Dosing B. Linen wash

[Mina]

Hello
Hope everyone is safe and healthy....and making cheese!
I've got a Taleggio (from Caldwell's book) aging right now and i'm about to start the B. Linen washings.  For the life of me, I can't seem to locate a simple linen wash guideline.
I'm not sure how much of the b. linen to add to a 3% brine.  I've searched the web and some just say 1/16 tsp in a 3% brine, but not indicate how MUCH brine it's being diluted into.
Is there some hard and fast rule?
Thanks so much!!!

[Lancer99]

Mina,
It's all very confusing.  Cheesemaking.com suggests basically a 3% brine with 1/16 tsp. B. linens per cup.  Caldwell suggests a much lower salt percentage, but doesn't say how much B. linens to use.

It probably doesn't matter, much.  Commercial cheesemakers use it (in spray form) at much lower concentrations than home cheesemakers.  Keep in mind that, under good conditions, bacteria reproduce every 20 minutes.  So although there's probably an ideal initial concentration, environmental conditions are probably far more important.

Don' t let the rind dry out!

Just my 2 cents,
-L

[Mina]

Thanks L
Think I'll go with cheesemaking.com suggestion. Don't need a gallon of this stuff. The washing starts tomorrow so I'll get it started today.
Thanks for the tip on the rind.  I was worried that it might be too wet.  It's tacky and smearable right now.  Getting a little orange tinge to it on its own.
So exciting!

[mikekchar]

You don't even need b. linens.  It will show up anyway.  There is not a place in the world that contains people where it doesn't exist.  Adding it to the wash just speeds up the process (potentially).  If you have some around, I would also add a tiny amount of geotrichum to the wash as well in order to make sure that the pH of the rind is high enough for the b. linens to take over.  But again, it will show up by itself (or some other yeast will) anyway.  It just speeds the process.  Honestly, I'm not sure if there is a point to only using b. linens in the wash since it won't grow until the yeast is fully colonised.  Quite a few people recommend PLA (which is a mixture of b. linens, geotrichum and I think another yeast which I forget).

All that to say that, whatever you do, it will definitely work out as long as you wash it regularly.  Just be a bit careful not to let the b. linens run away.  Once the rind has the color you want (for a taleggio I would let it get fairly orange red and *just* until is starts to feel a bit tacky) then finish aging it in the normal fridge.  It may be my local b. linens, but it can rot out a cheese in a blink of an eye if you aren't careful.

[Lancer99]

Mike is absolutely right -- there is B. linens everywhere.  Otherwise people wouldn't get stinky feet.

But, given that there are different strains of B. linens with different colors and (presumably) different ripening characteristics, I think it's worth adding it to your make or spraying your cheese.  That way the particular strain you use should get a head start, and you'll be less at the mercy of whatever wild strains you happen to have floating around.

For example, with the strain I use (FR22), I've never had a problem with a cheese rotting out quickly, although maybe I've just been lucky.

Maybe there isn't that much of a difference between the different strains, but there are enough random variables in cheesemaking that I prefer to control the ones I can

L

[Mina]

Thanks
There is a dose in the make.  And I do see some color change on its own.  But I've completely seperated the taleggio from my main cheese fridge/cave and put it in its own smaller fridge that has not been used for cheese.  Poor homebrew had to be sadly evicted.
Since its my first attempt at this type of cheese I don't really want to leave anything to chance.
Don't even know what the cheese is supposed to taste like haha.  So for me as long as I don't spit out it'll be a success haha.