John,
The ingredients I used on this first batch of Camembert is as follows:
2 gallons of whole, store bought pasteurized milk
1/4 tsp. of Mesophilic A starter culture
1/8 tsp. of Penicillum Candidum
A pinch ( I know, very scientific) of Geotrichum Candidum
1/4 tsp. of liquid vegetable rennet
The curds did form very well and did shrink in the mold just as they should have, according to my recipe.
When removing them from the mold, they were still quite moist and they did continue to drain whey for the next couple of days. Once they stopped losing whey, they did turn into nice firm little wheels.
The bloom took about 10 days to fully form but it did cover the entire surface of the cheese.
Once the surface was completely covered, I wrapped them in dual sided cheese paper and let the first one age for two weeks.
As I said before, the cheese itself did taste really nice and was somewhat creamy with just a bit of a crumbly texture at the center. The totally liquified nature at the rind is what has me baffled.
I'm going to open the second wheel within the next day or two and I'll try to remember to snap a pic when I first cut it.
When I press on the cheese it feels pretty much the same as the other wheel (very soft at the outer rind and more firm toward the center) so I expect the same result.
I guess I should be happy that it did have a a good Camembert flavor and did resemble the photos I've seen on the web. I just have this little perfectionist thing going that makes me want to do better on future makes.
Thanks for the response and as I said, I'll try to put up a pic when I cut the next one (maybe this evening).
Happy New Year to everyone.
Dave