Caerphilly concern

[Rj8]

Hi, I made a Caerphilly using the mad millie recipe described here:

https://www.madmillie.com/recipe/recipe/printRecipe/recipe_id/57/

The last steps are:

12. Air dry at room temperature for several days. Keep the cheese covered with a mesh food cover and
turn twice daily, to prevent moisture from collecting at the bottom.
13. Once the cheese is dry to touch, age the cheese on the cheese mat on the kitchen bench or in a
cool cupboard for a minimum of 3 weeks. Turn the cheese several times a week and ensure it is always
covered.


I am keeping it at room temp, it is dry here at the moment so the humidity is low. However, it is not dry to the touch after 5 days and is actually more slippery than when it came out of the press. It is turning yellow and doesn't smell bad - just "cheesey". I should also say that I don't have much experience!

Have attached a photo.

Any advice welcome!

[Bantams]

It is growing Geotrichum candidum or some other mold/yeast. Get it into a proper aging environment - 48-55 degrees and 85% humidity. It should not be at room temp.

[Rj8]

Hi thank you very much for your reply - your question reminded me - I neglected to mention that I added a tiny bit of TA61 thermophilic to the mesophilic cultute, only because I noticed that more elaborate Caerphilly recipes use MA4001 that has that thermophilic culture in it.
Would that explain what I am seeing?
I appreciate the help!

[Bantams]

No, that would not affect the rind development.

[Rj8]

Ok... I am at a loss then! I was very careful with sterilisation etc
I hope the rind will dry out eventually? 

[Bantams]

Sorry I wasn't clear. The Geo is not bad - it actually can be part of an ideal Caerphilly rind. The issue is that you're keeping it at room temp, which will create excessively fast mold growth, drying out, weeping fat, etc. Cheese is happy at cellar temps, not room temp.
All cheeses will grow mold if they're not waxed, vacuum sealed, oiled, cream coated, etc.  That's good! That's how you develop a natural rind. But you do want to keep the cheese at a favorable temp and humidity to promote the correct mold/yeast growth. Innoculating with a preferred strain (like Mycodore for Caerphilly) can help achieve this.  The air is full of molds and yeasts so even flawless technique will allow mold to grow on the rind.

[mikekchar]

I'm just going to second Bantams wonderful advice :-) In my experience Geotrichum is the start of every good natural rind cheese :-)  It is impossible to age a cheese without *something* growing on it (unless you vac pack or wax).  Your job in aging is to set up the environment so that the things that you *want* to grow on it win over the other things.  It's pretty intimidating at first because there isn't much advice in books, etc about how to set up that environment or how to troubleshoot.  But over time you get the hang of it.  A lot of it depends on your setup so it's hard to give good advice.  Caerphilly style cheeses and tommes were how I practiced natural rinds at first.  I still have a *lot* to learn, but I feel pretty comfortable aging just about anything now (after about 18 months of making cheese almost every week ;-) ).  The key is to keep asking questions and keep trying to improve.  But you are off to a good start!  Keep sending updates so we can cheer you on :-) 

[Rj8]

Hi thanks to you both for the advice... I'm just confused as to how I got Geo in the first place! It isn't in any of the moulds i used... I had a regular mesophilic with cremoris and lactis and then I added a tiny bit of streptococcus thermophilus.

I now have it at 12C and 85% and i am hoping for the best!

Any advice welcome

[mikekchar]

Geotrichum is everywhere.  It's in the air.  It's in the soil.  It's even in your feces.  If the conditions are good for it to grow on your cheese, it *will* grow on your cheese.  Just like blue mold.  Just like brevibacteria linens (which grows on your skin).  The reason for buying a DVI culture of these things is so that you have a reliable *amount* when you start off aging.  By adding it to the milk, you basically overwhelm other organisms and tilt the scales in favour of the thing that you added.  You can kind of think of it like a garden.  If you just let dirt sit there and you water it every day, then all sorts of plants will grow.  Let's say that you only want to grow dandelions (for some reason).  If you *plant* dandelions, then you will get mostly that and almost nothing else can compete.  But even if you don't plant it, as long as you keep watering the soil, you can be pretty sure they will show up sometime.  The other advantage of using a DVI culture is that there are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of strains of geotrichum.  They all have slightly different properties.  If you use a DVI culture, you can *choose* the properties that you want.  Do you want it to be smooth and powdery, or brainy and fluffy?  That kind of thing.  If you leave it to nature, you'll get what you get.

[Rj8]

Thank you, that makes sense. I was hoping that the other moulds I had put in would win the race!
How would you expect this cheese to taste compared to regular Caerphilly? Will the rind ever dry out??

[mikekchar]

I'm not sure I understand.  I didn't see any other molds in that recipe.  As far as how it will compare with a commercial Caerphilly, the recipe is quite different than a typically modern Caerphilly.  These days Caerphilly is a cheddared cheese.  This is much closer to a tomme than a Caerphilly.  Having said that, there is some evidence that Caerphilly 100 years ago might have been made that way (unfortunately nobody really knows because all Caerphilly production was halted during WWII).  So, you won't quite have the texture that would be present in a modern Caerphilly.  Also, due to the way it is salted, it's going to have a fairly low acidity, which is not typical.  However, I think it will make a good cheese.

Looking at your picture, I would say that the cheese is already dried out much more than you need it to be.  A Caerphilly *should* have a good healthy white coat on it, so you want to encourage the geotrichum to grow.

Here is a pic of a famous artisan Caerphilly:

Above all, don't worry about it.  You have cheese :-)  I've made a fair number of Caerphilly style cheeses and have yet to make one that I think captures the style well.  However, *all* of my cheeses have been delicious and I think yours will too!