First time poster, first time Caerphilly question.

[Home.Cheesemaking]

Hi
New poster here.

I have been aging my first raw milk Caerphilly for 2 months and cut into it today.

Am really pleased with the taste, creamy, buttery, very nice

My questions come about the rind. It has a very strong ammonia smell, quite heady. It eases as you leave it open to the air and eventually you get a hint of an earthy, mushroom smell, but the ammonia smell is very hard to get around.
One side of the cheese is slightly tacky to the touch and I was worried during aging that this was going to get a brevi growth but I seems to have mostly stayed at bay.

If anything its the 'dry' side which is more ammonia smelling. It has a powdery white growth all over the drier side.

Can anyone help as to what the smell is caused by?

It doesn't seem to effect the taste of the paste, which is good, but I haven't dared eat the rind!

Thanks.

[Home.Cheesemaking]

Thinking about it. Could the ammonia smell mean the rind has some P. Candidum on it. Is it possible I have cross contaminated it when turning cheeses, I have never considered it would take hold on a firmer rind.

[Bantams]

Most cheese molds produce ammonia, I believe. All natural rinded cheeses will have a bit of ammonia odor to some degree; the trick is to keep it under control. That usually means patting or brushing down the rind.
Make sure that your aging space isn't too humid, and be sure there is plenty of air exchange to prevent stale ammoniated air.

[Lancer99]

The powdery white is most likely Geo.  IME rinds aren't easy to control, because they depend on what spores happen to be floating around.   But generally a variety of molds just add to the richness of the flavour, even if it's not exactly what you want.

If the rind doesn't taste good, there's a simple solution -- don't eat it!  :). Just enjoy the paste (which sounds delicious)

-L

[DrChile]

looks great!

AC4U

Trent