Hi all - New here. Sorry for the long essay, but I have tried making Brie a few times with varying degrees of success, and I have a few questions I hope someone can help with.
One or two batches have been edible, but the problems I am having are:
1. Ripening too fast to let the bloom form. After a couple of weeks, the brie has already gone runny and yellow, but there is only patchy while mould which doesn't appear for weeks, and then only patchily.Normally only on the sides - possibly related to those being where i don't put salt?
2. Brownish/pinkish mould spots appear quite early on, meaning I end up having to cut the cheese so much it ends up looking like a mangy dog.
3. Yellowish / greenish tinge which looks like a mould of some sort, which I am wary of. I am not sure if this is normal, or bad?
Notes about method:
- I do not have anything I can use as a cheese cave, so I am putting them in the fridge in tupperware to ripen.
- The penicillin candidum is going into the milk, rather than spraying.
- I realised only recently that I am supposed to use mesophilic culture and had been using thermophilic which is all I had!
- Never have any problems getting a nice set with a clean break after the time in the recipe
- Don't have (can't afford!) a large brie mould so I am using smaller moulds as you will see from photos below
- Original batches went into the fridge after draining for about a day, while still very moist, with lids on. They lost their shape quickly and ripened very quickly. Mould appeared only after 3 weeks, when cheese was already very runny / ripe.
- Latest batches have drained for over twice as long, kept shape out of moulds, and not wet to the touch. Lids left half off. On these, mould appeared after a week
I think the first batches I made were not left to drain long enough before I de-moulded and put them in the fridge. The result was that I was constantly emptying whey and moisture from the tupperware, and the cheeses flattened and spread out to the thickness of a hamburger. I am not sure if this was the reason for any of the problems above.
With the last batches I have left them to drain for almost two days, which has meant they were much drier and firmed before going into the fridge and did not 'splurge out' when taken out of the moulds. Also, instead of closing the lids of the containers, I covered with cheesecloth and left the lids cocked to allow them some air and hopefully reduce the condensation inside the container. I have not had nearly so much water collecting in the containers, and the cheeses seem drier on their surface when turning each day.
The first of the batches using this approach is nearly two weeks old, and mould appeared after just one week, which is much earlier than I have had before. So I thought things were going well. However, I did still find a couple of spots of reddish/brown mould which I cut out and re-salted.
Today, I was disappointed to find this greenish/yellowish tinge appearing on the surface of cheese. I am not sure if this is normal, or bad.
I am attaching some images of the problems. I am hoping that I have given enough information for someone to diagnose my mistakes and point me in the right direction to rectify them?
If anyone can give me some pointers / observations, it would be much appreciated. Thanks!
1. The dreaded brown/pink mould - appears however dry or moist the cheese seems to be
2. First batch. Went in still very moist and spread flat. No mould appeared for a long time, by which point the cheese was already overripe (and split)
3. First batch - one cheese was edible, and tasted ok (bit ammonia-y) but as you can see, there was that nasty yellowish tinge, which I avoided
4. Bloom only appearing around the sides, and you can see the yellowy tinge around the edges
5. Last couple of batches started out ok. Firm, didn't spread out and mould appeared after a week while cheese still firm
6. Last batch after one week. Bloom appearing and still firm, but that yellowish tinge has now started appearing on the edges.