Author Topic: Need some help - blue contamination  (Read 2513 times)

mikey687

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Need some help - blue contamination
« on: November 05, 2015, 05:55:49 PM »
Hi, (and greetings form the UK)

I've just discovered all the fascination of making your own cheese and having a lot of fun and learning an awful lot, but I've got a problem I'd appreciate any feedback on.

I just made a set of Cambazola's following the recipe on CheeseMaking.com, and I've managed to give them a case of PR contamination on the surface of the cheese.

I'm pretty anal about hygiene (new gloves on before touching them etc.) but I'm pretty sure I know what's happened: I was flipping them while they were draining, but as I was short of cheese mats I was using the last underside piece of mat from the last flipped cheese as the next top mat on the next cheese I was flipping (hope that makes sense), so as the whey was draining out with I assume PR mould in it, it was getting deposited onto the surface of the mat and inoculating the outsides. Sound plausible?

So a rooky mistake and next time I'll get more mats and clean the mats each time before flipping them. But is there anything I can do to try and rescue the current batch?

I pierced them two days ago, and have just sprayed them with PC, and am about to put them back into the cave fridge. I'm planning on giving them a light rind washing every day with the remains of the PC water solution for a week to try and keep on top of the blue and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on that?

Thanks,

Mike

Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Need some help - blue contamination
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2015, 11:12:40 PM »
Just wipe it off with some white wine.
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mikey687

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Re: Need some help - blue contamination
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2015, 11:14:29 PM »
I'd not thought of that - I'll try and pick a good vintage! Thanks for the advice.

Stinky

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Re: Need some help - blue contamination
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2015, 12:18:00 AM »
I'd not thought of that - I'll try and pick a good vintage! Thanks for the advice.

You won't really taste, the wine- the purpose is more to kill off mold with alcohol. I'd also consider splashing a little vinegar into a bowl, putting some coarse salt in, and rubbing off the mold.

No guarantee any of this will work, because PR is really really aggressive, but do what you can to let the PC thrive, as once it's established it should work out fine.

Offline Gregore

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Re: Need some help - blue contamination
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2015, 04:51:17 AM »
If it is a cambazola it will be blue inside so a little blue out side is not going to hurt anything .

Also when the PC takes off it will run right over the blue on the out side .

I would leave it alone for now, and see how the PC comes along

mikey687

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Re: Need some help - blue contamination
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2015, 11:26:12 PM »
Thanks for all the help!

Unfortunately, the PC never stood a chance. I used cider vinegar for 5 days of spot washing blue bits and it kept on getting worse and worse.

Thinking back, I reckon I was being too gentle in the washing and so I've changed tack slightly and done a really hard washing but with a 2.5% brine solution made up with a 25% alcohol spirit (I went for Pear Williams).

It feels like I've physically stripped off most of the outside but I still have lots of nooks and crannies on the outside filled with PR that will continue to grow unless I keep on top of them.

I'm right at the start of cheese making so I'm trying to get as much learning as I can from this so I've decided to split the cambozolas into two batches. One set I'm planning to just do occasional washes to try and keep the blue in check and see if I can get the Geo to establish, and one set I'm going to have a go at washed rind cheese with the same brine solution for 10 days to see if I can go further and get a light coat of B Linens appearing - goodness knows what I'll end up with or even if it will be edible but it should be interesting!

For the set I'm still trying to rescue as Cambozolas, do you find that if you aggressively wash to knock back the PR that it should be left alone entirely, or do you do a longer schedule of say once a week?

Finally I have to say cheese making is fascinating and this forum is great. It has helped me so much and this "hobby" is proving very addictive!

mikey687

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Re: Need some help - blue contamination
« Reply #6 on: November 17, 2015, 11:40:27 PM »
Looking like this now. Some good internal blue developing but with a sticky outside!

Kern

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Re: Need some help - blue contamination
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2015, 12:46:17 AM »
Last year I made a Cambozola using Ann Hansen's scheme from Caldwell's book, Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking.  I, too, ended up with blue on the sides and the PC never really took control of the rind.   :P    As a result no interior ripening so no claim to have made a traditional Cambozola.  I thought of trashing it as abject failure but decided to age it and see how it turned out.  Guess what:  It is a fine little blue cheese with great flavor and good mouth feel due to the added cream.  8)

Rather than "kill" your cheese with washings of this and that why don't you let it "do its thing"  It will probably be a nice little cheese in a couple of months.   ;)

Offline Gregore

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Re: Need some help - blue contamination
« Reply #8 on: November 18, 2015, 05:27:31 AM »
I am surprised about the PC not taking over the pr , I suspect that the geo never got a good foot hold so the PC can start to grow .

Try raising the cave temp,to 61 degrees for the first 3  to 4 days to help with geo growth. When it gets slimy spray with PC .

You could also add the PC to the mix when making the cheese.

This is a  link to a great little cheese , you might want to try it next time

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,13051.msg100928.html#msg100928

mikey687

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Re: Need some help - blue contamination
« Reply #9 on: November 18, 2015, 09:28:53 AM »
Thanks Gregore, I think you've probably put your finger on it. I was running the cave at about a 10 deg C set point which meant it was fluctuating from 9 to 11 deg C (48 - 52 Deg F), plus my humidity was high at about 92-95% - ideal for blues I guess.

I've just raised it to a 14 deg C set point (57 deg F) to see if I can help the Geo get established.

Thing is I love blue cheese! So the first cheeses I tried to make were some small surface ripened blues from David Asher's book (kefir starter etc.). They are 1 month old now and coming along nicely from what I can tell. Still quite firm though.

With those and a Stilton I made in the same fridge I imagine that PR contamination on the outside of the Cambozolas was a given even though I'm trying to keep them separated (I've hacked a combined fridge freezer and one part is my "Blue" cave and one part is my "not-Blue" cave).

This is the thing I find most fascinating about cheese making and that I'm only starting to grasp: it's a lot about what you do to the cheese once you've made it that defines it's character. So temperature, humidity, handling all seem to be methods to influence it's maturing direction and I clearly got it wrong with the Cambozolas, but it seems it's maybe possible to correct things if you fix the underlying problem quickly enough.

Offline Gregore

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Re: Need some help - blue contamination
« Reply #10 on: November 19, 2015, 04:38:02 AM »
Those 2 blues look very nice