First Camembert - Ammonia

[Trumpeteer]

Hi All,

So a little over two weeks ago, Oct. 29th,  I embarked on my first journey into making Camemberts. So far everything seems to have gone fairly textbook, although I wasn't careful enough during one of my flips and I tore the rind a bit on one of my wheels. But on the 4th day in my cave I started seeing mold growth by day 10 the wheels were covered over with mold and I wrapped them to fully ripen.. Yesterday i unwrapped one to take a peek and i was just assaulted by a rather strong ammonia smell. ( At least too strong for my taste) During mold growth my cave was at 54F and 90-95%RH and once I wrapped them I lowered the temperature a bit to 48F. I inoculated with both PC and Geo.

I'm just wondering if it is something I messed up in my process or is it is a normal occurrence this early in the ripening process? Should I cut one open to look or just leave them be and hope for the best?

Thanks

[Danbo]

Hi Trumpeteer,

First of all don't give up - and welcome to the forum!

It sounds to me as if the cheeses somehow is ripening too fast.

- How much geo and pc did you use (to how much milk)?
- Have you salted the cheeses - and how?
- Are the cheeses soft - like if the cheese just under the surface is floating?
- For how long has the cheeses ripened in total?

If you cut one of the cheeses you would probably find that the cheese is very soft near the rind and hard inside. I would lower the temperature even more to slow down the ripening so that the center can ripen before the outer part becomes over-ripened.

That said I don't like the smell during the first part of the ripening of Camemberts but the ammonium smell usually comes much later.

Very important: Before you do anything please see if other older "cheeses" here agrees to my suggestions...

:-) Danbo

[Trumpeteer]

Danbo,

Thanks for the quick reply and in answer to your questions,

For 8L of milk I used 1/8 tsp PC and a pinch of Geo
I surface salted the cheeses with 1/2 tsp  per side
the cheeses are feeling quite soft but I'm not really sure as this is my first attempt how the should feel at this point so I cant say for sure if it feels like the surface is floating.
At this point they have been wrapped and ripening for 5-6 days and are just 16 days old.

[Danbo]

Hi Trumpeteer,

It could perhaps be too much Geo:

Too Runny: Presence of too much geotrichum or other highly proteolytic microorganism (especially when runniness is at the surface only), too low pH (less than 4.5) during draining, too high ripening temperature.

Solutions: Don't add geotrichum, heat treat or pasteurize milk to remove wild strains, monitor pH better, lower ripening temperature once mold growth is established.

Toad Skin:  Too much geotricum, too high ripening temperature.

Solutions: Be sure to add about 100x less geotrichum than penicillium, lower ripening temperature and make sure salt levels are exact (g. candidium doesn't like salt).

Source: http://gianacliscaldwell.wordpress.com/tag/making-white-mold-ripened-cheese

Let's see if someone else on the forum can give you some additional clues...

:-) Danbo

[SOSEATTLE]

When I first started making bloomy rind cheeses I had some issues with rapid ripening too. What I found that works best for my situation is to ripen at 46 degrees F. For me this gives a slower, more even ripening. I have also never wrapped any of my bloomies. I use a mini-cave with the cover on loosely. Once the mold starts, I take the cheeses out daily, pat down the mold, and flip. I do this until ripening is complete. I also make sure to give the cheeses a breath of fresh air daily. When I take them out I leave them out with the cover off the mini-cave for about 30 minutes give or take.


Susan

[Trumpeteer]

So I decided to open up one of my and what do you know..... a slip skin,,,, I guess that would explain the strong ammonia smell from the portion that entirely liquified.. So does anyone have any suggestions for what I can do next time to create a better batch. Also is there really anything I can do with this batch or is it just a goner? (no worries if it is just means I get to get another batch under my belt)