Camembert - Slip Skin & High Moisture?

[boothrf]

Hi all,

I have problems with my most recent Cams. I have attached photos of my best and worst Cams and you can see the significant difference. The good cams were photographed at 4 weeks, the bad cams at 2.5 weeks.  I have also added a table showing the different recipes for each. Both cams were matured in the same containers, closed plastic tubs with racks.
During maturation the bad cams seeemd to shrink away from the rind. When I wrapped them, the skin split as it was "too big" for the paste. I haven't cut any open yet to see how they are developing. The rind still smells sweet, no ammoniation yet. The mould growth was very good and got quite thick.
My concluson is that I have suffered "slip skin". I think the cause was probably the slightly higher maturation temp and maybe the extra time? Are there any other potentail causes? Perhaps the syneresis time was too short also?
Both recipes have resulted in high moisture cheeses, as indicated by the high yield. Despite that, my good cams have easily lasted 8 weeks. I used a smaller cut size on the second cams to try to reduce this moisture level, but it did not appear to have a big impact, but maybe that was because the syneresis time was much shorter?

Any suggestions on fixing the problem with the rind and also reducing the moistue would be much appreciated.       

[mtncheesemaker]

Hi Bob;
I think you are correct in assuming that you have a case of slip skin in your second batch. There are a few reasons for this, mostly moisture in my experience. (Curious why you changed your process when the first one worked so well?)
There are some really good discussions about the finer points of making camemberts on the forum.
What really helped me was to drain them on an elevated rack so that they don't sit in the whey, and to wipe up any accumulating moisture from their ripening containers. I've also quit wrapping them until they are ripe and ready to go into my regular refrigerator for consumption.
It took me a few tries to perfect this cheese but well worth the effort.
Pam

[boothrf]

Thanks Pam, appreciate your comments and tips. I did notice a bit more moisture in my maturing containers, even thought they were elevated well above any draining whey. I really think the higher mat temperatures were a major cause, and this would have led to the excess moisture in the containers as well.

The reason for trying the different tecnique was simply my desire to experiment and learn! I really wanted to try a meso starter so used a different recipe and thought I would try to improve the mould growth by using a higher mat temperature. I guess learning how to make cheese means learing as much from my failures as from my successes!!

Back to basics for my next attempt, using the same recipe as the first cheese and watching the maturation stage very closely.

Thanks

[mtncheesemaker]

FWIW, I use the meso starter MM100 for my cams now, with consistent results.

[boothrf]

Thanks for the feedback Pam