Brie #2 question about aging

[AeonSam]

Hello, I'm a total newbie,

I just had a quick question about aging my 2nd batch of Brie. I read somewhere that I can age them quick enough to be eaten in 3 to 4 weeks if I keep them at 54F/12C or I can age them slower in my cold fridge for up to 8 weeks.

Do you find this to be true and if so, do you find that there's a marked difference in flavor and texture?

Thanks! AeonSam

[Al Lewis]

I've always aged mine in the cave at 54°F 85% RH.  Mal, OzzieCheese, does his for the 6 weeks in the fridge.  They both seem to come out great.

[awakephd]

I prefer the slower aging in the cold fridge - I *think* this helps to avoid slip-skin, and lets more flavor develop ... but to be honest, I've never tried aging it any other way! Since Al gets great results aging it faster, I should try it to see how I like that. Maybe the next round, I'll put one in the cold fridge and one in the "cave" and compare ...

[AeonSam]

Thanks Al Lewis - It's hard enough for me to wait 4 weeks so that's good news!

Awakephd - Good luck. Lemme know how it goes. I'm going to age these two in the warmer fridge.

Will post pics

[valley ranch]

Greetings Sam,Are these dedicated fridges, for your cheese? I may get brave enough to try Brie, I may. Hope you'll update when you open these!

[AeonSam]

Greetings to you Valley Ranch,

Yes, I have one dual zone wine fridge and what I mean by my "cold fridge" is simply a spot in my regular kitchen fridge. I will definitely post pics. I found my 1st Brie to be really rewarding and nothing to be as afraid of as I first thought.

Hope you try it. Will definitely post pics!

[awakephd]

Valley, you should definitely give brie or camembert a try. I confess I never cared much for this type of cheese when I had it before ... but I cannot get enough of the one I make myself. (That probably indicates that what I've had before is el cheapo variety rather than "the real thing.")

I like Mal's "malembert" recipe and procedure, including (as I said above) doing most of the aging at the lower temperature of the kitchen refrigerator. One difference between my approach and Mal's though, is that Mal uses ripening boxes throughout the aging, while I use ripening boxes only in the "cheese cave" while it is developing the PC. Then I wrap in cheese ripening paper and transfer to the kitchen fridge.

[AeonSam]

Alright, so... my Brie has been aging for 7 days now and the PC is growing way faster than my last batch. I hit a ph of 4.7 on these as opposed to 5.0 so I'm assuming that, that is what is making it grow quicker.

One wheel seems to be growing quicker than the other though as far as I know - the conditions are the same. I was told to wrap them after 14 days but my questions is: should I wrap them if I have full PC growth if it comes before the 14 days?

It's hard to tell by the pics, but these are 2 pound wheels.

[awakephd]

I'd say they're getting close to being a wrap being ready to wrap. You could wrap them now, or let them go another day or two, but I personally wouldn't want to wait too much longer than that.

[AeonSam]

Alright, thanks for letting me know.

Sam

[AnnDee]

Nice looking brie to be, Sam!
A cheese for your effort.

[AeonSam]

Thanks AnnDee!

Sam

[Danbo]

They look great!

[AeonSam]

Thanks Danbo!

[AeonSam]

So, these are looking pretty but an ammonia smell is starting. From what I understand, these go through a phase where the cheese becomes alkaline and penicillin feeds on the lactic acid. Ammonia is alkaline I think. So, my question is, do I let it run it's course for awhile or should I slow down the process and put it in colder fridge for awhile? I have them on 50F because I have other wheels beginning to age in a zone of 54F and there's no more room.

I'm at the 2 week mark. I'm not much of a cheese photographer.

Sam