Ageing my blues? Any tips?

[Shalloy]

Well after 24 hours I've pulled my blues out of the hoops and salted them.  The recipe says to store them around 15C and 85% humidity for 3 days and turn and salt them everyday.

Then to store them in a humid environment for 30 days at 10C.

But I've learnt that the recipes I use aren't always correct so wondering what you guys do?

[Shalloy]

I checked them a couple of hours after salting them and they have started to bulge and are still quite wet.

Even though the recipe says to keep them at 15C and 85% humidity I'm thinking that perhaps I should keep them in the kitchen with the lid off the container, where I have the ducted heating running at around 20 c from when I get home after work until 6.30 AM when I go to work.  During the day the temps in the house sit around 12-14C.

Would this be a good way to let them dry out quicker?

[awakephd]

Shalloy,

The bulging / slumping is not unusual in a blue -- generally they are made with a very soft curd. For that reason, I actually return to the mold or put the mold over the cheese during the salting phase (i.e., apply salt, then put mold over) -- this will keep it from slumping too much.

The salting will draw moisture out of the cheese, so you should expect it to be wet at that point. Eventually the salt is absorbed, and it begins to dry. Note that this drying effect helps the rind to form.

I've only made a couple of blues, so take all of this with a grain of salt ... As best I remember, I left my blues on the counter through the salting phase, and then put them in the cave, in a ripening container. However, I took them out for half an hour or an hour each day to dry a bit -- which is to say, yes, it seems like they stay very wet. I wiped out the container and then returned to the cave after the half/hour.

[hoeklijn]

Highly depends on the recipe. A Blue Stilton has much dryer curds, so without mentioning what you're aiming for, it's hard to give advice....

[Shalloy]

They are not a stilton. Well at least I don't think they are. The recipe just says blue cheese and I got it from the country brewer website. What defines a Stilton versus just a standard blue?

I put them back in the moulds and left them on the kitchen bench where ambient sounds got to 16C in the house today.  I've just salted them again and they are still very wet. But the bulging isn't as bad as yesterday.  I will leave them out on the bench uncovered until I go to bed tonight to help them dry out more.

You can see the moisture and slight bulging in the photos.

[Shalloy]

The water is coming out of these like a tap.  They also feel very spongy and soft' while the outside is firmer the middle feels soft and sort of rubbery.
 I cant work out why expect for maybe it has something to do with using 5 mls of rennet as per recipe instead of 2mls as per the bottle.

I stirred the curds every five minutes for an hour as per the recipe and when the wife ladled them into the hoops I pushed them down gently with my fingers so they filled the hoops properly. The curds felt fine at the time. Were soft and not chewy or rubbery or anything like that.
But they havent reduced in size nowhere near as much as my cams did. They are still over 2 inches high.'

I ended up breaking one open whilst squeezing it and the curds werent all a solid mass but more like ricotta cheese. so I have put it back into the mold to hopefully get it to fuse back together again.

Any ideas whats going on here? Thinking I should dump them and start again.

[Shalloy]

Bump...anyone?  I really need some advice from you experts on this. I e done some searching but can't find anything that describes my problem. 

When I squeeze them I can here moisture moving around inside. They are still very wet. 

[NimbinValley]

The water is coming out of these like a tap.  They also feel very spongy and soft' while the outside is firmer the middle feels soft and sort of rubbery.

It's good that they feel spongy and rubbery.  It indicates lots of air pockets for blue to grow.

I cant work out why expect for maybe it has something to do with using 5 mls of rennet as per recipe instead of 2mls as per the bottle.

I stirred the curds every five minutes for an hour as per the recipe and when the wife ladled them into the hoops I pushed them down gently with my fingers so they filled the hoops properly.

I suggest you never push curds down in a blue cheese.  It's squeezes out the air pockets.

The curds felt fine at the time. Were soft and not chewy or rubbery or anything like that.
But they havent reduced in size nowhere near as much as my cams did. They are still over 2 inches high.'

Could be an indication of not enough acidity being developed before renetting.  But with out any measurements of pH it's difficult to say.

I ended up breaking one open whilst squeezing it and the curds werent all a solid mass but more like ricotta cheese. so I have put it back into the mold to hopefully get it to fuse back together again.

The ricotta look is what you are chasing.

Any ideas whats going on here? Thinking I should dump them and start again.

[Shalloy]

I did take ph measurements.

It was 6.5 when I added the rennet.
It was 6.35 after stirring the curds for the first time
But then 6.38 after 1 hour of stirring the curds every five minutes for 60 minutes. Which didn't make sense.
I have a good ph meter which I calibrate regularly.

How do those figures look?  I made blues before and they were nowhere near as rubbery as these.  They were more solid with a creamy solid interior.  These are like a wet rubber ball that you can hear water inside move around when you squeeze them.

But your post indicates they might be okay?  Or not?

[awakephd]

Shalloy, not answering sometimes means we just don't know, and are afraid to venture a guess!

But since you ask, I'll venture a guess: I'm guessing it is, indeed, caused by too much rennet. Or at least, that makes as much sense as anything else I can think of ...

[Gregore]

I will also venture a guess , as I am still on my first few blues .

How much salt did the recipe call for ? If it is on the low side of  a blue cheese I would be inclined to add a little more salt  up the the max for a blue to pull out more water.


I expect that they will weep water for some days to come , just try to keep on top of it , they need to be only slightly wet  not puddles on top of them .

Because they are wetter than expected they will probably ripen fastrer than the recipe calls for.

[Shalloy]

Thanks for the replies. I used 2 tablespoons of salt and mixed this in with the curds. They do only really have puddles of water on top. But the tops of the cheese are very concave and the sides are bulging.  They certainly dont have the same texture of other cheese Ive made and Im going to bin them and have another go.

I eventually found a website that mentioned cheese like rubber can be a result of too much rennet so Im giving up on these and starting again.

[Al Lewis]

Blues are typically salted while in the curd stage and not after taking them out of the mold.  I suspect you are making a cheese that will be very, if not too, salty.  Let them dry out, then put them into your cave and air outside of the cave for about 1 hour a day to form a nice rind.

[Shalloy]

Blues are typically salted while in the curd stage and not after taking them out of the mold.  I suspect you are making a cheese that will be very, if not too, salty.  Let them dry out, then put them into your cave and air outside of the cave for about 1 hour a day to form a nice rind.

So the fact that they are like sponge rubber wont have an effect on the final cheese? Surely I cant save them. When I squeeze them I can hear water inside like when you squeeze sponge rubber.

[SOSEATTLE]

I would say calm down and continue aging and see what happens  . That is how we learn. If you throw it out now, you won't know what the result will be good or bad. Just my $0.02.



Susan