Temperature Fluctuation During Aging

[morfeo]

Hi-

How bad for the cheese is a fluctuation of temperature between 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit in my cave during the day??? the temperature is changing from 48f to 51f.

[Boofer]

That shouldn't be a problem at all. What sort of temperature controller are you using? Johnson?

I rather wish mine were better than 48-56F. The cheese doesn't seem to notice the changes. 

-Boofer-

[morfeo]

Thank you Boofer for your answer.

I'm trying to make a cave using a cooler, I'm using a gallon of frozen water and replacing it every 12 hours. Right now I'm just monitoring the temperature 3 times a day to see if I can use it for age my cheese.
I have a wine fridge but the cheeses are sharing the place with my wine, and the fridge is to new and  has a strong plastic smell and I can use it just for the waxed cheese. I tried to age a manchego with no wax there and ends up with a weird smell like cheese with plastic, more plastic than cheese.

[Boofer]

This time of year is very forgiving for cheeses, being cooler than later in the year. I know some folks here use coolers just like you're doing, using blue ice packets and swapping them out every so often.

Wow, plastic smell, huh? I might think about finding something else that wasn't so overpowering, aiming for a more neutral odor.

-Boofer-

[morfeo]

Yep, this time of the year is perfect (here in Miami) on the summer is usually 90f with a rh of 80-90 that makes it even worse, that's why I want to keep monitoring the temperature as the weather gets warmer, and have the humidity on a stable number. In the mind time I'm going to keep using the wine fridge for the waxed cheeses so they don't get any weird smell.

[morfeo]

Hi everyone-
This are my notes from the cooler's temperature.

Sunday
8:30pm.     48f

Monday
6:12am.     51f change of gallon
6:05pm.     51f change of galon
8:30pm.     48f

Tuesday
6:27am.     50f change of gallon
6:00pm.     51f change of gallon
7:00pm.     40f
10:40pm.    50f

Wednesday

6:10am.     50f change of gallon
7:10pm.      52f change of gallon
8:15pm.     43f

Thursday

6:10am     51f change of gallon

As you can see the temperatures drops like 10 degrees on the first two hours after changing the gallon and then it goes back to normal and stayed like that for 12 hours.

My question is if that change of temperature for those two hours are bad for the cheese or because is just for about two hours is not that bad.
And what are the consequences of aging the cheese under those daily changes.

[morfeo]

Here is and update on the cooler temperature.

I found the way to prevent the 10 degrees fluctuation when I change the gallon, all I'm doing is to get the gallon out of the freezer 15 to 30 minutes before the change that way the gallon gets a layer of water between the plastic and the ice, dropping the external temperature a little.
Now the temperature change between 49f to 52f on a 12 hours change.

Now what I need is to find a way to raise the RH up to 80% to 85% (right now is at 60%).

I think the cooler is a good substituted for those that don't have space or money for an extra fringe in their house, or just want to start the hobby without spending to much at the beginning.