Blues like hockey pucks

[Shalloy]

After nearly four months I wrapped my blues today and they were hard like hockey pucks. I only wiped the surface of them about 4 weeks ago and they were fine, still soft and moist. My humidity has sat around 85-90% the whole time.

I set a calendar reminder to wrap them up on the 22nd May but I let them go a bit longer. Could this be my problem? I had moisture in the maturation box and it all looked good up until now. Should I bin them? Any chance they will soften up now they are wrapped or have they dried out too much?

[Boofer]

Is there any chance you could try to get a core sample? That might tell you a few things.

-Boofer-

[stratocasterdave]

What did you wrap them in?

[Shalloy]

I wrapped them in the perforated foil that came with my cheese kit. I cant get a core sample as they are only 1/2 an inch thick. I only have 3 of them. Unless I stick a knife in and pull it out and see what the inside is like.

[Schnecken Slayer]

I would sacrifice one and cut it in half to see what the story is. Cut a slice off and taste it.  O0

[Boofer]

Silly question...why are they so thin?

-Boofer-

[jwalker]

Silly question...why are they so thin?

-Boofer-

Yes , that seems awful thin , perhaps that is the reason they are so hard , just too thin to hold moisture.

Just a guess.

Cheers , Jim.

[Shalloy]

Well maybe not 1/2 an inch thick. Possibly more like 3/4 inch. Thats just the size they reduced to min the molds. They were slightly bigger but I lost a slight layer when I scraped of the mould.

It was only a small batch. I will sacrifice one and see how it looks.

Thanks.

[John@PC]

I've made some small blues but they've been at least >1" thick.  Also I get very impatient and pull the consumption trigger early.  I have a question for the oldies:  is there an optimum ht. x width ratio for blues?  I've seen tall and small, but since blues are the only cheese I know of that is pierced and also grows surface mold is there a good rule of thumb? 

[Schnecken Slayer]

The recipe at http://curd-nerd.com/soft-cheese-recipes/blue-cheese/ recommends that you "Stack the cheeses on top of each other and ripen the cheeses at 95% humidity at 10 degrees Celsius"

Maybe this would keep them moister?