First Brie... maybe.

[gstone]

So I decided to go ahead and jump in with a brie (as opposed to a cam, because I don't have the smaller hoops yet).

I followed the recipe in the wiki, along with a few tips here and there in the forum, and aside from a pretty quick floc time (5 min., probably too much rennet), all went well until a mechanical mishap:  I was nearly done ladling the curds into the hoop when I clumsily bumped it!  It didn't fall completely over, but it tilted enough to allow about a third to one half of the curd to escape from the bottom.  Of course my reflex to get the hoop upright asap smooshed a bunch of curd into the mat.

It took a bit of doing, but I managed to gently scrape up the escaped curds, get them back into the hoop and  exchange the mat for a fresh one. 

My chief concern is that with all that agitation, the curds lost a lot of form and structure. Is this going to effect the draining time, curing time, overall moisture of the finished cheese, or anything else I should be concerned about?

Another question:  is there a specific technique to flipping the hoop when its time to do the other side?  Slow and easy?  Quick and sharp?  It seems to me very likely that the cheese could easily flip lopsided as it falls to the other end of the hoop and be demolished.

[boothrf]

NW Fromager,
I would not be too worried about your curds. These cheeses need to drain for around 20 hours. During the first 6 hours, the curd gently compresses and takes the shape of the mould, squeezing out any air gaps and whey as it settles. As you had your incident just after hooping, it should have no impact on the final shape of the cheese. Yes, you might have lost a little more moisture and the damaged curd might release a bit more whey, but as it was only one third of the curd you should not notice any difference in the final cheese. Just make sure you keep flipping it regularly for the next few hours to ensure the shape is even. By the way, I use hoops with a base so that the chance of loosing curd by misadventure is at least halved (only one end is open).

Now to the flipping.....firstly you should read the Wiki article about turning under the "Making" heading on the forum website.There are some good tips there. Turning Bries is difficult due to their wide flat shape and it is very easy to have them fold back onto themselves. That is the main reason I prefer to use camembert hoops as they are really easy to turn. If you have a follower it can help when turning.

Good luck and keep trying. Even if they end up mis-shapen, they will usually flatten out reasonably well and mature OK.

Bob

[gstone]

Thanks, Bob.  I just did my second flip, and all seems well!

[boothrf]

Great. Post us some pictures when you get a chance!

[gstone]

Oh, by the way, I used a follower as you suggested and it worked beautifully.  Have a cheese!

[boothrf]

Thanks! 

[gstone]

So, I cut into my brie last week, at 5 weeks of age.

It looked great, smelled great and felt right. The rind formed well-enough, except a few spots where I think the humidity may have been too low and dried out the edges. Since we were having guests I figure it would be a good time to try it out.

I cut a bit ahead of time to avoid any unpleasant surprises, and I'm glad I did.  While the paste smells and tastes fabulous, I think it may have needed another week or two of ripening.  As you can see from the photos, although the outer paste had a good start, the core is somewhat dry and flaky.  Am I right in thinking this just needed more time, or do I maybe need to adjust my make?

A further question: will it continue to ripen, albeit slowly, in the regular fridge?  If I keep it at normal ripening temp all the wonderful goo will run out (these pics were taken after it had been refrigerated).  Suggestions?

(that's a gouda in the background of the first pic, btw)

[iratherfly]

Hmmm... it may continue and age but I think your slip skin may have been a cause for not having it ripened all the way. By week 5 it should definitely look like a uniform paste (unless you had a super dry curd).  I can't help but notice that you have lots of little eyes (holes) and this fluffy texture. Unless I see incorrectly this looks like a common defect that could be caused by yeast contamination (bakes in the kitchen while making or drying the cheese? a bread crumb fell into the pot and you didn't notice?) This isn't harmful but it will not give you a proper brie and in some cases may cause all kinds of other molds to grow on it.

The second thing that it could be is a coliform contamination. If you kept a clean kitchen and clean hands, didn't sneeze or cough at the milk, sanitized all your equipment, -and used fresh pasteurized milk than it's probably not that.

The third cause may be related to cheap supermarket milk. Often these animals are fed gassy food (silage, grain) and they develop gas bloating in your cheese. The lack of proper maturation may have a lot to do with their feed being laced with antibiotics (very common practice in the US). These antibiotics resist the lactic bacteria.