As Boofer suggested, I'm starting a new topic.
Here's the problem:
I've been trying to make alpkäse with many failures along the way. No matter what I do, I have excellent swelling and holes appearing from left and right! Even without any PS. Have been reading the threads from alpkäserei and doing everything as he has adviced.
I'm using raw milk and since everything else has been taken care of, I'm suspecting there is some natural bacteria present in the milk. Which by itself is not bad, it doesn't give any bad taste or smell to cheese, just annoying when you're trying hard to achieve as few holes as possible.
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Boofers' suggestions:
I would say that you could make sure that you aren't giving the cheese a Warm Phase and make sure that the salt level is adequate. PS does not work its eyes/holes magic if too much salt is around. Sounds like your milk has naturally-occurring Propionic shermanii.
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Thanks Boofer,
I've been trying to follow Alpkäserei's instructions. There is no mention of warm phase and I do move cheese directly to cave after brining. At first everything looks normal and until week 5 there is no or small signs of swelling. From there on it goes wild and starts swelling!
( I should be happy if target was emmenthal). Brining is done in oversaturated brine (about a gallon or so of brine and 4 kg cheese) for 20-24 hours. After that daily washing with brine (wine+water+salt) and turning until rind develops. Temperature of the cave is steadily 10-13 degrees Celsius and RH 80-90%.
I do disinfect all the utensils before starting and mother culture should be OK as well. Pressing of the cheese is done according to Alpkäserei (8 to 1).
Any suggestions?
P.S. boofer, I didn't know there was such a thing like naturally-occuring PS. For some type of cheese it would be a blessing, but for others it's quite a nuisance.