new washed rinds

[clherestian]

Here are some pics of my latest washed rinds. They are four weeks old. This is my fourth or fifth attempt at them. I based the recipe loosely on Peter Dixon's tallegio recipe, but added slightly different cultures, changed the rind and the washing schedule.

For the rind, there is geo, p candidum, KL71 and some b linens. as you can see, the mix is heavy on the b linens. The b linens are just starting to become visible.

One thing I learned, if you want to avoid the slip skin that often comes along with geo, let your cheeses sit on the drying racks for a couple of days, till you see the rind start to really dry out. Do that and hit it with a 10% brine after the geo takes hold, and you won't have any problems.

[FRANCOIS]

Looks good, should be a light, sweet rind.  I would say, based on the photo, that you are washing more frequently than the recipe calls for.

[clherestian]

Francois,

How do you suggest finishing a cheese like this? I was thinking about washing till the cheeses are 60 days old then letting them dry a bit. After that I was going to wrap them and start eating. What do you think? Is that long enough?

[FRANCOIS]

My mix of surface culture was similar to yours and generally, and each cheese is different, I washed every day for a week, every other day for 2 weeks, every other other day for 3 weeks, then once a week after that.  This produced good yeast at first which then gave way to spotty moulds and finally to a smooth buff finish after 3 months.

[clherestian]

Thanks.

[DeejayDebi]

They looks really nice! Good luck with them!

[Alex]

My mix of surface culture was similar to yours and generally, and each cheese is different, I washed every day for a week, every other day for 2 weeks, every other other day for 3 weeks, then once a week after that.  This produced good yeast at first which then gave way to spotty moulds and finally to a smooth buff finish after 3 months.

Do you start with a light brine, then move to a med and finaly to heavy ?

[FRANCOIS]

I always use 3% unless there is a specific issue that requires heavy brine.

[Alex]

Thanks

[clherestian]

That's what i have been doing if I have a geo dominant rind. Start with 3% until the geo is visible. Then I look at it and if I need to impede the geo growth, I switch to 10%.

[clherestian]

These cheeses are about 70 days old now. The first set of pics, from my first post are the cheese at about 40 days. Anyhow, I just cut one, and it tastes very good. Check out the pics:

[clherestian]

I let this cheese come completely to room temp, and it was way tastier and much runnier. I put it on a chunk of whole wheat bread. It made me wish I had a IPA.

[DeejayDebi]

Now that looks tasty! Mmmmmmm  Good job!

[JMB]

Pretty new at washed rinds.  I've done it twice with completely different surface results using the same cultures in my wash.  First one was wonderful, second one done a year later has slip skin and other than white surface molds--but not black. Taste is fine but the look is not. Complete beginners luck here on the first run I beleive. RH was lower in the first try than the second.  They both looked the same until about 60 days and then the surface got soft and started to wrinkle up.  It hasn't fallen of ar anything but not the look I am after.  It says here to let the Geo start and when it smells right then back it off with lower temp and higher salt.  Can someone describe what Geo smells like?  My b linen started growing on schedule--about 2 weeks.  Any ideas why suddenly things turned in a differrent direction?  Was the RH a significant factor?  This washed rind stuff is like a juggleing act trying to keep all things going.  Is this as difficult as it seems to be?  I am trying to make a hard/semi-hard washed rind cheese, not the soft brie or cammenbert style.  All hints greatly appreciated.
J

[Brie]

That cheese looks simply fantastic! Kudos!