Sour farmhouse cheddar

[steve5000]

Just cut into my 6 week old farmhouse, from RC's recipie and its really sour.  So much so the whole thing has gone into the bin.

What are the main reasons for sour tasting cheese?

[Gina]

I dont know if this is the only reason, but I've experienced sour cheeses when I waxed too soon. Most of the recipes that call for drying the cheese for a day or two at room temp (dry to the touch), and then wax or vacuum bag (if you are not going for a natural rind).  In my limited experience, that's far too short a time. If you wax so soon and the whey continues to very slowly drain, you can get trapped moisture inside and a resulting unpleasant sour taste.

I've found this souring does not happen for me when I've followed the advice of several experienced folks here who let their cheeses dry in the cave for a much longer period of time before sealing - 1 to 2 to 3 weeks. 

[Sailor Con Queso]

6 weeks is too young. You should have put it back in to age some more. The sour probably would have gone away with more aging.

[steve5000]

This cheese wasn't waxed. 
I made one with the same recipe last month, and it was opened and eaten after 4 weeks and was great.

This one however, was VERY sour, i doubt if a year in the cave would sort it.

Could the sourness have anything to do with the fact it was only pressed for 6 hours?   I noticed my hoop had split after around 6 hours, so removed the cheese and air dried it.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Absolutely. The sourness most likely came from residual whey and over acidification.