excessiive humidity in cheese cave long term effects?

[AnneDygert]

Hi guys,
wondering about effects of consistent too-high humidity in my cheese cave. I converted a stand up freezer to a cheese cave and no matter what I do the humidity always stays too high.  It always is around 90 or 95% rather than the 75% i was going for.  I have had the cheeses in there for around 4 months and no matter how much I wipe and turn the cheeses,  i have at this point (although i went through the whole rainbow!) mostly brown and white molds growing on the cheeses. (they are a leicester, fontina, manchego, parmesean and swiss cheese )  Wondering if this is ruining my final product or I should just stick with wiping and turning?

I needed the freezer again for beef so I have moved the cheeses to tubs where hopefully i will be able to moniter the humidity better. 


I assumed at some point the mold would run out of food and stop growing but that hasn't seemed to happen hence my concern.

thanks so much for any and all advice!!

 

[Andrew Marshallsay]

My guess is that you are probably not doing your cheeses too much damage as long as you have the moulds under some sort of control. You would probably get mould growing on your cheeses at any humidity, just different types.
At 90-95%, I'm a little surprised that you don't have B Linens taking over from the mould. I really wonder if your measurements of humidity are accurate as the normal functioning of a refrigeration unit tends to drive the humidity down.
In any case, I think that I would rather have humidity too high than too low. Too low tends to dry the cheese out too quickly and cause the rind to crack.

[scasnerkay]

I had a similar problem a few years ago, that is until the compressor died on the freezer!
It did help my situation to add some dehumidifier canisters to the freezer. Those had to be recharged frequently either in the microwave or the oven.

[AnneDygert]

thanks!  it is reassuring to hear.   im going to cut some open to see how they're doing since i have a couple that were only going to age for 4-5 months.  happy cheesemaking!