Did I over-salt my blue?

[ATasker]

Well I had a first attempt at blue, and unfortunately it hasn't come off. After 3 weeks in 85% to 95% RH at 10.5c I am still yet to see any blue mould growth. PR was inoculated along with Aromatic Mesophilic, rather than sprinkled as I've seen in some other instructions. I'm about ready to try again as I don't have a lot of room in my cave-fridge!

My self-diagnosis after tasting and long thoughts is that I was far too aggressive with salting the cheese. I was following the Mad Millie recipe as it was one easy to hand (http://www.madmillie.com/site/madmillie/MM_NZ_Specialty%20Cheese%20Booklet_lores.pdf) which calls for 3 days worth of salting when you start maturing. Is this a fair assumption? Can too much salt prevent PR growth entirely?

The curd was quite crumbly when I pierced it, and naturally is very salty when tasting! My other thought is that the curd is much too dry. The cheese did continue to release whey even when in the cave-fridge. My next attempt might be a Cambozola, given I've gotten a better hang on making cams.

(Here's hoping my chocolate-stout infused Colby is coming along better!)

[Schnecken Slayer]

I followed much the same method for my blues and they have all had mold starting to appear on the outside by about day 4.
Check your PR is still  within it's use by date.
You could try sprinkling a bit between two slices of bread, left in a plastic bag for three or four days, and see if it takes off to prove that it isn't the issue.

[Frodage3]

For my blues, I salt over four days. I make sure to use only 1/4 of the total for each day. Could it be that you used 3x the amount of salt that you thought you were?

[Al Lewis]

I just salt the curds prior to placing them into the molds.  Never salt them after that.

[ATasker]

Cheers for the tips. Cambozola in the moulds today so hopefully will see some growth on this batch. If not I will certainly try the method with the bread! I take it Frodage3 you're talking about 1/4 of the total that you calculated by the weight? Were you using a 1/10th of the weight?

[Fritz]

Hey Tasker, i sure hope you aren't using 10% of the cheese weight for salt content, you might want to dial that back a bit before you have a heart attack

I have the Mad Mille recipe book, and respectfully, I'm not a fan. There are better cheese books out there that may give you better results. The books were mentioned many times here, just do a search or start a new thread and we'll help you there.

Good luck man!
F

[Al Lewis]

Want some good advice?  Buy this one.

[Fritz]

Just a heads up... Al's suggested book shown (excellent choice) has a second edition out... Has a blue cover. 

[Frodage3]

you're talking about 1/4 of the total that you calculated by the weight? Were you using a 1/10th of the weight?

I use one-fiftieth of the weight, then use only a quarter of that per salting. For example, my last make (gorgonzola) coming out of the first day in the mould weighed 1039g. Divide that by 50 to get 20.8g of salt, which is the total for this cheese. On the first day of salting I use 5.2g, then back in the mould. On the second day, I salt from the opposite site with 5.2g and back in the mould. Etc. HTH.

[ATasker]

Thanks for the explanation Frodage3, apologies for my poor wording but that is what I was asking! I have come to the conclusion that far too much salt was used, and it basically sucked any moisture that was left out of the curd (and surrounds).

I've been keeping an eye out for books so thank you all for the recommendation. I'm building up my repertoire of equipment and knowledge as budget allows

As for the next attempt.. it's starting to look much better! I'm just trying to time it right on piercing, while still hopefully having the PC win the fight for coverage.

[Frodage3]

Nice! AC4U

[ATasker]

Sorry for the late reply, been meaning to follow up on a few things! Here is the results of the 2nd attempt, one of them I scraped before wrapping as the PC refused to grow (too much PR on the surface) and the other I left with a reasonable coverage of PC. Lovely taste and creamy.

Ruined half of the second one by storing in an air-tight container in the fridge after unwrapping. Ammonia over-load

[awakephd]

Well done - AC4U!

[Gregore]

That cheese looks good ,

 just so you know for next time some where around 3 percent of the cheese weight for that type of cheese ,

A true blue cheese  can have higher salt up to 3.7