Doing a Brie, the Right Way?

[Al Lewis]

LB my cave is 56 F with 85-90% RH.  This cheese is also moister.  The recipe I used originally called for the cheese to sit out at room temperature for several days until the surface dried.  The one I used this time does not.

[Al Lewis]

Well here it is day 4 and the pretty white fuzzys are starting to show up.

[Al Lewis]

Quite a nice little fur coat now.  Had to sit them on the cheese paper to keep the mold from clinging to the mat.  You can see where it stuck on the back ones. I pet them every day!!

[H-K-J]

That looks great Al

[Al Lewis]

Thanks H-K-J!!  Now if it will just keep it up and the little fuzzys will do their thing to the insides. 

[AndreasMergner]

Al, when are you going to put them in the fridge for the final ripening?

[Al Lewis]

Not for a while.  They are less than a week old right now.  I'll have to check the recipe again when I get home.

[AndreasMergner]

Mind you, I'm doing Cams, but mine says 2 weeks or when fully bloomed.  I guess I thought yours was older since it looks just about fully bloomed to my inexperienced eyes across the ether.  It helps with ripening the entire thickness of the cheese.  https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,9967.msg73801.html#msg73801

[Al Lewis]

Alright Andreas, the recipe calls for wrapping after about 12 days and returning to the aging area, not the fridge.  It says within a week it will begin softening and will be ready to eat at 4 to 5 weeks.

[Al Lewis]

Just a quick update.  They're still furry but not so fluffy.

[Al Lewis]

Alright, day twelve was Sunday so I wrapped these in cheese paper and put them back into the cave.  I guess we'll see if they worked next week. 

[shotski]

Can't wait to hear how they turned out. Good luck

[Al Lewis]

They're doing great!!!

[bbracken677]

Al, when are you going to put them in the fridge for the final ripening?

I do not put mine in the fridge until they are fully ripened and ready to eat. Once in the fridge at the lower temps, ripening will all but stop. I have made several batches, and the only one I had ripening was a triple cream I made that a recommendation was made to lower temp to 43F, which I did...and they never did fully ripen, and developed off flavors. The following makes I maintained temp at 50F for the full duration and did not wrap...they turned out great!

[Al Lewis]

The recipe I used does not call for putting them into the fridge either.  I will once they are ready to eat but not until.