Hi all,
I wanted to get some feedback on this cheese I have going. It's my third make ever and it's looking/smelling a little weird. This cheese is modeled after Camembert protocol, so it is rennet coagulated, but it uses only Geotrichum because I don't have any pen. candidum (long story). A hiccup occurred when I discovered that the racks I was resting the cheese on were not, in fact, stainless steel, resulting in badly rusted racks and dark staining on the cheese (visible in the first bloom picture). Let me break the make down for you..
2 gal HTST Sheep milk from Cozy Cow Dairy (ordered online)
pinch of MM100 (diacetyl-producing blend)
pinch of Geotrichum
30 min ripening at ~90F
~3/8 tsp liquid rennet - coagulate for 90 min (this was made before I knew about the flocculation procedures)
spoon curd into moulds, draining and drying for a day
store at ~58-62 F until bloom showed
wrapped in double ply bloomy rind paper, stored at ~45-48F.
After about 9 days I unwrapped and saw that the surface looks much darker/wetter than the last make I did which was Geo only as well. The smell was very pungent but not yet ammoniated. I moved the more wet and pungent of the two large cheeses, along with the three smaller ones which are much drier, into a little cheese mini-cave and put them back into the cool box. I will be comparing the still wrapped cheese with the tupperware-stored cheese when I eventually cut them. I just want to see if anyone has any thoughts on this surface, as the last Geo cheese I made was more classically recognizable: lighter in color, wrinkled surface, less intense smell, etc.
Cheers
-J