How thick should I shoot for on the gooeyness under the rind? The gooey part is my favorite but the creamy chevre in the middle is a close second.
In my Valencay I look for a rather firm translucent layer under the rind rather than a gooeyness. The ash helps me to achieve this. I keep them cooler (43-43F) with a bit lower RH by venting the ripening box. Once brought to room temp the proteolyzed layer will be less firm than the rest if the pâté, but not at all fluid like a Camembert or Brie. Usually, in this style, the chèvre ball in the middle will retain a slight chalkiness.
I'm still tweaking the recipe, but I usually do my Pouligny Ste Pierres with a more fluid layer than Valencay. The Pouligny has no ash. Both of those cheeses are lactic coagulations. If I recall your recipe you used a rennet concentrated coagulation in this make. I don't know if that will have any impact on the gooeyness factor, but I'm curious to know. So far I've only used ash on lactic coagulated goat cheeses. I'm watching your cam post too. I plan to try ash on a rennet coagulated bloomie soon, time permitting.
As for ammonia, personally I can hardly tolerate much more than a hint when eating most cheeses. Heavy ammonia mid-ripening can be a sign that yoir cheese needs more air circulation. Using microcaves i run into that. Venting for circulation is a balancing act with maintaining RH. You're likely OK at this point, perhaps just a bit more air circulation will keep it in check. So long as it hasn't run rampant, airing the cheese before serving will allow the remaining ammonia to dissipate. In all but the worst cases I find ammonia to reside mostly in the rind. the rind can be removed before consuming, as a last resort of course.
Your progress on so far on this make looks stellar to me.