Jarlsberg warm phase in summer

[Danbo]

Shane: Nice solution. :-)

[shaneb]

Thanks. Well today I came home to a mouldy mess in day 2 of the warm phase. This photo is before cleaning with a 3% brine solution. I haven't rubbed it aggressively. Should I do anything different? I had already rubbed it with olive oil, but this has been washed off with the brine.

Thanks.

Shane

[LoftyNotions]

I think Al does a 3% brine with 1/3 dry white wine and 2/3 water. Hopefully he'll be along soon to confirm or deny.

What is your humidity running?

Larry

[Al Lewis]

You can wash it off with straight white wine and then go to the wash Larry described.

[shaneb]

Thanks Guys. I'll do that this morning. I'm not an alcohol drinker but do have an old bottle of white wine that has been sitting around for years. I hope it's still okay. I'm not 100% clear on the daily wash. Is it 1/3 wine and 2/3 3% brine or just water and a separate brine wash?

Thanks.

Shane

[shaneb]

I forgot to answer the humidity question. My sensor was maxing out at 99% this morning when I got up. I've cracked open the container and it is now 85%. Is that too low? The recipe calls for 92-95%.

Shane

[Stinky]

It should be fine anywhere above 80 and below 95, I think. The 99 is probably why you have blue mold.

[shaneb]

Thanks for that. I just went and bought a bottle of dry white wine and have done a wash. I'm assuming that I'm just wetting the mould to kill it, not get rid of the visual sign of mould? I'll keep a close eye on the humidity.

Shane

[Stinky]

I'd suggest brushing the mold off lightly, and get as much off as comes easily... it's not like the stuff benefits your cheese any.

[shaneb]

Okay. Yep agreed it is certainly not what I want taste wise. I just wasn't sure whether the alcohol in contact with the mould would just make it visually disappear over time. I've scrubbed the top as aggressively as I can with the pathetic brush that I have right now. I'll have to get something with stiffer bristles. I'll tackle the underside tomorrow morning.

Thanks for your help.

Shane

[Stinky]

I doubt the blue'd disappear. Most likely the alcohol kills it, and it might go away with washing, but it doesn't disintegrate the moment it dies.

[shaneb]

Thanks for the help. The wine is working nicely. I did a 100% wine wash on both sides yesterday. Today I washed with 1/3rd wine + 2/3rd 3% brine. I've uploaded a couple of photos from today. Ignore the stray bristles. I'll try and get them off when it dries a bit more.

Shane

[LoftyNotions]

Salt should be 3% by weight of the total weight of wine and water. For example 165 G wine, 335 G water, 15G salt all mixed together. You could probably go to 5% salt if you wanted to.

Larry

[shaneb]

Thanks Larry. I'll add another 3.4g of salt to my wash bottle to get it to 3%. If I have problems with that I'll go to 5%.

Shane

[shaneb]

I've woken this morning to my Jarlsberg having a bump on its head and stretch marks on its behind. I take it the propionic  bacteria is having fun now. I've included a couple of photos of the stretch marks (I stupidly turned it over before taking a photo of the bump). I take it humidity is too low now? Unfortunately my hydrometer is rubbish. It doesn't seem to read above 80% well. It just saturated at 99%. So how do I handle humidity without knowing what it is? Should I just bag the cheese now and forget about the natural rind?

Thanks for your help.

Shane