Another vacuum sealing question

Started by LarMoeCur, April 16, 2018, 03:25:07 PM

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LarMoeCur

I've run numerous searches and cannot find a definitive answer. 

I've made three 2# hard cheeses.  I've dried them for 3-5 days depending on how they felt.  I'm not a rind ran so I'm trying to minimize the rind size.  I vacuum bagged them and two of them had just a very small amount of liquid in the bag.  When I say very small, literally just a few drops around where the bag bunches up around the wheel of cheese. 

My question is:  How much liquid is too much?  Should there be no liquid at all?  or Will a few drops (about .5 ml or less) affect the cheese?

5ittingduck

Just a little is not too much of a problem.
More will accumulate slowly though, and that is not so good.
I vac pac almost all my cheeses, and get best results if I dry for a fortnight before packing.

LarMoeCur

Thanks Duck!  I'll keep watching them.  If I see anymore mosture.  I'll pull them out of the bags and give them another week before resealing.

I'm thinking for the next ones.  I'll dry them for 3-5 days at 75F room temp.  Then 12 or so days in the cave 52F before bagging. 

GortKlaatu

I agree, they need to be drier.  Don't worry about the rind getting too thick, once they are vac'd the rind will remain soft.  However, if there is whey accumulation, you cheese will continue to acidify during the aging and it will not taste good.



Somewhere, some long time ago, milk decided to reach toward immortality... and to call itself cheese.

Thewitt

The nice thing about vac packing is you can easily watch the moisture level and if you need to, you can re-bag very easily.

LarMoeCur

Thank you for all the help.   Just to be safe, I'm going to pull them out and dry them for about a week in the cave then rebag them.