Author Topic: Mold-Ripened Cheeses (Brie and Port-Salut): Great Outside, Chalky Insidd  (Read 2763 times)

Nosybear

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I've been making cheese for about a year and am getting pretty good at ripening cheeses with mold or b. linens.  Last two batches I made were a Shitake Mushroom Brie and a Port-Salut.  Both of them wound up with the same problem, one I seem to be encountering frequently.  The rind and the outer few millimeters were just about perfect, the inside of the wheel chalky.  It's as if the enzymes from the rinds started migrating in and just stopped.  I don't have a trier so in both cases I left the cheeses as long as recommended in the recipes.  Both were stored after rind development in the normal refrigerator at about 40 degrees and turned frequently.  Both were made from regular supermarket pasteurized-homogenized milk.  I'm using flocculation factors to determine when to cut.  I have a pH meter but it's too much of a hassle to me to get out, calibrate and use on make day, besides, I don't have a spear electrode to measure the cheese once formed.

Any help would be appreciated!

AnnDee

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How long did you age it? I think they just need more aging time.

SOSEATTLE

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How long did you age it? I think they just need more aging time.


I would agree, especially if you are aging at 40 degrees. That slows down the aging process, so may need to age longer.


Susan

Nosybear

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I was thinking the same thing; however, most of the cheeses I'm making, if I follow the directions, are ready at about a third of the time as mine.  Ah, as a brewer, looks like I get to learn patience all over again....  And triple the aging times in the recipes!

Offline Gregore

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You might want to get that ph meter out of mothballs , my guess you are getting the ph too low before salting .

It is getting warmer out and that will increase the speed of ph drop , if it gets too low then it takes much longer to get the curd to soften again .  Before I got a good meter I had the same issues chalky tart curds at the center of the reblochons