrap your cheese, as long as your surface is protected (salted) or bandaged, it should be fine.
Yes, definitely want to keep the rind if I can. This is compromise for the situation where the cheese has been in the cave and the weather gets hotter, so it has to be finished some other way. I’m wondering what would happen to the rind if you stuck it in an air proof, moisture proof film.
So my cheese year might go like this.
Early winter, age cheese in cave
Late winter, age cheese in cave, finish in vacuum/fridge
Spring and Summer, age in fridge.
Its that intermediate late winter one that’s bugging me because I want as much natural maturation as possible.
Ah well .. I’m getting ahead of myself! Bring on the early winter first!
Neil mentioned above that a cloth wrapped (bandaged, I assume) cheese would form a rind. I heartily concur based on the Colby I just unwrapped last weekend. It had a tough rind - something I had not yet seen on my waxed cheeses. Which brings up another thought. I had mentioned earlier that perhaps for long term bandaged cheeses, we should consider adding additional shortening/lard every couple months. I observed that the shortening/cloth had gotten very hard and somewhat dry during the process. This even though I was having moisture control problems and my cave was consistently over 95% RH.
I stil want to emphasize that if the surface is well salted, theirs no way bacteria will grow, also bacteria will not grow on a dry surface, so the salt is an added protection in case their moisture release, then u can bandage it and leave it till its ready, it may look disgusting on the surface but its well protected other wise. u could even add sea salt to the lard for extra protection. Something to thingk about.
Cheese wax KW 646…please read the description.
I wax too,instead of vac sealing.Since I make small wheels,the natural rind is out of the
question.I wax because I thought that it did infact allow the cheese to breathe,more like a natural
rind.I know when I open my wine cooler that is full of waxed cheese,I smell the cheese.If it
doesn’t breathe,where does the smell come from?...I’m curious
So I thought the breathing thing had been cleared up by Neil and his Prof .. wax allows moisture out, so it probably lets other things out too, although H2O is pretty small molecule. Your empirical smell observation is a pretty good argument that it does breath .. IMO .. although I’m surprised that its not air tight!
But I’m curious (newbie question) why does a small cheese mean natural rind is out of the question?
U have to gage as it dries, I do 9” wheels yet the thickness is less then 3” so dont let them dry too long, as long as its nice and dry on the surface then im happy. My last Gouda i left for a week and waxed it day before yesterday. its a sense of feel one needs to develop in seeing how soft the surface is to the touch.
On the other hand, you don’t want to dry for too short a time either. Some of my cheeses will actually drip while drying. If there is excess whey in the cheese it will not be good for the aging process. Enough time must be allowed for the cheese to get to a stable condition that will stand up to aging. Its easier to do with a larger mass. The whey can seep out the bottom of the wheel, but the cheese at the top won’t get too dry. Another reason to switch to larger cheeses.
As promised I have cracked the Farmhouse Cheddar which I aged in a vacuum pack for one month. In my cave, lower humidity than suggested, temp about 50F.
The results are super. No signs of moulds or deterioration. The cheese is smooth, firm, moist, absolutely no rind and tastes wonderful.
My wife says it tastes better than a 6 month old, store bought, mature cheddar. Now I have an order for a bigger one, as this was only a 1 gallon try out and won’t last long.
My advice, if you have a vacuum sealer, use it, I will be using mine rather than waxing.
On the wetness question in store, with vacuum sealing, you can open, dry, and re-seal.
Or what would happen if you removed the rind first? Assuming you’d got as much work out of the rind organisms as you were going to get and then you just going to let chemical decomposition take its course? 
