OlJarhead's First Cheddar - Surface Crack > Picnic Cooler Aging > Crumbly

[OlJarhead]

[Edit -- I hope it's ok to change the title but this post has really developed into a lot more then just the cracking of my cheese so I decided to change the title to match the thread a little more].

Hi Folks,

I've just started learning how to make cheese and made my first Cheddar this past weekend.  I followed a recipe more or less and used store bought pasteurized milk, culture, calcium chloride and rennet (the usual suspects I imagine) but figured I'd toss that out.

Anyway all seemed to be going well until today.  I've been drying my cheese in the meat drawer of my refrigerator which I'd read is a good option when you don't have a cave and don't want to leave it on the counter.  The first three days all seemed well (as far as I could tell) but today I found the cheese splitting/cracking.

Is it drying to fast?  Can I still wax it?  Should I just eat it and try again?

Thanks!
Erik

[OlJarhead]

This is my cheese after 3 days of drying.


This is on trhe 4th day -- I apologize for the poor picture.

I've placed a small cup of water in the meat drawer near the cheese to make sure there is some moisture there -- I'm thinking that this might be a challenge as I live in the desert!

It smells good but I'd love to be able to age it.

Thanks in advance.
Erik

[Mondequay]

You need more humidity to prevent more cracking. Can you put it in a container with the cup of water? What is the temp of the meat drawer?

That's a big crack; I'm sure an expert can tell you how to deal with that. I don't think you would be happy with the taste just yet. Good luck.
Christine

[Cheese Head]

Hi OlJarhead/Erik

Sadly this is a common problem, here is my example. Basically even in the semi sealed meat drawer of your kitchen fridge the humidity is way too low and the cheese has started to dry. The problem is that the outside of the cheese dries and wants to shrink but the inside is still much moister so the outside goes into stress and eventually cracks, normally with big fissures like your pictures as cheeses have little tensile strength.

If you Search on "Crack" you'll find several discussions. The short term solution is to minimize further dehydration and enable the moisture content of the cheese to re-equalize between surface and middle. Suggest placing cheese on a mat on a plate in fridge and placing a bowl over top to seal the humidity in.

I would not wax it until you have largely healed the crack. You could eat it but flavour will be very very mild.

Longer term for humidity control, there are many ideas tricks and traps in the STANDARD METHODS - Aging Cheese and EQUIPMENT - Aging Cheese, Caves Boards. For aged cheeses temp and humidity are the biggest initial problems.

[morfeo]

What you can do is place your cheese inside a container with a mat, make a some holes on the lid and place a hygrometer and a thermometer inside the container if the humidity goes to low just add a damp paper towel, and if the humidity is to high what I usually do is dry the container and replace the mat.
I have two cheese in my fridge with that technique and the humidity is between 80-85 and the temperature 50-53f.

[OlJarhead]

Hi OlJarhead/Erik

Sadly this is a common problem, here is my example. Basically even in the semi sealed meat drawer of your kitchen fridge the humidity is way too low and the cheese has started to dry. The problem is that the outside of the cheese dries and wants to shrink but the inside is still much moister so the outside goes into stress and eventually cracks, normally with big fissures like your pictures as cheeses have little tensile strength.

If you Search on "Crack" you'll find several discussions. The short term solution is to minimize further dehydration and enable the moisture content of the cheese to re-equalize between surface and middle. Suggest placing cheese on a mat on a plate in fridge and placing a bowl over top to seal the humidity in.

I would not wax it until you have largely healed the crack. You could eat it but flavour will be very very mild.

Longer term for humidity control, there are many ideas tricks and traps in the STANDARD METHODS - Aging Cheese and EQUIPMENT - Aging Cheese, Caves Boards. For aged cheeses temp and humidity are the biggest initial problems.

Thanks for the great reply!

I see you used a cooler for the 'mini cave'.  Is that a bowl of water under the cheese?  I have LOTS of coolers so could do this right away!

Also, it looks like you used an ice pack to keep it cool -- how often did you change?

Thanks again!
Erik

[Cheese Head]

Welcome, when I initially used that cooler box I had to change the plastic freezer blocks about 2X per day, no water bowl as the blocks sweated as they melted, like cold beer bottle sweats, at least it did for me here in high humidity Houston. The consequence was that my RH was often at 100% so when I changed the blocks I also had to wipe out puddles of water.

The cooler was a better solution than household fridge (which normally cannot go warm enough for optimal aging) for temperature but not great for humidity control or temp control as cycled during the day plus labor intensive. Over time I found it to be a PITB thus with time I migrated to a separate fridge for my "cave" and bought an external thermostat.

Good luck healing your crack!

[zenith1]

Hi OlJarhead- it looked like a very good first effort to me. The problem with the splitting is a common one to overcome. You can place it in a sealed Tupperware(or similar)container to help control the humidity. Typically the refrigerator drawer will not hold enough humidity. It needs to be around 85%. You could try drying the cheese until you get a nice dry rind and then waxing or vacuum bagging it. Doing it in this manner then you will not have to deal with the humidity problem. The other issue is the temperature of the drawer that you are storing the cheese in. Typically the drawers will be way to cold-in the high 30's to middle 40's. You probably want to store and age your cheese  around 50-55 degrees. So you have some problem solving to do-nothing a OlJarhead will have an issue with.

[MrsKK]

Welcome to the CheeseForum and congrats on making cheese!

I just have a question - in the pictures, it looks to me as though the bottom is very wet and the top is very dry.  Have you been turning the cheese every day?  If not, that could be a part of the problem as well.

[OlJarhead]

Welcome to the CheeseForum and congrats on making cheese!

I just have a question - in the pictures, it looks to me as though the bottom is very wet and the top is very dry.  Have you been turning the cheese every day?  If not, that could be a part of the problem as well.

I turn it over each day but the top and bottom don't seem to be drying much and there is no rind.  Whereas the side is developing a rind.

I had a piece of cheesecloth over the top for a while because I read it was good to do that to keep dust off etc but I've removed it.

Also, I'm sitting the cheese on cheesecloth over paper towel -- should I do something else?

Thanks!

[OlJarhead]

I went down to our new Cheese Store in town and chatted with them for a bit today   I left with 2/3rds of a pound of Fiscalini Cheddar (holy cow is that good!) and this:

When Cheddar cracks you can wrap it in slightly moist cheesecloth to heal it while ripening.

Anyone heard of doing this?  I don't want to try it without first getting some feedback.
Thanks!

[OlJarhead]

I'm going to have to find a hydrometer but I find this seems to be a much better option.  Now I'm off to get a thermometer and a hydrometer and more ice packs

[OlJarhead]

I'm going to have to increase the amount of ice in the cooler as I'm finding the cooler temp (now that I have a thermometer for it) is still about 65 degrees.

On the other hand Jim at cheesemaking.com tells me that he ripens at 60-65 so maybe that's ok?

[MrsKK]

The cheese really needs to be above where the whey drains out - most people use cheesemats.  I use bamboo paper plate holders and put a washcloth underneath the plate holder, so that it absorbs the whey that is being expelled.

I do my initial drying phase in the cabinet when the temperatures in my basement are 60 degrees or lower.  If warmer than that, the initial drying is in my spare refrigerator.  I have cats and dogs and want to protect my young cheese from the fiends and their floating hair!

[OlJarhead]

Despite putting the cheese in a mini cave and even using a moist cheesecloth (as above) to try to slow down the drying on the sides my cheese has cracked even more

Maybe it's just too dry here?