clothbound cheddar aging

[radicalcultures]

Hey everybody,

I embarked on my first solo cheesemaking venture a couple weeks ago. I attempted to make a cheddar but some things went unexpectedly. I entirely skipped the cheddaring process because my pH was already 5.25 when i go to that step, so i just milled and salted the curds and put them in the press. Its a pretty acidic cheese, bottoming out at about 4.89, and I think I lost a lot of the solids in the whey, so it might be pretty dry.

Anyway! Those things are besides the point. I decided to wrap it in muslin cloth and I have some questions about aging it as such. I got muslin cloth from a fabric store and I think it has a considerably higher thread count than muslin typically used for clothbound cheddar. I wonder if this is an issue, but I don't feel like its a big deal. I rubbed the cheese and the cloth with cultured butter and wrapped it as well as i could, then pressed it for another 24 hours. My main question is on upkeep. It seems like the cheese might be drying out and shrinking a little bit. Whatever is happening, the cloth is no longer stuck directly to the cheese in a smooth fashion. In some places there is a bit of air in between the cheese and the cloth, and I'm wondering if this will create issues. If so, does anyone have ideas how to care for this issue? Maybe using more butter?

[linuxboy]

what is the humidity of your aging environment? It should be at minimum 85%, hopefully higher

[Sailor Con Queso]

Did you let the cheese air dry before wrapping?

[zenith1]

Sounds like your aging environment does not have enough humidity.

[FRANCOIS]

High thread count muslin will work fine.  I personally wouldn't have used cultures butter, but it should be sufficient.  You need to dry the cheese first, for a week or more, before applying the bandage.  This avoids the shrinkage issue you ar enow experiencing.

[9mmruger]

Unwrap, air dry and re-wrap tightly, and all should be good.

[radicalcultures]

We aren't monitoring the humidity in our cheese fridge but we have a cool mist humidifier in there so I think it should be alright in that department. I had read conflicting directions on whether or not to air dry before bandaging and decided not to, so I think that's more of the culprit. Will this have a negative impact on aging do you think? Also, should I air dry at room temp before rewrapping? Thanks for the help!

[FRANCOIS]

Don't airdry above 60F at this point.  It will cause mould blooms and fat weeping.

[zenith1]

Great tip Francois!