Camembert - Runny Paste @ 13 Days, Causes & Recommendations?

[george13]

One of my camembert rounds suffered a small tear on the skin and liquid cheese began to run out of it.  This cheese was made on Oct 23 (13 days ago) I used geo and pencad when innoculating, and lightly sprayed the surface when placing in my cave.  Will this liquid solidify with time, have I done something wrong?  Is it normal to be so liquidy at this stage? Any help would be appreciated.

[boothrf]

Hi george13,

That's far too early to have liquid cheese.    I would drop the storage temperature down to less than 10C (50F) now to try to arrest it. The cause is most likely high moisture in the cheese and high maturation temperature combining to rapidly ripen the cheese just under the rind.

What is your storage temperature, are they wrapped, and how are the other cheeses looking and feeling?

[george13]

I am at around 50F but I placed them in enclosed tubs so as to increase the humidity, perhaps I should have left them at the regular humidity in the fridge which is around 88%.  If I were to drop the temp and humidity now, would that change anythig, or is this cheese more or less gone?

[boothrf]

george13,

Placing them in the enclosed tubs is fine and the humidity is fine. I suspect the problem is high moisture in the cheese. Turning the temp down, even just a few degrees will slow down the maturation and should save the cheese, at least in the short term. Make sure they are not sitting in any moisture.

Just keep a close eye on them, feel how soft they are getting and eat them before they get too ammoniated.

Can you post any photos?

[george13]

Unfortunatelly the camera is down, but I will definatelly implement your advice.
Thank you

[simoncnx]

Definately too wet.  The reason could be many things

Not enough rennet  doesnt set well
not cut small enough to allow whey to exit the curds
not leaving in moulds long enough or turning enough
too much humidity in cave.

I have had all of the above, just work through them 1 by 1
because i use a drinks cooler as a cave, the humidity is quite high.  Having let the curds drain overnight and turning 5 times i salt them and place on racks uncovered.  I then select 1 cheese and weigh it with digital scales.  every day i check the weight of the same cheese until it loses 10% of its weight  (about 5 days) and then cover until fully bloomed when i wrap.  This works for5 me

[george13]

I will definatelly try all options one by one so as to perfect this cheese. Thanks