First cheese questions

[Gregore]

Too right Stinky

For some reason heat/ cooking cheese always mellows and improves the taste of a wild cheese .

I have had a couple of cheeses that were rather intense but cooking with them really help mellow the flavor .

[Wattywatts]

Thanks for the help I have vacuumed it now, should have thought to take a picture before but hey.. Here it is packed lol. Just started a Caerphilly too and made ricotta with the whey. Hopefully these will be good also

[Gregore]

 Just thought I would mention

If moisture starts to get pulled from the cheese  as it ripens take it out dry it off and rebag it .

[Wattywatts]

Awsome thanks. Any advice for the Caerphilly? Is it the same treatment? I can't see anything about waxing it etc

[Stinky]

For the Caerphilly? They're easy, since it's for such a short time. Just stick in a ripening box with the lid cracked, if the cheese starts getting little cracks rub them with lard and increase the humidity by just leaving the lid on loosely, if they're a whole lot of mold attacking your cheese, so it looks like a microflora playground, decrease the humidity. Every day or two, just brush the mold back. In ideal conditions IME mold generally shows up around 5-7 days, and goes strong for maybe a week or two before slowing down. But the great thing with Caerphilly is that it's fast.

You shouldn't need to bother vacuuming because it's always a good idea to wait that 21 days before sealing in any case, but in this case Caerphilly is good at 3 weeks, so you're fine there. If you're worried about any mold or anything, post a picture. Usually, it's not an emergency.

If you get any of:
Pinkish kind of slimy -too high humidity if there's a lot of it, or contamination in the process but that's unlikely at this point.
Florescent yellow stain- too high humidity, generally; it's ugly and makes that bit of rind taste bad but it's not dangerous.
Brown or black stains- too high humidity, only annoying because you can't just brush it off.
Blue mold- just brush it off. Persistant, but not terrible.
A white powdery coating- this is a good mold, geotrichum candidum. Be happy if you get this and not one of the others. There's a lot of it around, so you're probably recognize it pretty soon.
White fluffy mold with dark specks at the tips- mucor, too high humidity, brush off.

These are my local microflora, if I get others it's typically a sign that I've left it at too high of a humidity, but it might be different for you where you are. Still, most of these varieties should show up at some point.

[Wattywatts]

thank you, very good info, absolutely gutted though as my cheddar was looking lovely with the white powdery mold until i hacked it up live and learn

[Wattywatts]

Yay the Caerphilly turned out great. Really want to try Brie and Stilton now as I absolutely love them, but can't find a kit anywhere in uk

[Stinky]

Congratulations!  +C