Creating a right variety of yeasts, molds and other micro-flora.

[fabian]

Hi friends,
I'm pretty new making cheese. I work with raw milk and make hard cheeses. As "cheese cave" have a couple of fridges with Love thermostats and humidifiers controlled by timers. Meanwhile I'm building a building that plan to handle the temperature with Coolbot. Now the question. How can I create a right environment for a mosaic natural rind. I mean, is there any method to "cultivate" this "good" molds and such?
Thank you in advance for your help!
Fabian

[linuxboy]

There's many aspects of creating the right environment. One, it's about the cheese (mostly surface pH and aW). Two, it's about the conditions (temp, pH, oxygen exchange, and air movement).

So there are many methods to achieve what you want based on rind. What do you mean by mosaic rind? That refers to a few dozen different rind variations in my mind across 2-3 main categories. What is the target cheese style?

[fabian]

The kind of cheese I'm planning is like the one on the left of the pic. When I said mosaic I meant a mix of different varieties of molds (good ones).

[linuxboy]

that actually looks like a dominance of either verticillium or p candidum on top. Mold-wise, it's a limited selection; I don't even see that many species underneath.

Please post a standard DOP-inspired cheese you want to try to clone and we can go from there. If you start with a clone, it's easier than designing from scratch

[fabian]

DOP-inspires? igf? Please, I'm a newby!!!  :D

[linuxboy]

If you are cloning a cheese, it is often best to start with the process of a well-known cheese, like one made to a DOP standard (find the standards here or online). Beyond that, you can see what develops on the surface, or try to encourage the ambient growth of natural desirable molds.

[fabian]

Thank you! I'll write down the recipe in the morning.

[fabian]

This is a recipe that I created trying to make a "Italian" style cheese. I start with raw cow milk. I take it to 86 degrees and add meso and thermo cultures. Around 30 min later I add lipase. 30 mins later animal rennet and wait for 1 hour. I cook the curds until reach 108 degrees. I fill colanders, flip them twice every 15 mins and leave them overnight. In the morning I cover them with salt and put them in my "cave". 3 days later I brush the cheese to remove the salt and then I flip the cheeses every other day. In my first try no mold appear in the surface and the flavor was great.

[linuxboy]

OK, so what cheese rind style are you trying to imitate? I saw the pic, but what cheese is that?

[fabian]

It's a sheep cheese from Love Tree Farm that is aged in a concrete cave. Actually it doesn't need to be exactly like it, I just want to have some natural mold over the cheese and create a rustic looking (and flavorful) rind.

[linuxboy]

Then create the right conditions for that rind (95% RH, 50-52 F temp), and seed the rind of the new cheese with the rind you want. You can do this by using commercial products such as strains pf p candidum and premixed rind packets such as PLA, or make a slurry from the rind of a cheese you want and inoculate the young cheese with it.

[fabian]

Thank you!!! Where can I buy those premixed rind packets?

[linuxboy]

http://artisangeek.com/danisco-choozit-pla-aromatic-ripening-blend/

or other similar suppliers.

[fabian]

Thank you again, I love this forum.

[fabian]

I've got PLA and inoculate it on the "cave" (over the cheeses). Now, as you indicate, I'm setting the humidity at 95% and temp at 52 degrees F.
I'll keep it posted. Thanks!