CheeseForum.org ยป Forum

GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => EQUIPMENT - Aging Cheese, Everything Except Caves => Topic started by: Shalloy on February 25, 2013, 06:58:38 AM

Title: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on February 25, 2013, 06:58:38 AM
Well after 30 days it was time to scrape the mould off my blues. A few concerns I have though are..

1. if I keep doing this every 20-30 days for 90 days my cheese will end up being half their thickness as there doesnt seem to be a way to not help scraping a layer of cheese with the mould?

2. Ive had these at 10C and 95% humidity and they feel very sticky and tacky to touch. They are the consistency of Philadelphia spreadable cream cheese. Is this okay and are they supposed to feel like this or is my humidity up a bit too high.

3.  How do they look to your cheese gurus??

Thanks heaps.

Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Schnecken Slayer on February 25, 2013, 09:03:03 AM
They look good and have blued up nicely. However, as you said, they look a little wet.
I'm afraid I will have to defer to someone more experienced to comment on what you should do.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: BobE102330 on February 25, 2013, 12:32:56 PM
Not a guru, but I only scrape off excessive mold with no attempt to get the cheese as clean as yours. 
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Tomer1 on February 25, 2013, 05:15:54 PM
Humidity is too high, once blue has estabilished (first few days) you can and should reduce RH to 85-88%, otherwise linnens and other surface yeast can grow. espacially if doing a rindless blue. (where blue is inhibited on the surface).

Id say let them dry off and get the humidity down.   The scaping should not reduce the rind back to a white form but remove some of the yellow slime other, as you said - you could be left with very little cheese :)
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on February 25, 2013, 07:54:24 PM
Thanks fro the replies.
I didnt have any yellow slime on my blues at all, just a thick coating of the blue mould and some white spots of mould that I would just wipe off every week or so.

I will take the wet paper towel out of the container and crack the lid and see if I can get my humidty down to 85-88%.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on February 28, 2013, 08:11:27 PM
Im struggling to get the humidty down on these even with the lid cracked open. Ive pulled them out of the cave and let them dry on the bench for an hour but they are still wet and tacky to touch.

Any other suggestions for how I can get these to dry out a bit? I cant leave the lid open in my cheese cave because Im also trying to bring down the humidity on the cams I have in there and Im concerned with both maturation boxes in the same fridge, with the lids open, I will end up cross contamanating them.

Can I leave them on the kitchen bench overnight to see if this helps?
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on March 01, 2013, 09:16:13 PM
Bump...Anyone??
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Schnecken Slayer on March 02, 2013, 01:16:42 AM
I have had blues and cams in the "cave" at the same time with their lids cracked open about 2 inches and didn't have a problem.
I made sure I handled the cams first then washed my hands with soap and vinegar before touching the blues.
Leaving them out shouldn't be an issue as long as the temperature isn't too high. (If you are getting similar weather to us it shouldn't be a problem)

Also, with my stilton, I had a B Linens hitch a ride and it made the ends a little wet/slimy.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on March 02, 2013, 02:11:08 AM
Thanks mate. Been under 30 the past few days with cool nights so I will put them out overnight and see if they dry out.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Schnecken Slayer on March 04, 2013, 08:53:15 AM
How are they coming on?
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on March 04, 2013, 07:41:33 PM
How are they coming on?

I left them out overnight and they are a lot drier. Still a bi tacky to touch but not slippery and wet like they were. Ive kept them in the fridge with the lid on the maturation box completly open to see if they dry out further.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on March 18, 2013, 04:51:52 AM
Well these  blues are around 2 months old now. I had a calendar reminder set to scrape them today but they are still fairly clean on top after scraping the mould off about 30 days ago. No real blue mould has grown back on the surface yet, just a few patches here and there. They seem a lot drier but my concern is they are very, slimy, slippery but also sticky to touch. (if that makes sense)

Is this how they should be?
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Schnecken Slayer on March 18, 2013, 05:17:53 AM
Do they have an orange tint? If so it could be that B Linens has moved in.
If it is then it's not a real issue, as you can either wash it off or leave it.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on March 18, 2013, 05:33:00 AM
No range tint, just still white in colour.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Tiarella on March 18, 2013, 11:18:24 AM
No range tint, just still white in colour.

That could be Geo.  Geo often makes a slimy and tacky feel on the surface.  I don't have blues experience so don't have answers for you.  I DO think your thread title would be a good name for a song in the blues style.  :D
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on March 26, 2013, 04:03:06 AM
So what should I be doing with this slimy but sticky coating? My instructions say to scrape the blue mould from the surface every 20-30 days. But after I scraped the mould off when I hit the fist 30 days I haven't had any further mould grow on the surface, except a few small patches and the cheese is now around 70 days old.

Should I be washing the slimyness off with a vinegar and salt soluton?
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Schnecken Slayer on March 26, 2013, 05:22:17 AM
As Tiarella said, it is probably Geo which is keeping the other moulds at bay and isn't a problem.
You could try washing/wiping it with a salt & vinegar solution but this may not be necessary.

How much longer is it going to be aged?
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on March 26, 2013, 11:17:07 AM
Well the recipe said a total of 90 days before wrapping so they have another month.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Al Lewis on March 26, 2013, 02:08:53 PM
Not sure which recipe you are using but I never scrape the mold off of my stiltons.  They form an incredible hard crust that protects the interior.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: hoeklijn on March 26, 2013, 03:54:56 PM
What recipe did you use, or, what kind of blue is it supposed to become? A Fourme d' Ambert does have a different body than a Stilton-like.
I've got a Stilton-like in the cave at the moment and every evening it's out of the cave for about half an hour. Then I rub the rind with a clean cheesecloth and twice a week I clean the rind with a brine solution.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: H-K-J on March 26, 2013, 05:30:07 PM
I have just let my Stilton go scary the rind has always dried out after a couple of weeks, unless I have the RH to high
The only scraping I do is where I seal the rind after the first 5 days of flipping
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on March 27, 2013, 08:59:32 PM
its the recipe that came with my mad millie cheese kit. It aid after 30 days to scrape the mould of the surface which I did and it took it back to a white as in the photos futher back in my posts.  It then says to scrape the moul every 20-30 days but there is no surface mould any more.

So it would be ok for me and beneficial to give these a wipe in brine to remove the stickyness?
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: H-K-J on March 27, 2013, 10:23:46 PM
I have Ricki Carroll's book, I noticed in almost all of her blue recipe's she say's to scrape after X amount of day's (or months) I have never done that on mine (http://cocker-spanial-hair-in-my-food.blogspot.com/2012/08/5-gallon-stilton-style-blue-cheese-8412.html) so I thought it was kind of odd, I remembered she posted a Stilton recipe (http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/26-Stilton.html) on her site, she doesn't say to scrape the cheese at any time.
as far as salting yours, not ever doing this either, yet they do on other blues, it may help or it may draw out more moisture from the interior, not sure about that, if your RH is to high (95% +) you might want to bring that down to 85 or 90% to help dry the rind out some what.
I have only been playin with these for about a year, so maybe someone who has salted the rind might be able to help you more in the direction you need to be going.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Al Lewis on March 27, 2013, 11:59:01 PM
I use the recipe from her site for my Stiltons and they come out great.  Quit scraping the good stuff off of the outside or you won't have any cheese left.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on March 28, 2013, 04:13:46 AM
Ive kept the lid open in my maturation container for about a month now on and off to try and reduce the humidty. My hygro packed up but before that the humidty was down around 85%.

A couple of times my temp controller relay has stuck and the fridge got down to -5C but Ive fixed that and it didnt seem to have a detrimental effect on the cheese. I will admit I was concerned about how much cheese I lost from the surface the first time I scraped them and was reluctant to have to do it a second and a third time when due.

So I will leave them alone for now and see how they are in another months time when they are due to be wrapped and dropped to 3C.

thanks.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Shalloy on April 05, 2013, 10:04:44 AM
I ended up washing the cheese in a salty water solution to remove the slime. I also moved them from my camping fridge to a normal fridge and even with the lid on the container closed and a wet cloth in the bottom the best I can get the humidity up to is 74%. I struggled to keep it below 90% in my camping fridge and Im guessing its because the new fridge has a fan which blows cold air in from the freezer. (even though the lid is filly closed on the maturation box.)

Will 74% be humid enough for these blues?
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Schnecken Slayer on April 06, 2013, 09:59:17 PM
In the cooler fridge they will take a lot longer to fully mature and the low humidity may cause them to dry out a bit too much.
Title: Re: Scraped my blues
Post by: Tiarella on April 06, 2013, 10:55:13 PM
I use the recipe from her site for my Stiltons and they come out great.  Quit scraping the good stuff off of the outside or you won't have any cheese left.

Al, I love the ID paper in your photo.  It reminds me of cataloging numbers next to an archaeological find!  And the cheese looks like it was dug up somewhere with that lovely antique look!   :D