Butterkase aging question..with picture!!!

[dougspcs]

(reposted in correct board..man this site has a lot of boards!!)

I made a Butterkase as per the recipe on Gavin Webber's youtube channel. Pretty happy with how it turned out..

It has been in a vacuum bag for about 7 days now and in my new cave at 13'c.

I took it out to look at it today and noticed these air bubbles and a bit of moisture (see picture) had moved to the surface of the cheese directly under the plastic. I'm sure it's just the cheese gasing a bit..but

Since I'm a real novice I'm not sure how to deal with it..or should I do anything at all?

I considered removing it from the bag and placing it back in the bamboo lined plastic totes I made for open-air aging cheese such as cheddar. Then letting it dry up some and then back in the vacuum bag to finish aging??

Or should I just leave it alone??

[reg]

How old was it when you bagged it ? My best guess would be to remove it from the bag and let it dry more. Sometimes I let mine go from 3-6 weeks before vac pac depending on the cheese

[millenof6]

13°F?  I hope thats °C.   I'd say it couldn't hurt to open it up and let it dry a bit more before repacking it.

[dougspcs]

How old was it when you bagged it ? My best guess would be to remove it from the bag and let it dry more. Sometimes I let mine go from 3-6 weeks before vac pac depending on the cheese

But this is a soft cheese with only a 4 week maturation..I did let it dry to touch before bagging, 2-3 days.

Gavin's recipe called to bag immediately after this room air dry period.

13°F?  I hope thats °C.   I'd say it couldn't hurt to open it up and let it dry a bit more before repacking it.

13'C of course..

I'm just trying to avoid any unnecessary handling of the cheese..both because it has this short maturation time and because it's a soft. Just worried that I might over dry it..is there a problem just letting it mature then pull it out to dry a few hours before cutting into it?

[Gregore]

If it looks like moisture , then open bag dry it off  with paper towels and rebag.

If it is not moisture then leave it as is. 

[AnnDee]

Happens to me all the time whenever I vac pack semi hard cheese, I usually open it, dry it and repack. If I let the cheese in the liquid for a long time, the rind become really soft and messy.
To avoid opening and repacking, I wrap the cheese with breathable baking paper first, tightly. Then I vac seal like usual, I do this because living in a tropical country the cheese get sweaty even when I take it out of the cave for a little while.

[dougspcs]

Happens to me all the time whenever I vac pack semi hard cheese, I usually open it, dry it and repack. If I let the cheese in the liquid for a long time, the rind become really soft and messy.
To avoid opening and repacking, I wrap the cheese with breathable baking paper first, tightly. Then I vac seal like usual, I do this because living in a tropical country the cheese get sweaty even when I take it out of the cave for a little while.

I like that baking paper idea..

As a update to this..I removed the cheese from the package then put in my new cheese dryer I built overnight at room temp.

Well it dried nicely..however it puffed up and has a soft spot in the middle. No splits or cracks..but it's not looking good!!

I placed it back in the cave, unwrapped in a tote to allow it to dry out more slowly.

In 3 weeks I'll be opening it..not sure what I'll find in the middle. A big air void or a soft liquid centre??

This one may be a bust!!!

[Boofer]

This one may be a bust!!!

All candidates accepted here.

-Boofer-

[awakephd]

Unless you added P. Shermanii (as in a swiss type), I'd be concerned about "blowing" ...