Trying my Munster....disappointed

[smcaro@gmail.com]

Hi all,

I have 2 square shaped Monsters that I made exactly 2 months ago. One of them had a small crack so I decided to give it a try.

A few comments before the pictures:
1.- I added Lipase and Lisozime.
2.- They have been in the same ripening box for 2 months. B.linens colour took a long time to appear. Still is not really full on all sides.
3.- Taste is very strong. Just a slight hint of the real Munster ( the French one which was my intention).
4.- Texture is firm and creamy on the outside, but as you can see, with eyes and rough towards the center. This presumably means that something must be working in the right direction.
5.- I´m working on it as of two days ago. RH in my wine fridge cave is not a problem. However, I am starting to think that temperature is. It is always around 14 C. So maybe the wine fridge cannot cope with the high temperature in the kitchen.

I have put it back in the ripening box. Really don´t know very well how to proceed. Any suggestions or thoughts will be much appreciated.

[smcaro@gmail.com]

Here go more pics

[Gregore]

Just going by the picture it needs more time . It should be creamy almost all the way through.

 Having been to Hong Kong .... I am giving you a cheese just for having the courage to attempt making cheese in such a metropolis .

I could also add that most recipes I have seen that use time  instead of ph tend to end up with the ph lower than optimum .

And this means that it takes more time for the cultures to get the curd back to where it needs to be .

Heck even with my ph meter I always need a few more  days on the geo stage and a few extra days in the colder fridge than the recipe , before my reblochons are at what they should be .   If I only made it a few times I might suspect it was me that was was doing something wrong ,when  really it is the environment .

Recipes always need tweaking to get them right for your location . This is another reason why  I suggest making the same cheese  multiple times  over more than a year .

[stephmtl222]

Do you really need to use lysozyme ? Lysozyme will affect membranes and kill gram positive bacteria and brevibacterium linens is gram positive so you show expect to have very limited if any brevibacterium growth when lysozyme is present.

[smcaro@gmail.com]

Thanks Gregore for the input. I have them both back in the ripening box. We shall see in a couple of weeks. Do you think it might be better to wrap them and move them to the fridge?

Stepphmtl222: actually I hardly use Lysozyme. It simply happened to be next to the Lipase in the freezer and I added a pinch. Your point is taken. Thank you. In many of my first experiences I used them both a lot. Now less and less.

BTW for whatever its worth, these Munsters were made using powder milk and distilled water....

[Gregore]

I would say keep them in the cave in their containers along as possible .  But do give them an airing out every day

[awakephd]

I continue to be incredibly impressed that you are able to get ANY usable cheese out of powdered milk - that deserves AC4U all on its own!

[smcaro@gmail.com]

A quick update. Another couple of weeks have passed. The monsters are now strong pink redish color! Perfect! Still don´t stink to much. And the halved one which had developed cracks is still in there too. They go for a " walk" every day, and get flipped.

No photos this time, but will make them when I get around to eating them. They still don´t feel ripe.