Bitterly Disappointed

[Neil H]

So i cut my 2 month old blue yesterday

What a disappointment !

it wasnt that there was no mould, but it appears that the mould was dead....

instead of blue the mould was a brown.... but when i started it was blue all over?

Instead of having a lovely sharp bule tang it had a dull, for want of a better description, mould (but bad mould) taste

it left a horrid aftertaste

perhaps the only positive was the texture which was a nice paste, perhaps a little on the dried out side as the rind was thick ish ........

overall very dissapointed

i will try post pics but am having trouble downloadin them from the camera

a bit of history

was a basic blue cheese
innoculated with PR
was homogonized and pasterized milk, shop bought

left it to age in a room in a bucket for about 1 month at temp around 13 degs, turned regularly
then it went into a cave at about 12 degs
there is a pan with salt water to maintain humiodity


any help suggestions comments of questions most welcome

[Aris]

That happened to me before using a store bought PR culture. There was veining all throughout the cheese but the taste was really bad, no blue mold flavor that you associate with a blue cheese. I think the reason for that with my cheese is bad milk or maybe the cheese wasn't acidic enough when i aged it.

[Neil H]

Unfortunately this was store bought PR........

Forgot to mention this was my first real cheese so extra disappointment

[Aris]

Its ok, thats just part of the learning process of cheese making. Dont give up, someday you will make cheese that taste as good as the commercial ones or even better. I think it is also possible the cheese got over ripened? Too much blue mold growth? How many litres did you use in this batch?

[Neil H]

I will definately not give up

the batch was made with 4L of milk - so about a gallon

[Neil H]

Pics as promissed

[Tomer1]

Did you press it ?   It looks a bit dense.

[Neil H]

nope no pressing at all

[Boofer]

Sorry to hear (& see) about your blue effort. Looks like it has a good deal of blue in it...at the top. Did you flip it? What sort of piercing schedule did you follow? For that matter, what recipe did you follow?

Makes me somewhat fearful of what I might find when I cut mine open.    Next week will be 60 days.

Try to identify where it may have run off-course, apply some correction, and try again. No worries. 

-Boofer-

[Aris]

The mold looks dark green which is good but the rind is so thick with mold making it ammoniated. Maybe the bad flavor your referring to is ammonia? Mine also had a thick green mold like yours and it was very ammoniated.