Vacuum packing question

[alden]

Question for those who vacuum pack: After pressing a 6"/2lb wheel for five days, rinding it for another four days, I vacuumed packed it.  After three days in the vacuum pack, inspection reveals a few small drops of water on the plastic.  Is this a bad sign?  The wheel looks fine otherwise.

[paulabob]

It's normal for the moister cheeses.  I tend to inspect once a week and flip.  If there's too much moisture, I'll open and dry it out and repack.  My colbies just tend to assume the weird shape of the pack with little wrinkles, but taste fine.

[MacGruff]

Same here. Some weeping is pretty normal, especially early on. I do what Paulabob said: If I see some whey, I cut the cheese out of the vacuum pack, dry it out for a few hours, and repack.

[scasnerkay]

I usually wait a few weeks before vacuum packing. Even then, when I do seal the cheese, I try to stop the vacuum early, before full air removal, by pressing “seal”.
I do need to inspect that moisture is not collecting periodically, and then do the same drying and re-packing if moisture is found.
Sometimes I don’t catch the problem, and I find moisture when I want to use the cheese. In that situation, after drying I might scrape off the outer layer on the cheese because it tastes sour. Usually the body of the cheese is good regardless!

[alden]

scasnerkay, MacGruff, paulabob- Thank you all for your help.  I inspected a dozen vacuumed 6"/2 lb wheels today and found a few drops of moisture in most of them.  I left them as they were.  Another wheel had what I felt was a lot of water-whey in it.  I cut the corner open, drained the water-whey out, and re-vacuumed it.  In hindsight, and in keeping with the advice given me here-above, I suppose I should have removed that wheel and let it dry for a few days.  I will inspect the wheels again in a few days and if I find more than a few droplets of moisture in the vacuum bag, I will remove the wheel and let it rind a few more days.  Again, thank you.  I really appreciate the sharing of your knowledge.