Uneven bloomy rind growth

[Kwright92]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any ideas as to why my Crottin de Chavignol won't grow mold on one end of the cheese? Ive made this recipe 3 times now and it's an issue every time. I salt both sides the same and flip them every day in the molds, during drying, and during aging. Please help!

[Al Lewis]

Pictures!  We must have pictures.  Does sound strange though! :o

[awakephd]

And welcome to the forum! We'll try to help you sort it out, but as Al says, pictures will help.

[Gregore]

how do you salt , ?
how many days did you flip in mold?
how many days out side of the mold were they flipped ?
how old are they now ?
did all sides of the cheese before salting feel the same?
are they aged in a plastic box or just in the cheese fridge ?
and last what temp?

[Kwright92]

Thank you for the warm welcome!   :)

The first 3 pictures are from a 3 week old batch. You can see the geo rind has developed on one end, but it abruptly stops towards the other end and the other end of the cheese is bald. The next 2 pictures are from a 1 week old batch. There is beginning mold growth all over the cheese except for one end. The last picture is my ripening setup. I age this in a wine fridge at 52f.

I follow this recipe http://www.cheesemaking.com/Crottin.html and salt/flip just as this recipe directs. All sides feel and look the same after drying before they go in the aging area.  Thank you for offering to help me out!

[Al Lewis]

One end appears wet.

[Kwright92]

I thought of that as well, but there is no free moisture on the moldless end and it gets the same amount of open-air time during drying as the other end and it grows just fine

[Gregore]

First get rid of the wooden sushi roller  if your going to use wood then use  something thicker that can soak up more of the moisture the cheese gives off ,  or you have nothing else  put paper towels under the roller  I suspect that the sushi roller is keeping the cheese wetter than it likes .

Another possibility though unlikely because you mention it has happened more than once is that some how one side is getting more salt

I also think you can get rid of the the bowl of water if you have a lid for that container , this will also allow you to use a smaller container for those cheeses  , and thus more room for cheeses in the cave .

[Gregore]

It also appears you have 2 new cheeses in with 2 aged cheeses ??. I would seperate them if at all possible  for the first week or 2 .  after that they are closer in moisture levels.

[Kwright92]

It also appears you have 2 new cheeses in with 2 aged cheeses ??. I would seperate them if at all possible  for the first week or 2 .  after that they are closer in moisture levels.

They are the same age. 2 of them were undrained curds ladled directly into the molds and the other two were pre-drained. It's my little experiment :) thank you for your helpful advice!

[Gregore]

Okay so I just read through that recipe and what I suggest to you next make is to add all the salt at once instead of salting and flippingand waiting. Take the cheese out of the mold and sprinkle the salt on top and bottoms and some on the sides also then place back into mold and finish as per recipe .

I have a  gut feeling that one side of your cheese  is getting too much salt . You might even be able to taste a difference in the 2 sides when it is time to eat.

[AnnDee]

The only time it sort of happen to me (my camemberts were not completely bald but had bald patches) was when I sanitised my mats with bleach and I forgot to rinse it with water after.

[Gregore]

That will do it if you use them soon after sanitizing ,
a day or so later will make no difference , bleach is very volatile and soon loses its ability to sanitize