So in your Emmental recipe, you say to wash. What would your guidelines be for doing this so it's not super linensy? Replace the brine more often?
For our non cloth-bound, natural-rind, Asiago-style wheels, we use a basic salt solution with no b. linens, and rarely, if ever, get any linens growth. Even in the same room as our washed-rind cheeses, it does not carry over.
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Well, it certainly has been a long time since I've been on!
Anyway,
I was hoping to gain some wisdom about preventing blue mold growth on my non cloth-bound, natural-rind, Asiago-style wheels.
The cheese will come out of the brine (brine pH < 4.0, 100% salinity) and is wiped dry before going into the aging room. First, it sits horizontally on wooden boards for a week or so, and flipped every other day. Then, it is transferred onto wooden racks to support them vertically. They are washed daily with a simple cloth and saltwater (2 Tbs per 500ml) solution for the first few months, but after about one month, the wave of blue hits. To attempt to counter, we have mixed about 125ml of Delvocid (industry-grade anti-microbial) per 500ml water, but the blue mold STILL shows up the next day. I have heard that blue mold enjoys acidic environments, which leads me to believe washing our <4.0 pH brine off the wheel before wiping dry might play a role. But, we also get white (penicillium) fuzz growth in small amounts, even after washing with delvocid.
I have used Delvocid in another cheese plant and it was highly successful. We were also vacuum sealing in that operation, though. As expensive as it is, we are severely disappointed in its results.