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?