I recently been trying to age cheddar with a natural rind, and this is my first attempt. I have been having trouble keeping away mold, and some strange colored ones at that.
At first I didn't use a maturation box, and just put the cheese on a bamboo mat in my cheese fridge. Recently I moved to using a box. I didn't think I needed one since the humidity was pretty good in the fridge alone, or so I thought.
RH is around 80-85%, and temp was around 50-55F
At first I started to notice yellow spots on the cheese after about a week aging. I noticed these spots after washing the cheese with a 3% brine the day after. Some people said it may be pseudomonas fluorescens, which could be explained by either the water I was washing with or the water I diluted my rennet with. I am guessing the former, so I switched to distilled water for my washes. Note that I do NOT want a washed rind, but just a natural hard one.
I was unable to wash the yellow spots off, so I ended up just scraping them off with a spoon. The cheese is starting to look in pretty rough shape. After using the distilled water, I don't see as many yellow spots, but now when I rub off the blue mold I see yellow left behind. Is this normal for blue?
Is there anything I can do to save this cheese, and should I even be concerned? What should I do to continue aging this, vac pack or just keep washing with the brine?
https://imgur.com/a/27IXKxpThanks