Author Topic: Ripening - White & Blue Mold Cheeses In Same Cave  (Read 1913 times)

Melbourne Cheese

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Ripening - White & Blue Mold Cheeses In Same Cave
« on: November 05, 2011, 12:26:57 PM »
Hi all,

I have some blues that are about a week old now in my cave, but would like to make some Bries just in time for Christmas.  Will it be okay to have the two molds in the same cave or is one going to take over the other and ruin the other cheese?  I also have to find a way of dealing with the temperature difference required at different stages or is that something that I can avoid and keep it at between 11 to 15 for the entire maturing of both cheeses?  My blue recipe says I need to drop the temp after two weeks to 8C, do I have to do this?

Cheers

Richard

iratherfly

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Re: Ripening - White & Blue Mold Cheeses In Same Cave
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2011, 06:13:23 PM »
You will probably have little to no issue with having both there at the same time, especially being in different stages of maturation. If you have ever seen a Cambozola you know that the outside rind develops with no blue contaminaton even though there is blue in the paste. The Brie rind is a competitor of the blue. (I would be more worried about your blue receding because of growth of PC in the cave).

If you are using aging containers, you will delay any cross contamination and probably prevent it because you just need enough growth of the PC/Geo on the brie to prevent the roqueforti from affecting it.

As for the temp difference; blue grows better in cold temperatures. If not cold enough it may be too proteolytic and cause unwanted bitterness. What you can do is put it on the top shelf of the fridge. It may take longer to develop but it will catch up with the brie (which I assume you will put in the fridge after it is well coated) and they will probably be ready about the same time

Melbourne Cheese

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Re: Ripening - White & Blue Mold Cheeses In Same Cave
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2011, 01:36:09 AM »
THanks for that.  I have both of them in a wine fridge set at 13C.  Do you think it would be okay to put the blues in a normal fridge set to around 4C?

iratherfly

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Re: Ripening - White & Blue Mold Cheeses In Same Cave
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2011, 04:41:57 AM »
Yes. It's a slow maturation and it will really slow down some of the geo and other things. Some Italian blues are aged in this cold temp. Blue loves cold. Just make sure it's humid enough. It gets more difficult to circulate moist air in these low temps.  I use an aquarium pump and put its hose inside the aging container, on the very bottom. It's gentle and helps a lot