White substance in vac pak

[ksk2175]

Looked in on a 3 month old jalapeño cheddar inside a vac bag today and was surprised to see small amount of milky liquid in the small corners of the vacuumed bag next to the cheese and  lots of white residue in the excess flats of vac bag material. I am assuming this is leached whey but should I cut it open, take it out, dry it off, air it out, give it a wipe down with a salt solution?  Thoughts?

[Schnecken Slayer]

Is the smell OK?

If so, I would take it out (you can probably clean and re-use the bag) and let it dry for a few days.
However, it may be worth oiling it so it doesn't dry out too quick... Others here will offer sage advice also  as I am by no means an expert.

[ksk2175]

Is the smell OK?

If so, I would take it out (you can probably clean and re-use the bag) and let it dry for a few days.
However, it may be worth oiling it so it doesn't dry out too quick... Others here will offer sage advice also  as I am by no means an expert.

Don't know yet about the smell as I haven't cut the bag open but will do tomorrow and let ya know 

[Schnecken Slayer]

Keep us posted!

I had a few that I thought were ready to wax/bag and I was wrong.   

I hope it turns out well for you. 

[ksk2175]

Opened it up and it smelled pungent, almost like a parmisan inside the bag. It was all wet sludge. I rinsed the surface in tap water to get most of it off but some remained. I poured some of my brining solution into a bowl and scrubbed the cheese in the brine until all the white was off. It seemed to be only on the surface and cleaned up pretty well. What do you think?  Pics in a second. The wheel is pretty hard and solid. I'm tempted to cut into it. It sits on a drying rack at the moment.

[ksk2175]

pics ... 

[Schnecken Slayer]

I have not seen that before, but hey I am relatively new to cheese-making compared to many here.

Were the Jalapenos from a tin? ie relatively sterile, or were they fresh?

If they were fresh, did you you sterilise them before adding them?

[ksk2175]

They were from a tin but I did boil them also.

[ksk2175]

Ok, so what is this a symptom of?  I checked on a Cotswold I made earlier this month and had liquid in the bag also... see pics ....

Is this a symptom of not pressing hard enough or not enough dry time, not enough rind prior to bagging?  What ever it is, I need to correct it so any help will be appreciated.  Thank you.

The Cotswold smelled very "oniony"   

[ksk2175]

On a side note, after I cleaned up the Jalapeno Cheddar, I used my trier on it and wasnt too impressed yet ... seemed a bit dry and sour.  I dont know if it is just young or if it became too acidic.  I did re-seal it and will keep an eye on it.

[Al Lewis]

If you vacuum pack a cheese that has too much whey remaining in it the vacuum in the bag sucks it out of the cheese.  It then sours as it ages which, if you think about it cheddar does too, and will form that white mass.  I did the same thing and simply washed my cheese off, let it dry out more, and then vacuum packed it again.  Now I always check vacuum packed cheeses for whey int eh bag to know if this will occur.  If I see it I just take them out and dry them some more.  Waxing sometimes does this too but, without the vacuum, it's not usually as bad.

[ksk2175]

If you vacuum pack a cheese that has too much whey remaining in it the vacuum in the bag sucks it out of the cheese.  It then sours as it ages which, if you think about it cheddar does too, and will form that white mass.  I did the same thing and simply washed my cheese off, let it dry out more, and then vacuum packed it again.  Now I always check vacuum packed cheeses for whey int eh bag to know if this will occur.  If I see it I just take them out and dry them some more.  Waxing sometimes does this too but, without the vacuum, it's not usually as bad.

Thanks Al.  Thats what I did.  I washed them both off.  I gave a pretty good scrub of the jalapeno cheddar with some brine solution, then let it dry out and re-bagged it.  There was no liquid in the bag after this second sealing.  I wiped the cotswold down with a light brine wipe and am letting it dry now.  I will re-bag it later and check for liquid. 

[Al Lewis]

Give it a day or two after bagging and check it.  It takes a while for the vacuum to suck the whey out.