> I was draining them at 9C in the ripening fridge
That's the problem. You must drain lactics at room temp. If they are cold, they will take *forever* to drain. They won't go off (in a reasonable time). Especially once you salt it, the pH is quite low and the salt is high enough that only a few things will actively grow and you mostly *want* them to grow. Especially with a Langres, you want the geotrichum growing well and it performs much better at higher temps. Trust that it will outcompete virtually everything else.
ah.. rookie error! I'll take them out then!
