My Swiss and Gruyere both have that kind of light white schmier. I washed it with a water wine salt solution that Al had recommended in some of his posts. Those are the only cheeses I have ever washed so I was happy to get the thin schmier!
I saw on another post,
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11171.30.htmlwhere his schmier was nicer than mine and I was jealous!
My wash has a great yeast smell to it now.
I might get some of that PLA stuff, for next time I make a cheese that I want to wash.
Changing subject, I know that you vacuum seal your cheeses. Do you seal the ones with the nice schmier on them also, after the schmier dries of course? I have done really good at maintaining the moisture for my washed rind cheeses by putting them in a box with a wet sponge in there, and kind of propping the lid over them, not really closing it, I want air to come in and out. Now that the cheeses have a dry rind on them, because I am through with the washing, I was thinking about vacuum sealing them. They have that dried white schmier now. They look great!
I'd like to get the plastic containers out of the cave so I have more room!
I think that my problem with this in the past has been doing it too soon. The few cheeses that I sealed came out with a mildewy smell to them, or I had to open them and dump out the liquid half way through and dry them off.
My Swiss is 3 months old, so I think I can be safe in sealing it, and my Gruyere is 2 months old, so I think I can seal it too. How soon do you seal yours?