Yeasty smelling shropshire blue

[ZRedding]

Hello all

I'm afraid this post will only require a simple response. I am attempting a shropshire style blue cheese. The orange color is pretty great. As far as I understand this has some of the characteristics of both stilton and cheshire. Anyway, I have just completed the rather nerve-wracking step of letting the thing sit in a mold at room temp for five days. The day before yesterday (day 3) the cheese starting showing some mold on the edges. It also smelled mildly yeasty. I was a little surprised to see anything this early, but disregarded the mold because the thing is a blue after all and the yeasty smell because it was mild and faintly fruity (kinda nice). Well today (day 5) the cheese has much more of the mold and I am now worried it might not be the blue mold I want. I do not have the experience yet to make that judgment. More concerning though is that the yeasty smell has become much stronger and has morphed into something frighteningly like spoiled store bought cheddar.

Here is a picture as I understand those are highly prized here! Well I hope the picture works anyway...

EDIT: Forgot to actually ask anything here. Long day at work... Is this bad? Will the good blue prevail and save the cheese? It is currently drying in a layer of cheesecloth. Will the dry surface prevent the yeasty smelling organisms from thriving possibly? Thanks for any and all comments or responses.

Thanks
-Zach

[AnnDee]

I wish I can answer you but I haven't made this style before, I'm bumping your post hopefully people with more experience see this.

[awakephd]

Likewise no experience with this style, but your picture does make me think you've either got some wild blue or blue + some other mold going. Hopefully one of the others who has more experience with blues in general, or this type in particular, will chime in ...

Meanwhile, welcome to the forum!

[AnnDee]

Yes, welcome!

[Gregore]

If I was to point at anything that does not seem correct so far it would be that the blue is at least a day or 2 old and yet it is only in one area .  My thought would be that it may be drying out too much . Usually blue starts out even almost every where

How did you add the blue culture ?

This is just a guess though ,as I have not made  this cheese  before ,

[Duntov]

I have found that a recipe that specifies leaving it in the mold for a specified amount of days can be very inaccurate especially if it doesn't say at what temp.  Once that cheese holds a good shape it is a good time to take it out of the mold to dry in a cool environment.  If it is kept in the mold at room temperature too long, unwanted wild mold will attack.  I live in a tropical area and the air is full of wild not-so-friendly mold.  For that reason I always use my cave for blues firming up in their mold.

[Gregore]

Duntov...... I missed that about sitting in the mold .

Yes this early could effect the air flow and thus how and where mold forms. 

[ZRedding]

Thank you all for your responses and for making me feel welcome.

Gregore, I added the PR to the milk along with the culture. This was a home grown mold that I grew from some Gorgonzola dulce on a piece of sourdough bread.

The next day after my original post I smoothed the outside of the cheese (similar to Stilton). I then dried the cheese out in a layer of muslin. After a few days of this the strongly yeasty/spoiled smell dissipated and the cheese smelled quite good. The blue mold is now growing more evenly on the surface as I am used to seeing. I just wanted to finally post a quick response while I had time. Pictures to follow.

Edit: Awakephd, thank you for responding to my other post as well. I salted this with 2% salt by weight of curds in three stages after I milled up the curds by hand. Immediately prior to placing the curds in the mold.

Zach

[Dorchestercheese]

Hi Zach-
Any updates on the progress here?  Looks like a recipe from the cheesemaking.com?
I too made this following the recipe and left it in the mold for 5 days flipping flipping flipping.
At 5 days it was slimy at best and blue kinda mold all over.  Then i used my gloved hands to smooth out the yucky slimmy mess exterior.
I wrapped it up in cheese cloth for a week kept it in my cheese fridge..it dried down further.
Now it looks like cheese with slow growing layer of blue covering its surface.  I keep it patted down and am letting it age along.
A few things i will change next time.  I think may help me.  Use less blue mold then what the recipe calls.  My opinion its too much and grows too fast.  I would also lower the temp  of the house which will be easier as winter comes.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Keeping it in the hoop too long will prevent good air flow and will suppress mold growth.