Author Topic: Colour of Camozola P. Candidum  (Read 5900 times)

Offline michoutim

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Re: Colour of Camozola P. Candidum
« Reply #15 on: January 24, 2010, 12:02:08 AM »
Oh, I see... Sorry!  :)

iratherfly

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Re: Colour of Camozola P. Candidum
« Reply #16 on: February 02, 2010, 08:45:10 AM »
I sanitize the wine cooler once a month top to bottom. It shouldn't be a large effect on these cheeses because they age in an aging box with very little air convection.

Regardless, Camembert style cheeses are quite pesky. Unlike harder cheeses that age over months and rely on the starvation of some of the bacteria, continued by enzymes breaking down proteins later, these are an  accelerated platform for growing bacteria at super speed.  As such they are very hospitable to some bacteria growth and thus prone to contamination.
You should make these in lab conditions. Sanitize the aging box, draining platform and draining mats, your milk pot, ladles, curd knife, molds/hoops, thermometer, Hygrometer and pH meter (if you use them), the dish you use dilute to mix the CalCl and Rennet with water, even the measuring spoons and all surfaces of the kitchen - especially the one you intend to rest your instruments on during making of the cheese.

Cover the cheese with a second mat during its first overnight drain. Do not let cheese to bask in the whey which already drained from it. It should always drain on a platform that is elevated enough so no whey will touch the cheese after it has drained off. Wipe off the box's inside in the first 7-12 days from excess water at least once a day until there no more water beads collect in the box. Change the paper towels on the bottom of the box when they get soaked with the drained whey. Of course, when you do that, use clean wipes that did not touch anything else before (or use freshly sanitized cheese cloth). Do not wipe the box's outside and then continue using that wipe on the inside.

Less obvious, watch out for external unrelated contaminants: for example, putting it near a sink - water that ricochet back when someone washes dishes can end up in the cheese. It takes a couple of drops to destroy it (remember how little P.Candidum you put in it and it grows out to cover it?). Bread crumbs and other food leftovers or splatter of something else that cooks in the kitchen are extremely notorious for causing yeast contamination. In fact, if you are making bread at the same time you are making cheese, you don't even have to make it - as the dough rises it releases enough yeast into the kitchen air to potentially destroy your cheese.
Lastly - kind of obvious; wash your hands every time you are about to handle the cheese, check for clean break turn it, Etc.

Contamination risk is especially elevated during the making process and the following 36 hours. It reduces as the cheese and box dries out. It significantly reduces when the cheese is entirely covered with rind (day 12 on average). It reduces even more later when you wrap the cheese and switch to aging at lower temp.

I find that Star San works best. Some things such as wood draining mats and cheese cloth I boil in water for 10 minutes.