Created an extremely weak brine for tomme, will I have issues during aging?

[seasofcheese]

I am working on my first Tomme (first hard[ish] cheese for that matter) and have mad a bonehead mistake.

Make was textbook, 13 minute floc, 40 minute set. Curd cutting was a little messy, but during stiring I was able to cut the larger curds so that all was fairly uniform. Whey expulsion was good, curds matted readily, but were easily broken up.  pressed by hand under whey to load the mould, then 12 hours under 4kg weight.

Stupidity struck during the brine making. 

I had been mixing saline solution early in the week(long story), and made a 20% saline instead of 20% brine meaning 80g salt in 4L water instead of 800g. I soaked my 2.2kg tomme in this for about 6 hours, realized my mistake, fixed my brine, and then restarted my soak  leaving the cheese for 15 more hours in the corrected solution. My cheese came out with a relatively firm rind that is well knit, not slimy.

After 12 hours drying, it is rather patchy but otherwise seems fine, texture is uniform with no soft spots. Brining and drying temperature have been higher than ideal, closer to 19C RH is between 60-70%(uncontrolled).

Do I need to take any precautions or extra step with this cheese to compensate for my earlier stupidity or just keep drying it?

Thanks,
D

[linuxboy]

you're fine, don't sweat it.

[seasofcheese]

Thanks Pav,

Your recipes and tips on tomme have been invaluable.

This is the first cheese i have had to dry for aging, are there any tips or links you could share to help me be sure it is dry enough for the cave (tupperware in a wine fridge)

Cheers,
D

[linuxboy]

What rind style are you trying to imitate? There are so many directions to take it.

[seasofcheese]

I'm shooting for a geo15/cylindrocarpon blend. My wife and I are debating adding b. linnes. I am inclined to use only the former 2 molds.

[linuxboy]

Make a spray with those two if you did not add to the milk and spray it for 2-4 days until it is just a tad sticky. Rest will grow in over time and you can pat it down or brush it back

[seasofcheese]

I did add a pinch of each mold to the milk. Would a daily 3% brine rub with both molds work instead of misting? My only spray bottle is used in bread making and I worry about wild yeast contamination.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the time you spend answering questions for beginners.

I'll post photo's and progress updates as we go along.

[linuxboy]

K, so let's talk rinds. Why do we use a 3% brine? Because it closely resembles saltwater. saltwater is full of life. For cheese, that most often means yeasts and bacteria, as molds rarely survive very long in saltwater. We build up initial yeast and bacterial slime on a cheese to help deacidify the surface and prep the way for any mold growth.

When you spray mold spores on top, think of it like planting seeds in the ground. You need to water the seeds. These seeds are so small that the water also carries them and deposits on the surface. After you plant them, then you wait and watch them grow. It's not really different. Doing a 3% wash during this time is unnecessary UNLESS you are trying to build up a thicker yeast/bacteria rind and have the mold grow through that later on. The mold spores will stay on the rind and when conditions are good (surface moisture and pH mostly), they'll start to grow.

for you, if you can't spray, then don't. Wash somehow to get the seeds on there. And then wait for the bloom to take place.

[seasofcheese]

Hi Linuxboy,

Sorry for the delay in posting this. As we put both Geo and carpo in the milk we will wait to see if they develop. The attached picture was taken just before we put the tomme into the cave.

When we flip the cheese, it seems to always have a tablespoon of whey collected on the bottom of the tupperware. Not sure if this is normal, or if the cheese should be dried a little more.

We will keep you posted as this develops.

Thanks

[seasofcheese]

Looks like I am starting to get some surface mould developing. there was a speck of something blue green(visible in one photo) that I removed. It is likely because we had the cave set a little too high(16C). I am not really certain if the brown is what I want for this or not, I will just let it go for now.

[Matthewcraig]

So far it looks great, good luck in aging it, and yes 16 may be a bit to hot try a 9-11 and what humidity is it at, and yes brown is fine depending on what rind style you are going for.

[seasofcheese]

Thanks for the feed back! We already lowered the temp a couple days ago, my wife got the ageing temperature from a different cheese. I'll post again in a week or so.

[seasofcheese]

The blue has come back and is now more prevalent (see photo in next post), I think that I might have to do something about it but am not sure. The milk was inoculated with geo 15 and carpo, and I wanted to see what would develop before adding to much to the rind.

The temp is now at 11C as for the humidity, I can't be sure. It is high, in a Tupperware in a wine fridge. We rotate it every day, and allow it to breathe for about 5 minutes at that time. The container is close fitting on the sides(not touching) but it has about 15cm of head space above the cheese. Below the cheese is a cheese mat on a wire rack about 1 cm tall.

I read a suggestion in one of boofer's posts to hit the blue with vinegar, I am wondering if that is the right course here. I want the rind to be primarily Geo and Carpo for now and I may add some b linens around the 4/6 week mark.

Suggestions?

[seasofcheese]

Technical difficulties

[Matthewcraig]

Well yes if you want to get rid of the blue spots on the surface just rub down with vinegar and then in a weak brine solution