Aging Large Cheeses...

[Baby Chee]

Is there any lag in aging due to size?

I'm eyeing my giant gouda which is now 5 weeks old...


Ok, I won't open it yet, and I am gone for a couple weeks, but when I come back it will have aged 50 days.
Is there any possible problems with opening at such a date because of its size?

All my goudas aged well enough by 35-40 days, but they were about 1/5th that size.
There is a second gouda in the fridge of the same size; that one will definitely age far longer since I will eat through the first 15lb. gouda before getting into the second.

[MrsKK]

I don't have any practical knowledge to share with you, but just wanted to say  - "Now THAT's a cheese!"

[wharris]

How many gallons of milk was that?

[DeejayDebi]

I'd say Yes. You will find your tiny cheese seem to develop flavor faster. They will for obvious reason dry faster and that tends to allow them to age faster assuming of course they aren't just dehydrating.

[wharris]

Deb, I think i have a different take on that.

I would say that if you had a surface ripened cheese then yes.  But if your cheese did not depend on surface cultures to ripen, then the wait for aging, regardless of size, should be about the same.

Gouda is a washed rind cheese, and as such, does not depend on surface microflora (like Camembert) in order to ripen, so I would imagine that a 10lb block, or a 1000lb block should develop at about the same rate.

right?

Now, drying out,  i would agree with Deb. A smaller one would dry out quicker.

[FRANCOIS]

Nope, bigger cheeses take longer, but it's not directly proportional.  Surface area to volume matters, it is dependent on the type of cheese though.  It is very important for any cheese not vacuum sealed, as salt dispersion and moisture loss are size dependent.  For cheese that is vauum sealed you need to wait for salt diffusion mainly.

If I were you I'd try it and then vacuum seal the rest.

[DeejayDebi]

I only really do one surface ripened cheese on a regualr basis so I won't coment on that aspect but I definately see a larger aging time needed for the larger cheese I have been making than the little one I used to make for the same amount of flavor development. 

bigger area take more time for all the chemical reasctions to complete their proceses and all the flavors to meld and develop. I also believe that the bigger cheese have slightly better flavor, texture and  over all complexity than the baby cheeses. This is based on my personal observations due to pressing baby cheeses (450 gram) with my leftover curds.

[wharris]

I stand corrected! 
I really love having authoritative answers here. 

Surface area to volume matters... It is very important for any cheese not vacuum sealed

A question:
It sounds like you are linking cheese aging with "something" happening at the surface.   
{I can image that "something" being gas exchange, drying, whey loss....}   
So, If aging does, in fact,  depends on something happening on the surface, then I agree and understand. 
But for those cheeses that are sealed, does size still matter?

[FRANCOIS]

Yes it does, as I tried to explain, albeit poorly I guess.  For sealed, brined cheeses it takes longer for salt dispersion.  We have found this to be true even for salted curd like cheddar.  It's not a proportional difference (i.e. if the cheese weighs 2x as much it takes 2x longer to age) but there is a noticeable difference.

[wharris]

While I completely believe you,  (who the heck am I doubt....) I am just struggling to understand exactly why.

Especially with the example of salt dispersion in a salted curd cheddar.  One would think that the salt density is the same, whether the wheel was 10kg or 1000kg.

I'm not doubting you,  I'm just not gettting it.    (yet)

[Baby Chee]

Thanks for the replies.  It has left me like this -----> @____@;
I guess I'll try it out when I get home and the first Gouda is just 7 weeks.
Unfortunately I can't vacuum seal, so I will be stuck.

That cheese was made in a 15 gallon pot with approximately 14.5 gallons of milk.
It's since been waxed with a brush.

Both were made the same way (I have two identical goudas) and the cheepo-press (CCCP) is documented in a thread here. 
You can get all the materials together to make such a cheese (sans stock pot) for around $50.
I used an old brewing stock pot, so that was "free" for me.
There are cheap bain marie pots online you can use with a home cut wood follower to get the shape and size of the cheese.

My fingers are crossed and I'm hoping for a good result.

This cheese was smoked with liquid smoke, and colored (a little too much).
The second will mature until March or beyond.

[cheesehead]

the real issue you need to watch with larger sizes is the rate of cooling - the bigger the block the longer it will take the center to reach the cooler temperature.  You can get good cheese on the outside and acidic cheese on the inside if cooling isn't adequate.  Believe me I learnt this the hard way many years ago....

I did extensive tests with temperature recorders placed inside cheese blocks to see what was happening to my cheese in relation to the cooling I had at the time - but also I was talking about a couple hundred lb blocks...

Again, a pH meter will help show that....

[BigCheese]

It also looks like your cheese is in a normal fridge, in which case it will age very slowly (or not at all?)

[FarmerJd]

Just very slowly. It does age but it took forever to notice a difference in my cases. I have a cave now and wow what a difference.

[Baby Chee]

No-no: they do age in a normal fridge, but I agree that it takes a little longer.

I've had excellent results with goudas/cheddars/havartis in my regular fridge.  I doubt this would be a great choice for other styles, though.  IT MIGHT WORK FOR BLUE.  I've had some blue contamination in my goudas and wound up with a kind of ched-goud-blue thing that's very tasty... and that's in a fridge set around 38ºF on average with 3 months aging.  Not a specific and regimented style, but a delightful salad cheese/sauce cheese/cracker cheese.