Author Topic: Ripening Box - 52% Humidity Yet Condensation  (Read 3945 times)

T-Bird

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Ripening Box - 52% Humidity Yet Condensation
« on: September 30, 2009, 06:55:13 PM »
I have 2 new stilton cheeses going now, 1 has been in my "cave" for 1 week , the other for 2 weeks. I am ageing them on bamboo mats and covering them with upside down plastic boxes about twice the size of the 2#, 6' dia. cheeses. This is the first time I have used this method, The first cheese I made, I kept in a plastic bag which worked just ok. The next 2 I aged in the boxes with the lids in them. The lids worked ok but they seemed to be too moist (alot of condensation etc.). After reading someone's post on here, I chose my present method which I thought was working ok. There is a small amt of condensation on the inside of the box, which I assumed meant that the humidity in there was at least high(80+%?). I have one of those Oregon Scientific weather station things that has a remote sensor that is supposed to go outside placed under the box with one of the cheeses and there is condensation, but the instrument says the humidity is only 52%. It says the humidity in the fridge is 47% and I have a pan of water in there. What gives? Can there be condensate and only 52% humidity under the box? Guess it's been too long since I have had meterology.   T-Bird

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Ripening Box - 52% Humidity Yet Condensation
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2009, 04:09:28 AM »
The humidity being released from the cheese is being trapped under the box that's all.

Cheese Head

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Re: Ripening Box - 52% Humidity Yet Condensation
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2009, 10:30:27 AM »
T-Bird, I agree with Debi, if you are getting condensation then you are at or were at 100% RH at one time, I find digital gauges have a hard time reading that high but yours should say way higher than 52%. My rule-of-thumb is that if I have lots of condensation then RH is too high, no cond and too low.

I'd crack the lid to release excess humidity. Also, bamboo mats are very hard to get clean and can harbour molds, I'd switch them out to plastic. If you search the forum on bamboo you'll get a bunch of hits.

T-Bird

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Re: Ripening Box - 52% Humidity Yet Condensation
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2009, 10:52:23 PM »
I know that the moisture is coming from the cheese. I was just confused about why I might behaving condensate on the inside of the box when I only had a RH of 52%. I was thinking that I might be "misremembering" my facts on dewpoints, relative humidity etc. I am aging these cheeses on the mats with the boxs turned over on them I will take your advice and look for plastic. These mats were washed in the dishwasher then boiled before using. They should be mostly contaminated with molds from my cheeses. The plastic does sound better. What do yall use? T-Bird

Cheese Head

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Re: Ripening Box - 52% Humidity Yet Condensation
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2009, 12:09:20 AM »
T-Bird, your bamboo should be OK for this round, there is a thread here with some mats, since then I use some I bought from DairyConnection.com, I need to post some pictures ::).

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Ripening Box - 52% Humidity Yet Condensation
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2009, 02:54:39 AM »
T-Bird the cheeses are IN the box so is the humidity. More in the box than in the cave.

T-Bird

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Re: Ripening Box - 52% Humidity Yet Condensation
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2009, 06:14:16 PM »
debi, I placed the sensor IN the box with the cheese. I covered the sensor with plastic wrap (to minimize contamination) and tore a small hole in this covering over the actual sensing holes on the device. According to the device, the 52% is IN the box- hence my confusion. T-Bird

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Ripening Box - 52% Humidity Yet Condensation
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2009, 09:56:22 PM »
Does it have a calibration procedure in the instructions? Sounds like it's way off.

T-Bird

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Re: Ripening Box - 52% Humidity Yet Condensation
« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2009, 03:59:50 PM »
there is no calibration i am aware of, it normally site on my back porch and the data it collects agrees roughly with the weather channel info for my area.