Early blowing?

[RobinsonN]

Hi all,

This is a three-week old tomme style cheese (recipe from G. Caldwell’s Mastering Artisan Cheese).

The cheese started blowing-up a few days ago, and originally I thought that it was the propionic bacteria within the MA4001 doing its job.  I then, however, read about early blowing, and am very concerned that pathogens are present in my cheese.

I believe that both the milk quality (pasturised) and the sanitation standards were good, and the acidity was developing well (TA .33% at first press, several hours before brining).

Should I throw this cheese out?  It pains me, but probably less than e.coli would…

Cheers,
Neil

[TimT]

Is blowing up in three weeks really 'early'?

Not that I've much experience but my Swiss recipes do seem to indicate the cheese will definitely swell in that sort of time frame. Dunno. What do others think?

[Al Lewis]

If it has been in a warm area the PB will blow it up but that normally will create an overall swelling of the cheese.  Yours appears to have a single lump, for some reason, whereas it should just have a swollen top.

[RobinsonN]

Thank you for your replies.  Good point about it perhaps not being 'early'...

I have used the MA4001 before, and there was swelling, but it came at a much later stage, and was not a large dome, but more of an even and slight expansion. 

My concern is that, though the MA4001 contains Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis var. diacetylactis, I was under the impression that the holes should only be slight, and would not account for the large lump on my cheese?

Any more thoughts?

It blew up in my cave, at 13 degrees C (55 F), and 85% humidity...

[Al Lewis]

Considering that I would be very suspect of it.

[TimT]

Does e-coli create blowing?

I know yeast does.

Ageing helps with some infections: the acidifying of the cheese kills off unwanted bacteria.

Look, I'd definitely take more advice but if you're really worried, it could just end up as a pizza cheese.

[qdog1955]

  My one and only cheese that looked like that----I aged it out some----but when I cut it, there was no doubt it wasn't edible. It convinced me to join Danbo in adding Lysozyme to my makes---just as an added precaution.
Qdog

[RobinsonN]

TimT - yes, I believe coliforms produce a large amount of CO2.  I hope this is not what's happening with my cheese, which, two days on, looks the same as the above photo.

qdog1955 - I don't suppose you have any photos of that cheese, do you?  Did you put it down to coliforms? 

[Kern]

  My one and only cheese that looked like that----I aged it out some----but when I cut it, there was no doubt it wasn't edible. It convinced me to join Danbo in adding Lysozyme to my makes---just as an added precaution.

I also use Lysozyme in all my long aged cheeses.  It takes care of late blowing caused by clostridium bacteria.  Early blowing is most often caused by coliform bacteria or yeasts in the cheese milk.  Coliform blowing shows up within days whereas clostridium blowing (late blowing) shows up several weeks after the cheese has started aging.  Caldwell has a good treatise on both of these.  Lysozyme is readily available on line as it is used by home winemakers and brewers.

[qdog1955]

No pics---Danbo covered it pretty well and had pics---here's the link  http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,13810.msg104618.html#msg104618

Qdog

[RobinsonN]

Thanks for the link.

So, it appears that if the cheese is bad, there will be an accompanying smell which will alert me.

It seems that a sensible course of action would be to age it out as the recipe instructs, cut it open, and judge from there...

I'll post some pictures!

[RobinsonN]

Hi from a sunny London,

Through a very fortunate set of circumstances, Peter Dixon took a look at the picture I uploaded in my original post.  He said, and I quote, “Yeast infection, no question”.

So there you have it!

Anyway, I cut into the cheese last night, and below is the resulting picture…

Cheers,
Neil

[Kern]

Sorry about that!     Do you have any idea what the source of yeast was?  What does it smell like?

[RobinsonN]

Hi Kern,

I have thought long and hard about the source, and have come up with nothing!

The smell was inoffensive really.  Very much what I would expect of a four-week old cheese...

[DavidCNX]

Did you end up eating it?