Weighing cheese to gauge moisture loss?

[Shalloy]

Well after 5 years of making my 2nd lot of camembert Im giving it another go. The 1st lot was a failure and the second came out ok I suppose. (I think we ate it all..lol)

Anyway I have removed the cheese from the molds and salted them and they have been sitting in the cheese box on the kitchen bench covered with paper towel and the lid off for about 27 hours.

When I get home tonight I was going to move them to the cheese fridge and remove the paper towel and put the lid on slightly. However they do seem fairly wet and I was considering perhaps keeping them in the garage with the lid off the box for a few more days.

Ambients here are around 13-15C max all week dropping down to 2-5C at night.

So is there a way I can record the weight of the cheese now and keep recording the weights each day and then when I reach a certain % loss I can start to keep the box covered?

[mikekchar]

You can put the box of cheeses on a scale and then lift up one of the cheeses.  The difference in weight is the weight of the cheese.  That's how I normally do it.

As for moisture level, it's good to make sure the cheese is not swimming in whey (try to keep the rind *fairly* dry to the touch, but you don't want to dry out the rind either.  Normally I just pat dry the cheeses when I turn them every day.  It only takes a couple of days before they dry out enough that I don't have to do anything any more.

[Shalloy]

Thanks for that Mikekchar. Last time I found it was hard to tell what was too wet and what was too dry.
My first lot of cams ended up being too dry. Then my second lot a few years later I think were too wet.

At the moment they are sitting in the garage with the lid slightly off the box and the cheese feels slightly greasy to touch when I turn them over.

When you touch them with your finger should your finger show visible moisture on it? Would that mean they are too wet still?

When you say dont have to do anything any more. Do you mean you dont pat them dry?

Also is there a weight loss % to aim for if Im weighing them that tells me when theyve lost enough weight?' Ive weighed them all individually but not sure how much weight they should lose to tell me they are dry enough?

thanks again.

I had no PC so used a morge. Should I also make another one and spray onto the outside of these cams?

[mikekchar]

Greasy or tacky is fine at the start.  That's just the yeast getting started.  After that you should see it bloom in a couple of days.  Too wet is when the it looks shiny from whey sitting on the cheese.  Once the cheese blooms, the rind will dry by itself.  It's not so much that the cheese is losing moisture (it's really not -- I've measured once or twice and only seen a few grams of difference in the first week or so).  It's more the humidity around the cheese.   Once the mold blooms, it will consume water.

When you say that you are using a morge, what are you putting in it?  A morge is brine where you add mold/bacteria to wash or spray onto your cheese.  If you aren't adding anything, then it's just a brine.  For washed rind cheeses, you can make a morge by starting with brine and washing existing cheeses.  The bacteria will end up in the brine, making a morge.  Are you using another bloomy rind cheese to start you off?  I would not use a morge on a bloomy rind, personally.  Instead, just scrape some of the mold off of an existing cheese into your milk.  But, if you didn't do that, then making a morge and spraying it on should work OK.  I think you only need to spray it once (but I've never done it).

[Shalloy]

Tonight I turned them over and the tops were tacky but the bottoms were wet. I patted them dry, wiped out the container which had around 3-4 teaspoons of water in the bottom and put the cheese back in the container. The lid is on apart for an inch gap on one side.

To make the morge I brought some camembert and scraped off the outside into a cup. Add some distilled water and mashed it up a bit. Then poured this into my milk as it was heating up. I didn't have any penicllium candidum so did this instead.

Ive new received some PC via the mail. Can/should I put some of this into a more as per th wiki instructions and spray this onto the surface or is what I put in the milk enough to get things started?

[mikekchar]

Looking good so far.  That process should work well.  I've done similarly in the past.

[Shalloy]

So I should spray the sides with the dried PC?

[mikekchar]

No.  I wouldn't.  It should bloom fairly soon (in fact, I thought it looked like it was blooming already in your pics, but it's hard to tell).

[Shalloy]

Ok no worries Ill leave them be.

Last night I closed up the box as they didnt seem as moist as they were the last few days. This morning the box had this fine mist all over it which Im assuming is about right.
But I wasnt 100% certain so Ive cracked the lid just a smidge.

[mikekchar]

Yep.  That's perfect, I think.  Make sure to wipe out any condensation every day, or it will get too wet.

[Shalloy]

No worries will do.  I forgot to reply to your comment before but thats not PC i think its just the lighting.

[Shalloy]

So whats the approximate time that I should start seeing the PC bloom?  This cheese was made on Sunday.

[mikekchar]

If you don't start seeing it in the next couple of days, then you can try spraying it (or you can just spray it now if you want).

[Shalloy]

I think it might be just starting to appear on the surface now. Ill see how it looks over the next few days.

[Shalloy]

Ive got Pc growing now but also have dark patch of mould. Should I wipe it off with a cloth?