My first cheese.

[SueVT]

Are they in a humid environment?  The mold needs that to form.
Also what is the temperature in there?
They look good, you have done well.  The first batch flipping is par for the course!  We all have our spills!!

But the cat made me laugh ;D ;D  You gotta follow the thought process of the cat:  "huh, I'm locked in the closet with the cheese.... huh... mice like cheese.   I like mice.  There aren't any mice around.... I'll eat the cheese and skip a step!!"  Brilliant really!   ;D

What recipe/process are you using? 

cheers,

[mtncheesemaker]

How did you salt these guys?
Pam

[sominus]

Are they in a humid environment?  The mold needs that to form.
Also what is the temperature in there?
They look good, you have done well.  The first batch flipping is par for the course!  We all have our spills!!

They are, indeed, in a humid environment...  The temperature has been a little cold due to ambient temps in the Houston area (mid 40s in the cave).

As far as salting, I measured out about a teaspoon of salt (amount taken from one of the recipes/processes posted on this board) and sprinkled by hand....


-M

[SueVT]

Mid 40s is a little cool for the cheese... which may be why they are being slow to grow the candidum.

[michoutim]

When we have what I call "bald patches", we either wet a finger (or a brush) , rub it a bit on the velvet and then on the bald patch. Or do that with the P Candidum solution...

I am pretty sure you will get a nice cheese!

[sominus]

Ok, so the mold never ended up covering the cheeses after 21 days and now when I open up my cave I'm almost pushed back to the far wall of my garage by the "fragrance"...  I can't call it a truly Ammonia smell, however there is a component of that in the opaque cloud that comes out of the refrigerator when I open the door...

Give up on these?  Let them go?

-Michael

[michoutim]

=> Did you use salt with iodine in it? Because it impedes the velvet growth...

=> Also at home we rebrush the cheese with the white mould mix after 3 days. 

=> For the cat problem by the way I'd buy a bird or snake cage et cover it with muslin so the cat can't be in contact with the cheese. Furthermore a single hair of the cat landing on the cheese is likely to contaminate it. Same with smelling a new baby, we are careful not to breathe out over it, we breathe in for the smell and breathe out in an other direction.

=> Also where did you get your culture from ?

[sominus]

=> Did you use salt with iodine in it? Because it impedes the velvet growth...

=> Also at home we rebrush the cheese with the white mould mix after 3 days. 

=> For the cat problem by the way I'd buy a bird or snake cage et cover it with muslin so the cat can't be in contact with the cheese. Furthermore a single hair of the cat landing on the cheese is likely to contaminate it. Same with smelling a new baby, we are careful not to breathe out over it, we breathe in for the smell and breathe out in an other direction.

=> Also where did you get your culture from ?

No iodine, I used  kosher salt.  Rebrushing is probably where I would change this one in retrospect.

Cats were not an issue in this batch...  I made sure they were nowhere near it.. :-)

I forget the name of the place I got cultures from -- a common online merchant certainly.
I used p. candidum, geo and flora danica...

[michoutim]

OK!  :)

[michoutim]

Just talked to my husband. Well he puts a tiny bit of the P Candidum in the milk together with the ferment, he tinks it helps the velveting process.   :)

[Alex]

For all kind of mold rippened cheese I innoculate the milk with the mold, allways turn out OK.

[sominus]

I did add the geo and p. cand. along w/ the flora danica to the milk to ripen for 20-30 min before adding rennet....  Maybe I didn't add enough?  The next batch will be done by adding to the milk and spraying p. cand onto the cheeses as they start blooming, especially if they show bald spots. 

Does that sound right?

I need to take a pic of these to post before I toss them... (Then I need to bleach the fridge..)

[DeejayDebi]

They also need airing out once in a while and they seem to grow better.

[vogironface]

I know you say these were in a humid environment but they look to be drying out to me.  Do you have a way of measuring humidity?  Were they aged as photographed, on a mat on a shelf in the fridge?  I made a box like sailors and added adjustable vents to control humidity (probably more work than it was worth) and have found it works like a charm.  I have also noticed that with mine that ammonia smell is a stage they pass though and about day 40 start to taste real good.  MMMM I only have 1 half of a cam left an 30 days out from the next batch.

[michoutim]

http://chefsimon.com/forum/notre-dernier-fromage-maison-t4674-100.html

Page 6, you can see how we keep our cheeses, 2 or 3 ventilation grids, then a cheese grid, the cheeses on top, bit of water in the container, and we put the lid on.